Filip Forsberg made it very clear how he feels about his treatment from Sweden at the Olympics
Photo credit: Mike Segar/Reuters via Imagn Images
Filip Forsberg's one-shift benching still haunts Team Sweden now that Team USA owns Olympic hockey gold.
The tournament is done, the medals are handed out, and the «what if» won't die.
In Sweden's opener, a 5-2 win over Italy, Forsberg skated just 1:07.
He admitted he was surprised, and he made it clear he believes he belongs among Sweden's best forwards.
That quote hit because it sounded like pride, not whining.
By the end of the Games, the United States beat Canada 2-1 in overtime to win gold on Feb. 22.
Sweden never got close to that stage, because Team USA ended them in the quarterfinal, 2-1 in overtime on Feb. 18.
And that's where Forsberg's «one shift» keeps coming back around.
Forsberg wasn't some depth experiment in Nashville this season, he's a proven finisher with 24 goals.
Sweden dressed him as the 13th forward and tried to treat him like emergency insurance.
It looked clever until the tournament tightened into single-bounce games.
Filip Forsberg and Team Sweden left a brutal what-if
Swedish fans can live with losing, but watching a top scorer sit while the margins shrink feels like a self-inflicted wound.
Tactically, Sweden left a left-shot trigger man out of its normal rhythm, and you could feel the lines pressing for perfect plays.
Then the quarterfinal arrived, Sweden pushed it late, and overtime became a coin flip.
So here's the question Sweden will wear until 2030, if Forsberg plays real minutes from Day 1, does Sweden find one more goal and go deeper?
Nobody can prove it, but the logic is simple, more skill usually means more answers when the game turns chaotic.
That's the sting of this Olympics for Sweden, not just that they lost, but that they might have benched their way out of a run.
Also read on Blade of steel :
New information emerges proving Nathan MacKinnon does not deserve the Olympic backlash
New information emerges proving Nathan MacKinnon does not deserve the Olympic backlash
| POLL | ||
FEVRIER 23|151 ANSWERS Filip Forsberg made it very clear how he feels about his treatment from Sweden at the Olympics If Filip Forsberg played full minutes, would Team Sweden have gone farther at the Olympics? | ||
| Yes | 98 | 64.9 % |
| No | 53 | 35.1 % |
| List of polls | ||