Sweden Quarter-Century Teams selected by NHL.com ahead of 4 Nations Face-Off

The 4 Nations Face-Off will take place in Montreal and Boston from Feb. 12-20. It is a best-on-best tournament with teams from Canada, Finland, Sweden and the United States featuring NHL players only.

To get fans ready for the 4 Nations Face-Off and to help celebrate the past quarter-century, NHL.com will be naming Quarter-Century Teams for each of the four nations.

Today, we present the First and Second Quarter-Century Teams for Sweden, as selected by the NHL.com/sv writers. The players, listed in alphabetical order, were judged based on their NHL stats and international contributions from Jan. 1, 2000, to Dec. 31, 2024.

FIRST TEAM

Forwards

Nicklas Backstrom
Daniel Sedin
Henrik Sedin

Defensemen

Nicklas Lidstrom
Erik Karlsson

Goalie

Henrik Lundqvist

Forwards: The Vancouver Canucks were able to select twin brothers Daniel and Henrik Sedin as the No. 2 and 3 picks in the 1999 NHL Draft. Each played 17 seasons in the League and are the Canucks' all-time leading scorers; Henrik had 1,070 points (240 goals, 830 assists) in 1,330 games and Daniel 1,041 points (393 goals, 548 assists) in 1,306 games. They retired together on April 2, 2018, and were inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame together in 2022. Backstrom quickly found his place in the NHL as a sidekick to Alex Ovechkin when he joined the Washington Capitals in 2007-08, assisting on 279 of Ovechkin's 879 NHL goals and helped the Capitals win the Stanley Cup in 2018. Backstrom is Washington's all-time leader in assists (762) and second in points (1,033) behind Ovechkin (1,593). He has not played since Oct. 29, 2023, because of a hip injury.

Defensemen: Lidstrom won two of his four Cup titles with the Detroit Red Wings in 2002 and 2008, was a seven-time Norris Trophy winner, voted as the NHL's top defenseman, and the Conn Smythe Trophy winner as playoff MVP in 2002. Since the turn of the century, "The Perfect Human" is the Red Wings' leader at the position in assists (536) and points (691). It's no surprise he was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2015. Since joining the NHL for the 2009-10 season, Karlsson leads all defensemen with 660 assists and 855 points and is a three-time Norris Trophy winner and has 855 points (195 goals, 660 assists) in 1,059 NHL games with the Ottawa Senators, San Jose Sharks and Pittsburgh Penguins.

Goalie: Not only the best goalie in New York Rangers history, Lundqvist is the sixth-winningest goalie in NHL history with 459 and the most all time among goalies born in Europe. He played his entire 15-year career with the Rangers from 2005-20, with a 2.43 goals-against average, .918 save percentage and 64 shutouts, and won the Vezina Trophy, voted as the League's top goalie, in 2012.

SECOND TEAM

Forwards

Peter Forsberg
Mats Sundin
Henrik Zetterberg

Defensemen

Victor Hedman
Niklas Kronwall

Goalie

Jacob Markstrom

Forwards: Forsberg won the second of his two Cup titles with the Colorado Avalanche in 2001, and in 2002-03 "Peter The Great" won the Hart Trophy, voted as NHL MVP, and the Art Ross Trophy as the League's leading scorer with 106 points (29 goals, 77 assists) in 75 games. Since the turn of the millenium, he had 433 points (118 goals, 315 assists) in 351 games with the Avalanche, Philadelphia Flyers and Nashville Predators and was inducted to the Hall of Fame in 2014. Sundin, another Hall of Famer (2012), won the Mark Messier Leadership Award in 2008 in his eighth season as the Toronto Maple Leafs captain, and from 2000 onward had 603 points (253 goals, 350 assists) in 624 games with the Maple Leafs and Canucks. From 2002-18, Zetterberg was the Red Wings leader in games played (1,082), goals (337), assists (623) and points (960) and won the Conn Smythe Award when he scored the Cup-winning goal for Detroit in 2008.

Defensemen: Hedman, who won the Cup with the Tampa Bay Lightning in 2020 and 2021, is far and away the Lighting's all-time leader at the position with 1,105 games played, 165 goals, 608 assists and 772 points. A two-time Norris winner, he won the Smythe Trophy in 2020. From 2003-19, Kronwall was Detroit's leader in games (953), was second to Lidstrom with 83 goals, 349 assists and 432 points and won the Cup with the Red Wings in 2008.

Goalie: In his 15th NHL season, Markstrom is 236-205-62 with a 2.20 GAA, .912 save percentage and 23 shutouts in 521 games with the Florida Panthers, Canucks, Calgary Flames and New Jersey Devils.