There are swarms of Swedes in the NHL, but several players have at the last moment had to leave the NHL to be sent to the farmer's team or be loaned. As the basic series starts, there are 82 Swedes in 30 of the 31 teams. Only the New York Islanders lack a Swedish player (see fact box).

Who wins the Stanley Cup?

Jonas Andersson believes that spring's final Boston team will get revenge and win this season instead while reigning champion St. Louis gets it tougher.

- St. Louis is having trouble repeating last year's success. The team was last in the entire NHL in January and accounted for a historic end to the season that was crowned Stanley Cup win.

- Know how difficult it is to relive the team morale and cohesion that existed last year and it is a necessity if it is to be an endgame, says SVT's expert.

The stars:

Connor McDavid , Edmonton - so clear!

Sidney Crosby , Pittsburgh - Can't talk about big stars without him.

Alexander Ovetjkin , Washington - Will he ever grow old?

Nikita Kutjerov - broke the points record for a Russian player last season (128 points / 82 matches), can he match it this year?

New players:

Jack Hughes , New Jersey, forward, (18 years)

Kaapo Kakko , New York Rangers, forward, (18 years)

Cale Maka r, Colorado, back, (turns 21 this fall) made ten games in the playoffs

- Extreme talents that will be fun to follow, thinks Jonas.

Swedish question mark:

Elias Pettersson - can he repeat his rookie season?

William Nylander - will he get revenge for last year?

Mika Zibanejad - can he play with new big star Artemi Panarin?

Emil Bemström - Does he become a regular in Columbus?

Jonas Andersson still believes that Elias Pettersson, who was named NHL's best newcomer, is having at least as good a season this year.

- At the beginning of last season, the team barely knew who he was. By the end of the season everyone had a good time. He has also described himself that he did not really endure the entire season. With that said, he will always be matched against the opponents' best slopes and be heavily guarded, says SVT expert Jonas Andersson.

- He is skilled enough to surpass last year's production (66 points 28 goals / 38 assists in 71 matches), but it is far from given and that makes it very interesting to follow.

The search:

Finally a scout from Jonas Andersson.

- An interesting trend is that players have become smaller and smaller. When you go back in the draft statistics, the players drafted in 2018 are on average almost 7 kilos lighter than the players drafted in 2005. This means that the trend will continue and that the game will be even faster, says SVT expert Jonas Andersson.