Team Sweden Calls Up Injury Replacements for Ducks, Wild Stars

Team Sweden has suffered some poor injury luck in the lead up to the 2026 Winter Olympic Games in Milan this February, which has caused the nation to shuffle its roster to field a healthy lineup. While some of the injuries haven’t required the team to find replacements, others have.

It was announced last week that young forward and Anaheim Ducks star Leo Carlsson, as well as Minnesota Wild defenseman Jonas Brodin, would miss the Olympics because of unfortunately timed ailments. Carlsson sustained a lower-body injury that required him to undergo surgery on his left thigh on Jan. 16, while Brodin also went under the knife. With the two of them unavailable, Team Sweden has been forced to turn elsewhere.

The Swedish 🇸🇪 Olympic team has added forward Marcus Johansson and defenseman Hampus Lindholm to their Milan roster as injury replacements for Leo Carlsson and Jonas Brodin
— Chris Johnston (@reporterchris) January 27, 2026

The knights in shining armor for the Swedes come in the form of Wild forward Marcus Johansson and Boston Bruins defenseman Hampus Lindholm. It’s a move that makes sense given both players’ wealth of NHL and international experience. That especially applies to Johansson, who represented Sweden at the Olympics in 2014, helping lead the country to the silver medal in Sochi. While Lindholm has never appeared in the Olympic Games, he did win gold at the 2018 World Championship and silver at the 2012 WJC Under-18 event.

Johansson and Lindholm Provide a Wealth of Experience

Through 48 games with the Wild, Johansson — a 35-year-old from Landskrona — has amassed 13 goals and 21 assists. Over the course of a 16-year NHL career, Johansson has played for six NHL teams — the Washington Capitals (nine years), Minnesota Wild (five years), New Jersey Devils (two years), Buffalo Sabres (one year), Seattle Kraken (one year) and Boston Bruins (one year) — and has scored 198 goals and tallied 353 assists. Ever since his arrival in St. Paul, he has been a staple of the Wild’s forward group. Now he’ll get the opportunity to do the same with Sweden.

Lindholm’s selection to the roster provides him an opportunity to show his fellow countrymen and the world that he has what it takes to play with the best of the best. After putting up a phenomenal 2022-23 campaign that saw him finish fourth in the race to win the Norris Trophy with 53 points over 80 games, Lindholm’s production has slowed a bit. He only played in 17 games last season and has scored 16 points — three goals and 13 assists — through 39 contests in 2025-26. It’ll be in Milan where Lindholm will attempt to make his mark and prove that he should have been on the roster in the first place.

The Swedes Have Had Poor Injury Luck

Carlsson and Brodin might not be the only players who have to be replaced on Team Sweden’s roster. Key figures like Gabriel Landeskog and William Nylander have missed extended time, and their return prior to the Olympics is currently in doubt. Should those two also require replacements, the outlook for the nation in Milan becomes uncertain, to say the least.

Team Sweden’s first matchup comes on Feb. 11 when they face Italy.

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