When rosters for big international hockey tournaments are revealed, there will always be one or two players that stick out as surprising additions.
With Sweden announcing its official men’s hockey roster for next month’s Winter Olympic Games in Milano-Cortina, Italy, a former Maple Leafs forward has caught a few eyes with his inclusion.
Pontus Holmberg, who joined the Tampa Bay Lightning as a free agent from Toronto last summer, is one of the more shocking players to make a 2026 Olympic roster.
Holmberg will be heading to Italy despite notching just six goals and six assists in 33 games so far this season with the Lightning. He is averaging 12:53 of ice time per game while playing in a bottom-six role.
Among Tampa’s forwards, he is averaging the 10th-most ice time and hasn’t contributed much as a penalty killer, either.
He also ranks ninth on the Lightning in hits with 34 and his 16 blocked shots puts him 16th on the team.
Holmberg didn’t make much of an impact during his time in Toronto. Over his three years with the Maple Leafs, he scored 49 points in 159 games and was a healthy scratch on several occasions.
He became an unrestricted free agent after the 2024-25 season and opted to sign a two-year, $3.1-million deal with the Bolts after it was made clear that the Leafs wouldn’t be interested in bringing him back in that price range.
While his inclusion on Team Sweden is a shock, it should be noted that Holmberg does have some Olympic experience, having won bronze with Sweden at the 2022 Games in Beijing. During the tournament in China, Holmberg notched two assists in six games.
He’ll join former Toronto teammates William Nylander and Oliver Ekman-Larsson in the squad.
Who got snubbed?
One player that seemingly was snubbed for the 26-year-old winger is Flames’ Mikael Backlund. Calgary’s captain may be closer to the end of his career at 36 years old, but he remains a stalwart of his team.
Backlund has 25 points in 40 games this season but has been an excellent two-way player and one of the league’s most dependable penalty killers. He has received votes for the Selke Trophy in eight of the past nine seasons and has won 51.3% of his faceoffs this season.