Minnesota Wild to play a pair of 2023 games in Sweden

ST. PAUL — Eight current members of the Minnesota Wild are facing the prospect of the ultimate homecoming road trip next season. While much could change on the team’s roster between now and November, the eight Swedish players on the Wild roster may have an opportunity to play in their home country, as Minnesota is among four teams that will participate in the 2023 NHL Global Series on Nov. 18-19 in Stockholm.

The Wild will be the designated road team on Saturday, Nov. 18 for a 10 a.m. CT game versus the Ottawa Senators. One day later, Minnesota will wear the home sweaters and face the Toronto Maple Leafs for a 7 a.m. CT game. The matches will be played in the 14,000-seat Avicii Arena in Stockholm.

Ticket packages for the games, which include airfare, hotel, tours and exclusive team events, will go on sale May 3 with more information available on the Wild website .

The Global Series games will mark the second time the Wild have played regular-season games in Europe. Minnesota participated in the 2010 NHL Premiere in Helsinki, Finland, playing two games against the Carolina Hurricanes at Hartwall Arena. The Wild lost to the Hurricanes, 4-3 on Oct. 7, 2010, and fell 2-1 in a shootout on Oct. 8, 2010. The gathering in Stockholm will be a four-team affair, with the Detroit Red Wings also playing the Maple Leafs and Senators.

Currently, Minnesota has eight Swedish players on its roster: Jonas Brodin (Karlstad), Joel Eriksson Ek (Karlstad), Filip Gustavsson (Skellefteå), Marcus Johansson (Landskrona), John Klingberg (Gothenburg), Gustav Nyquist (Halmstad), Oskar Sundqvist (Boden) and Jesper Wallstedt (Vasteras).

To date, there have been 38 NHL regular-season games played outside of North America, including 32 played in Europe. There have been 13 NHL regular-season games played in Sweden, 12 of which were played in Stockholm. The 2023 NHL Global Series will mark the 10th season overall that the NHL has traveled to Europe to play regular-season games.

Jess Myers covers college hockey, as well as outdoors, general sports and travel, for The Rink Live and the Forum Communications family of publications. He came to FCC in 2018 after three decades of covering sports as a freelancer for a variety of publications, while working full time in politics and media relations. A native of Warroad, Minn. (the real Hockeytown USA), Myers has a degree in journalism/communications from the University of Minnesota Duluth. He lives in the Twin Cities. Contact Jess via email at jrmyers@forumcomm.com, or find him on Twitter via @JessRMyers. English speaker.