“I feel honoured by the opportunity to be captain of Tre Kronor for the third time in my career,” Ekman-Larsson said, via an English translation of Sweden’s national team’s Twitter account. “We have already now begun building a strong team spirit, and we will continue to build it every day during this championship.”
Ekman-Larsson also represented Sweden at the 2026 Winter Olympics, but was held pointless through five games. At the 2014 Winter Games, he had three assists in six games.
The 34-year-old will be joined in the leadership group by the Edmonton Oilers’ Mattias Ekholm and the Detroit Red Wings’ Lucas Raymond.
Ekman-Larsson is coming off a great year with the Maple Leafs, in which he had eight goals and 31 assists in 78 games.