Maple Leafs’ Nylander & Devils’ Bratt Share Mutual Excitement for 4 Nations Face-Off – The Hockey Writers

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As players report to the 4 Nations Face-Off in less than a week and a half, excitement is building by the day. Toronto Maple Leafs forward William Nylander and New Jersey Devils forward Jesper Bratt are both in the top three of Swedish point producers, notching 51 and 58 so far, respectively.

The two have only donned the Swedish “three crowns” jerseys as teammates once, during the 2019 International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) World Championships. Now, they will get to do so on a massive stage. In a recent interview with NHL.com, Bratt talked about his relationship with Nylander and his hopes to become linemates with him: “I don’t really play with him too much in the summer when we scrimmage because we’re usually against each other,” he said. “He’s an amazing player, so dynamic. He reminds me a lot of [Jack Hughes] with his skating, shot, shiftiness and puck control. It would be really special to get on a line with him.”

William Nylander Toronto Maple Leafs — William Nylander, Toronto Maple Leafs (Jess Starr/The Hockey Writers)

Similarly, Nylander shared some praise for Bratt: “I skated with Jesper a little bit in the summer. He’s a tremendous player. And obviously, there’s a lot of great guys but he’d be a fun guy to play with, that’s for sure.” (via Sportsnet)

Upon being asked if players have discussed amongst themselves, Nylander said, “So far, someone set up a team chat, but nobody has said anything,” and then laughed.

In addition to these two, Detroit’s Lucas Raymond and Nashville’s Filip Forsberg are also point-per-game players who come from Sweden. It will certainly be interesting to see how their lines shake up with so much talent.

Furthermore, Sweden’s rivalry with Finland is going to be on its’ biggest stage since the 2014 Olympics. After the rosters were announced, Finnish forward and Bratt’s Devils teammate, Erik Haula, joked that he’d “run Bratt through the boards”. When The Hockey Writers asked Bratt for his response to that, he laughed and said, “I guess I’ll have to (do the same), or I’ll do it my way and try to dangle him or something. But we’ll have some battles out there. It will be exciting.”

Make sure to stay tuned to The Hockey Writers for all of your 4 Nations Face-Off coverage.