Several stars are missing in Ulf Lundberg's first Damkronor squad

Ylva Martinsen did not gain new confidence as the national team captain for Damkronorna after last season. The new national team captain is the former Södertälje coach Ulf Lundberg, who today presented the 22-player squad to a camp in Skövde at the end of the month.

That squad lacked three of the biggest Swedish stars of recent years: Brynäs Erika Grahm and the Luleå duo Emma Nordin and Johanna Fällman.

However, this is not because they lack motivation for a continued investment with Damkronorna, nor is it because they are not judged to keep the measure, according to Lundberg.

- I have been met by all players with great curiosity. You really want to be involved and feel that you have good hockey left in you, and you want to be involved and compete. Then there are a few different things from person to person that make them not included this time, Lundberg says to SVT Sport.

For perhaps the biggest profile, Erika Grahm, it is about her job as sports director for Brynäs ladies:

- It was not possible to go away like this the last week of August with everything that happens and her service in Brynäs. I visited there in June, and since then we have had a discussion ever since. So I made the decision that it is better that she focuses on the job and to train, then it will be scouting of her and everyone else until the selection of the November tournament, says Lundberg.

As recently as May, Erika Grahm told SVT Sport that she had not decided whether she would continue in Damkronorna.

Emma Nordin, who was chosen as the Swedish player of the year as late as 2019, is missing due to a combination of two things. Partly a certain feeling of injury, and then a job she has with her teammate in Luleå, Johanna Fällman.

- Right now Fällman, together with Emma Nordin, are instructors at Luleå's girls' camp so they are full. Then they just went on ice. But I will of course keep a close eye on these players before the next selection, says Ulf Lundberg.

So there are no players who have turned down the Damkronorna, but it is only this camp that they are missing?

- It is the opposite. Honestly. They are extremely positive, and I have been very pleased. It was of course one of the first questions to all the players that I called: If there was the desire and motivation, but I have been met with an incredible hunger and energy.

It is also noteworthy that two debutants have been selected: HV71's 17-year-old giant talent Thea Johansson and Leksand's 22-year-old center Kajsa Armborg. And Ulf Lundberg is very eager to see these two, and all the other players.

- I think this squad feels very exciting. It is a fairly young squad, there are a lot of players who have not played for so long and so much in Damkronorna. So I am terribly curious to start the camp and get to know them, he says.