This news comes both as a surprise and not a surprise:
Aftonbladet’s Tomas Ros and Hans Abrahamsson have revealed that Lucas Raymond was not included on the initial reserve list of 55 players submitted to the Olympic Committee by Swedish team GM Johan Garpenlov, so Raymond might not take part in the Olympic games, because the reserve list is supposed to be the only list of players from which the Swedes can pick Olympic-participating NHL’ers.
This is no surprise as the reserve list had to be submitted in late September, but it’s a big problem for Sweden:
Lucas Raymond can miss the Olympics
Tre Kronor national team captain Johan Garpenlov has selected 55 NHL players who are relevant for the Olympics. But Sportbladet can reveal that successful NHL player Lucas Raymond, 19, is not on that large team.
Thus, there is great risk that Detroit’s points king might not be selected for the Olympics.
The Beijing Olympics, which will be decided in February, are approaching fast, and the idea is that the hockey tournament will be determined by NHL players. However, it’s not 100% certain, and therefore the national team GM Johan Garpenlov has picked out two large teams: One with NHL players and one with players from Europe.
In the large team with NHL players that Johan Garpenlov has selected, and where the names are secret, there are 50 skaters and 5 goaltenders.
But the hottest Swede in the NHL this fall, Detroit Red Wings rookie Lucas Raymond, is not among the 55 names that Johan Garpenlov has listed, according to Sportbladet’s information.
Thus, there is imminent risk that the former Frolunda forward can’t be selected for the Olympics.
Applied to the IIHF to get an exemption
But the Swedish Ice Hockey Association has applied to add additional players, something that is confirmed by competition manager Olof Ostblom, who is also a team manager for the Tre Kronor. When asked if the Tre Kronor can take out additional players against the larger team, Ostblom answers:
“Possibly. We’ve asked the question to the IIHF, without a definitive answer.”
Do you know when they’ll have to give their answer to you?
“Not right now.”
Lucas Raymond has taken the NHL by storm. The Swedish rookie has accounted for 21 points in 22 games, which leads Detroit in internal scoring. In the entire NHL, only Elias Lindholm has scored more points among Swedes, with 23 points.
Sportbladet searched for Johan Garpenlov [but received no answer].
HockeyNews.se’s Henrik Sjoberg reported the Aftonbladet news, and noted that Garpenlov had this to say about Raymond’s hot start back in early October:
Tre Kronor national team captain Johan Garpenlov was impressed with Raymond’s start in the NHL, and in an earlier interview with HockeyNews.se, he said the following about the 19-year-old’s possible participation in the Olympics:
“I have to go on what I presented and not what one might do. And if you look at a guy like Raymond, if he were to be on the list, he would have to compete to play on the top lines and on the power play. If you look around the league, it’s very difficult competition for few places there. I’m not saying it would be impossible, and that it can’t happen, but it’s pretty tough to get in there.”
