Making A Case For Penguins’ Rakell To Play For Sweden At 4 Nations
Sweden can stack their lineup for the upcoming 4 Nations Face-off with some of the best players in the NHL, whether they play defense, forward, or goalie.
The country named its first six skaters, including Gustav Forsling (Florida), Filip Forsberg (Nashville), William Nylander (Toronto), Mika Zibanejad (New York), Victory Hedman (Tampa Bay), and Erik Karlsson of the Pittsburgh Penguins.
Karlsson will join Sidney Crosby, who will represent Team Canada and is the odds-on favorite to wear the captain’s “C” on his sweater.
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Considering that Finland and the United States are the only two other teams at the event, there’s not much room for other Pittsburgh players to skate the tournament.
Given the circumstances, only a few Penguins players have a shot at playing at the first-ever 4 Nations Face-off. One of them is Swedish forward Rickard Rakell, who should get the call and skate in Sweden’s bottom six.
After 18 games, the 31-year-old from Syndbyberg, Sweden, has six goals, ranking sixth among Scandinavian skaters. Moreover, Rakell is one of nine players to reach double digits in points, with 11, to go along with his plus-5 rating, the second-best total of Sweden players.
Amazingly, Rakell has the best totals of all Penguins players in that category. Despite playing on a team with a goal differential of minus-31, which ranks 31st in the league, only Blake Lizotte (plus-1) and Rakell have positive plus/minus totals.
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Meanwhile, only five Swedish players have more shots on goal than Rakell, who has 46. With a shooting percentage of 13.0, he has the fourth-best total of right-wingers, except for Jonathan Lekkerimaki, who has now played two NHL games and ranks second.
In the three full seasons since joining the Penguins in February 2022, here is a breakdown of Rakell’s rankings amongst Swedish players and Swedish right-wingers:
- Adrian Kempe Blake Lizotte Buffalo Sabres Elias Pettersson Erik Karlsson Fabian Zetterlund Filip Forsberg Florida Gustav Forsling Hedman Jesper Bratt Joel Eriksson Ek Lucas Raymond Mattias Ekholm Mika Zibanejad Mikael Backlund Nashville Philip Broberg Pittsburgh Penguins Rasmus Andersson Rasmus Dahlin Rickard Rakell Sidney Crosby Sweden Swedish players Team Canada Toronto Victor Olofsson William Eklund William Karlsson William Nylander
