TARRYTOWN, N.Y. -- Building off the team's silver medal at the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Sweden has a chance to make some noise at the 2016 World Cup of Hockey.
Sweden's blueprint for success starts with New York Rangers goaltender Henrik Lundqvist. The 34-year-old veteran posted a 5-1-0 record, 1.50 goals-against average and .943 save percentage at the 2014 Olympics. His 12 victories ranks second all time in Olympic competition behind Vladislav Tretiak, who recorded 17 for the Soviet Union.
"The goal and the mindset going into this is to win -- there's no question," Lundqvist said. "I think we have the team for it, but when it comes down to only a couple of games, you obviously need everything to work for you right away, and special teams play a big part. Looking at the team, it's going to be a tough challenge, no question, but the goal and mindset is to win."
The forward position is another strength for Sweden, as they are stacked with offensive threats in the Vancouver Canucks' Daniel Sedin and Henrik Sedin, the Washington Capitals' Nicklas Backstrom, the Boston Bruins' Loui Eriksson, the Nashville Predators' Filip Forsberg, the Colorado Avalanche's Gabriel Landeskog, the St. Louis Blues' Alexander Steen and the Detroit Red Wings' Henrik Zetterberg.
Some later additions at forward could include Colorado's Carl Soderberg and Chicago's Marcus Kruger. The Penguins' Carl Hagelin could be possibility, too.
Sweden's ability to contribute offensively from its back end is another strong suit. Two-time Norris Trophy winner Erik Karlsson is a contender to win the top defensive award again this season. The Tampa Bay Lightning's Victor Hedman, who was surprisingly left off Sweden's roster for the 2014 Olympics, has Norris Trophy potential in his future and was a big reason the Lightning advanced to the Stanley Cup finals last June. It also helps that his defensive partner Anton Stralman made the cut.
A bit of a surprise, however, was the omission of 23-year-old defenseman John Klingberg. He's had another strong season for the Dallas Stars. Maybe this is a motivational factor for him.
"We have a great generation coming up here of guys born in the '90s and he's definitely one of those players," coach Rikard Gronborg said. "He's played great minutes in Dallas. He played his first World Championship last year with us, so that's definitely a notch in his belt. Seeing him in the Stanley Cup [playoffs] is going to be important for us also to evaluate him as well as other players."
Sweden believes it has the components in place to make a serious run at the World Cup title.