The last time Sweden won gold at the Winter Olympics was in 2006. That men's hockey entry, captained by Mats Sundin, rallied from a third-place group stage finish and to eventually secure the gold medal. Since that point, the men's national hockey program won just one silver medal while making it to the bronze medal game once. They also haven't won gold at the IIHF World Championship since 2018.
That said, Swedish national team hockey is argaubly entering a renaissance. The men's World Junior entry just captured their first gold medal in fourteen years, while the women's Olympic entry is set for its best finish since 2014. With the junior program finally earning a medal at the World Juniors and with the women's teams earning their triumphs, is the senior men's team due for its success?
The signs of a renaissance were there in last year's Four Nations Faceoff. Despite missing the final on a tiebreaker (they lost the head-to-head matchup against Canada), they did secure a point in each of their three games. Against Canada, they weathered the storm and forced the Canadians to overtime despite being down 3-1. Despite losing in overtime to Finland, that game was a back-and-forth affair. And against the United States, Sweden took an early lead and never looked back, eventually holding on to secure the three points.
With much of that Four Nations entry coming back for Sweden's Olympic run, it's going to be incredibly hard to count Sweden out.
I personally think they could go on a deep tournament run. While Finland will be a tough out in the group stage, Slovakia and Italy are more than beatable. From there, qualify as a group winner and you're one win away from having a chance at a medal.
That said, Sweden will have to rectify their scoring issues, which cost them several points at the Four Nations and a shot at the final. Being down 3-1 against Canada already cost Sweden big time and an overtime loss to Finland did Sweden no favours in what was a winnable contest. With the offence's leadership group being reinforced through the addition of Colorado Avalanche captain Gabriel Landeskog and with others like William Nylander and Lucas Raymond performing at point-per-game paces, Sweden should enter this Olympic men's hockey tournament with some confidence.
But hockey games are played on ice, not on paper. If it was played on paper, Sweden would probably have a medal by now.
That said, the Four Nations isn't the Olympics, meaning that Sweden will more than have three chances to put together a medal run. But like in the Four Nations, Sweden should go undefeated. Unlike in the Four Nations, Sweden should finish first in this group.