\u201cIt\u2019s amazing,\u201d he said. \u201cI remember watching in \u201906 when Sweden won that gold and this is something that everyone is looking at. Imagine being on a team representing the best of the best. So it\u2019s something you always looked to, and with COVID and with all the years the NHL did not go, I didn\u2019t know if I\u2019d have the chance to go.\u201d<\/p>\n
Wennberg wasn\u2019t picked to play for Sweden at the 4 Nations Face-Off last season, but he was on standby during the tournament as a potential injury replacement. So he figured he would be the bubble to make the Olympic team when this season began.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere are so many good players,\u201d he said. \u201cI knew it was me and a few other guys. Obviously, I wanted to have a good start to the season and with the role I\u2019m playing, it\u2019s being a bottom-six guy, whatever they choose, PK, power play, face-off, whatever they need. So they just said, \u2018Keep doing that and we\u2019ll see in January.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
Hallam and team Sweden\u2019s management, headed by general manager Jose Boumedienne, liked what they saw and thought Wennberg\u2019s intelligence and versatility will be valuable at the Olympics.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen he started this year, the way he has played this year both offensively and defensively, we just feel he\u2019s a player we can put into pretty much every role out there,\u201d Hallam said. \u201cHe can play on the power play, on the PK. He can play fourth line. He can play top six. He can also play on the wing.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd he’s a mature, smart person you want to have around you in the room, too.\u201d<\/p>\n
That\u2019s been a big part of the Wennberg\u2019s value to the Sharks as well. In his 12th NHL season after being selected by the Blue Jackets with the No. 14 pick in the 2013 NHL Draft, he has 407 points (111 goals, 296 assists) in 844 NHL games with the Blue Jackets, Florida Panthers, Seattle Kraken, New York Rangers and Sharks and 19 points (eight goals, 11 assists) in 58 playoff games.<\/p>\n
But Wennberg’s value goes beyond statistics; he has been a steadying presence centering San Jose\u2019s second line behind Macklin Celebrini<\/a> and perhaps produced more than anticipated when he was initially signed to a two-year, $10 million contract as an unrestricted free agent on July 1, 2024.<\/p>\n \u201cHe\u2019s been rock solid for us,\u201d Sharks coach Ryan Warsofsky said. \u201cHe plays a 200-foot game. I think his game has improved too over the years here, and this year he\u2019s taken a nice step. He made the Olympic team for Sweden. He\u2019s transporting pucks more than he has, holding onto pucks more, creating a little bit more offense to his game. Instead of being almost like a shutdown center, he\u2019s kind of evolved more.<\/p>\n \u201cIn that 2C (role), you\u2019ve got to drive a little offense, and he\u2019s done a good job of that.\u201d<\/p>\n In addition, Wennberg has provided valuable experience and a veteran example for a Sharks team with a talented young core up front, including Celebrini, 19, Will Smith<\/a>, 20, Sam Dickinson<\/a>, 19, Michael Misa<\/a>, 18, William Eklund<\/a>, 23, Collin Graf<\/a>, 23, and Yaroslav Askarov<\/a>, 23.<\/p>\n Warsofsky said Wennberg\u2019s presence has been \u201ccritical\u201d for San Jose centers Celebrini, Smith (before he was moved to wing) and Misa.<\/p>\n Warsofsky uses video clips of Wennberg as a teaching tool for Misa, the No. 2 pick in the 2025 NHL Draft who is learning how play center in the NHL on the fly during his rookie season.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u201cIt\u2019s amazing,\u201d he said. \u201cI remember watching in \u201906 when Sweden won that gold and this is something…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":464064,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[556],"tags":[64,63,575,85],"class_list":["post-464356","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nhl","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-nhl","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/464356","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=464356"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/464356\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/464064"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=464356"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=464356"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=464356"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}