Taking Shape

In recent news, four more countries have announced their men's Olympic ice hockey rosters. The Czech Republic, Slovakia, Germany, and Sweden all named their players that will represent them in the Olympic Games in Korea. Let's look at each roster:

The Czech Republic will be headed up by Martin Erat, a former NHL player whose best known for his years in the Nashville Predators organization and later, a key piece that would net them Filip Forsberg in a trade. The majority of the team's roster plays in the KHL, with other notable names including Roman Cervenka, Michal Repik, and Roman Horak.

Slovakia also named the team that they will be fielding for the Olympics. They largely went with players from the Czech and Slovakian leagues, with Tomas Surovy and Ladislav Nagy being the notable players with NHL experience.

Germany named their team, too, with many of their players coming from their own league. Christian Ehrhoff and Marcel Goc are the most notable names on the roster, though they also have a few former major junior stars on their roster in Mathias Niederberger, Konrad Abeltshauser, and Marcel Noebels.

Sweden named their roster, and like Canada and the United States, their roster was compiled from leagues around the world. Their goaltending looks fairly impressive on paper, with Jhonas Enroth Viktor Fasth having had moderate success on the NHL level. The rest of the team isn't too imposing, although they do have players with decent amounts of success, including Alexander Bergstrom in the KHL. One player to potentially watch for is Rasmus Dahlin, who is eligible for the 2018 NHL Entry Draft.

In looking at the lineups, I have to say Germany could surprise as a dark horse candidate to medal while Sweden looks fairly strong, but whether they can strike gold again is a question. If nothing else, they may be worth a look because scouts will most likely see what Dahlin can do on the grand stage.