Sweden’s captain Anton Lander is expected to play a major role at the Olympics
Anton Lander will make sure to do something this Olympics that has only been done twice before, captain Sweden to a gold medal. If he does, he will join the exclusive club with Mats Sundin and Charles Berglund. Although Sweden has an excellent chance to take home the gold, they will need their captain to play a significant role if they want to be crowned champions.
Lander’s international career with Sweden
Lander has been a staple of Team Sweden since he first participated in the U-16 program in 2005-06. He has been team captain twice and has played over 100 matches for Sweden. This will be his second Olympics as he was part of Sweden’s 2018 team.
Despite his long career with Sweden, Lander has only two medals to show. He won a bronze as part of Sweden’s junior team in 2010, eight points in six matches and a gold at the then so-called Hlinka Memorial Tournament 2007. It has been almost 15 years since he won gold for his country, but he hopes he can once again have the medal hanging around his neck at the end of the 2022 Beijing Olympics.
Lander’s career after the NHL
Lander played 215 games for the Oilers but decided to return to Europe after bouncing between the American Hockey League (AHL) and the NHL for six years. He joined Ak Bars Kazan, part of the Continental Hockey League (KHL), 2017, where he helped them win the Gagarin Cup during his first season. In 2019, he moved to Lokomotiv Yaroslavl in the KHL before signing with EV Zug from the National League (NL) this season.
The move to Switzerland seems to have yielded results as Lander has 29 points in 34 matches. He has had the opportunity to develop some chemistry with teammate Carl Klingberg and comes to the Olympics after registering five points in his last four matches. Lander, as part of EV Zug’s top six, has been instrumental in their success and has helped them reach second place in the league this season.
Role with Team Sweden
Lander is expected to play a major role for Sweden. He will most likely be the team’s front line center and will be asked to play significant minutes on penalty kills and powerplay. A player with great speed and an accurate shot, do not be surprised if the captain leads the team in goals as he did during the 2018 Olympics.
One area that Lander has been successful in this year is faceoffs, especially in the defensive zone. So far this season, he has a 59.32 percent winning percentage on matches in his own zone. In total, he has a 53.62 winning percentage in 608 matches this year. Winning matches, especially in your own end, will be the key if Sweden wants to get to the gold medal, and the captain is expected to play a big role in ensuring that his team gets the puck from the draw rather than opposition.
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The only worrying part of Lander’s play that goes into this tournament is penalties. Although he has missed seven games this season, he currently leads EV Zug with 17 minor penalties this season. Matches will be won and lost in special teams, and Sweden needs its captain to find a way to stay out of the box. If he can spend more time killing penalties than time in the box, Sweden should not have too many problems when it comes to shorthanded games.
Lander ready to represent his country
Being captain of your country at the Olympics is a great honor but comes with some serious expectations. Lander will need to be the emotional leader of this team and be one of if not the best player on the ice match after match. Sweden will rely heavily on the former Oiler to help them get back to the top of the podium, but he seems ready to lead the charge and take Sweden’s third Olympic gold medal ever.
Adam is happy to join The Hockey Writers as part of the Seattle Kraken and Vancouver Canucks team. His work is also on https://www.area51sportsnetwork.com/ where he covers the Vancouver Giants in the Western Hockey League.