Sweden pick Flames' Rasmus Andersson for Olympics while Mikael Backlund snubbed

Rasmus Andersson is heading to the Olympics.

Unfortunately, Mikael Backlund was left out.

With Sweden announcing its squad for the men’s hockey tournament at the Milano-Cortina Winter Olympic Games on Friday morning, Andersson’s stellar start to the 2025-26 season made him a lock for the blueline.

“If I go internally, just to myself, I think I’ve done everything that I possibly could to take a spot,” Andersson told Postmedia in a recent interview. “If it’s meant to be, it’s meant to be. And if it’s not, I’ll obviously be disappointed and sad, but you have to look at yourself and be like, ‘Alright, you played well enough.’

“There are so many good defencemen, right? But I really feel like I’ve been playing well enough to at least do everything I possibly could.”

The Swedish selection committee agreed and Andersson will officially be joining his dad as the second family member to compete for Sweden at the Olympics. His dad, Peter, played in the Albertville Olympics in 1992.

Andersson, who is an unrestricted free-agent at the end of the season on July 1, has picked up eight goals and added 18 assists in 40 games so far this season for the Flames. That’s the 13th-most points among Swedish NHL players this year.

Backlund was pushing for a spot as well, especially after a fantastic December that saw him lead the Flames with 11 points in 13 games.

The Flames captain is one of the best defensive forwards in the game and, on the basis of this season’s performances alone, objectively has had a better year than the likes of Elias Lindholm and Elias Pettersson, both of whom were included on Sweden’s squad.

daustin@postmedia.com

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