With the IIHF World Championship well underway, Team Canada has undoubtedly run through the group stages with 6 wins in 7 outings. Their lone loss came to Finland on the 19th of May in a shootout but otherwise it’s been a romp-fest and the trio of Philadelphia Flyers players have chipped in admirably.
On the flip side, Flyers goaltender Samuel Ersson has done a tremendous job for Team Sweden as they were just edged out of the top spot with their loss on Tuesday against Canada.
Forwards Tyson Foerster and Travis Konecny as well as defenseman Travis Sanheim have featured in top roles with both Konecny and Foerster featuring in the top-6 and Sanheim playing on the top pair with Minnesota Wild defenseman Jared Spurgeon.
Foerster was held out of one game but he has played primarily on the top line with Nathan MacKinnon and Bo Horvat before the latter was sent back home due to an injury. Foerster swapped spots with Konecny on Tuesday, who was previously playing alongside Sidney Crosby and Macklin Celebrini for most of the tournament.
Konecny has been amazing with 3 goals and 9 assists in 7 games and while Foerster hasn’t necessarily chipped in with as many points, he’s done fantastic job next to his superstar linemates and has done a lot of the dirty work for Team Canada’s top line.
Konecny and Sanheim have shown off their Flyers chemistry on a few goals during the round robin but the former’s play with Crosby and Celebrini or MacKinnon and Horvat shouldn’t go unnoticed as he’s nabbed quite the amount of primary helpers, including Tuesday’s highlight-reel play for Canada’s 5th goal of the game.
Meanwhile, Ersson has done a tremendous job in goal for Sweden as he’s allowed just 2 goals on 51 shots across 3 games played, which includes 2 shutout performances. He holds a pristine .961 SV% and a minuscule GAA of o.67 but Jacob Markström should feature in the knockout stages despite their starts being split during the round robin.
With their 5-3 win in regulation over Sweden, Canada now takes the top spot in Group A with Sweden in 2nd, Finland in 3rd, and Austria coming in 4th. While in Group B, the Swiss took the top spot and are followed by the United States, Czechia, and Denmark.
Canada will face off against Denmark in the Quarter-Finals, Sweden will play Czechia, the United States will play Finland, and Austria is set to duel against Switzerland.
The World Championship was going to be key for a lot of bubble players heading into the 2025-26 season as the Olympics are fast approaching. Konecny and Sanheim both featured in the 4 Nations Face-Off but their second half of the 2024-25 NHL regular season left a lot to be desired, considering some of the snubs and injuries from the 4 Nations squad.
Sanheim featured heavily for Team Canada at the 4 Nations after Shea Theodore got injured. However, Alex Pietrangelo didn’t take part due to an injury and Thomas Harley, who was brought in as an emergency call-up, should get a roster spot if he continues his strong play from this 2024-25 regular season and playoffs.
For the forwards, it’s going to be interesting to see if players like Nick Suzuki, Connor Bedard, Mark Scheifele, and even Celebrini get a crack at the Olympic roster. Based on his performance through the group stages, Konecny has at least remained in the bubble for a spot that will be hard to win if he doesn’t have a strong first half of the season for the Flyers.
As for Ersson, it’s certainly a good sign that he not only represented his nation at the 4 Nations but he was brought along for the World Championship and has starred in his role. Linus Ullmark had his request rejected after his first round defeat so it will be interesting to see how things shake out in goal for Sweden at the Olympics.
Wild goaltender Filip Gustavsson should contend for the backup role behind Markström, but if Ersson continues his strong play in goal and translates that over to the Flyers in 2025-26, he could find himself on the roster.
Nevertheless, it’s still a positive sign that they’re all producing and playing top minutes, especially the Canadian trio that’s on a loaded team with players like Brayden Schenn, Adam Fantilli, and Noah Dobson playing lower in the order.
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