We spoke to representatives of our four SHL participants from Sweden following the CHL Draw in Zurich, Switzerland to find out what their goals were for the upcoming season, what they thought about their six Regular Season opponents and who they were most looking forward to playing.
"We're in it to win it!" started Fredrik Sjöström, Sport Director of reigning CHL Champions Frölunda Gothenburg, "the goal is always to fight for the trophy, we're going to do our very best to win."
"The competition is tough!"Fredrik Sjöström, Sport Director Frölunda Gothenburg
Heading into their 10th season in Europe's elite club ice hockey competition, the five-time CHL Champions are the most successful team in CHL history. They've faced and come out on top against most of Europe's very best opponents. What excites them about their six-team line-up of Regular Season opponents?
"We're going to play against teams we haven't faced before. They are all good teams, it's going to be tough," commented Sjöström, going on to highlight Storhamar Hamar and Kölner Haie as two opponents that especially excite them.
Next to speak was Rögle Ängelholm's Sport Director Hampus Sjöström, who highlighted that the 2022 CHL Champions will aim to "win as many games as possible" and "make it as far as possible" in the upcoming season.
Last playing in 2022/23, the Swedes will face some of Europe's very best again in 2026/27, including familiar faces Tappara Tampere, who Rögle beat to the European Trophy in 2021/22. "We're looking forward to the competition, it's going to be fun against these highly competitive teams," said the Rögle Sport Director.
"We got some good trips to look forward to"Hampus Sjöström, Sport Director Rögle Ängelholm
Looking closer at Rögle's Regular Season schedule, which teams stand out to them aside from Tappara? "We have some Swedish friends in Davos who we look forward to facing," ended Sjöström.
Skellefteå AIK will head into their 10th CHL season in 2026/27 and despite not yet lifting the European Trophy, the reigning SHL champions have made it to the Final before and had countless memorable battles in arenas across the continent. It therefore comes as no surprise that in Sport Director Erik Forssell's words, the goal is very straightforward.
"Our goal is to win the whole competition"Erik Forssell, Sport Director Skellefteå AIK
"We've got some exciting teams lined up, but also some pretty tough opponents," he continued, going on to highlight some of the interesting match-ups to look forward to.
"Facing the Swiss teams at home is going to obviously be tough, we have faced them before in the CHL and playoffs and had mixed results, so we're going to have a chance to get them back," said Forssell, "our away games in Germany, Czechia and Slovakia are also going to be good fun - the atmosphere is usually really good there!"
Last to speak was Elliot Soprani, Art Director of the Växjö Lakers, who return to Europe's biggest club ice hockey competition after missing out on the action in 2025/26. Just like all their other SHL counterparts, they are here to win.
"We haven't won this competition before so we look forward to trying," commented Soprani, going on to discuss the six-team line-up of teams ready to put the Lakers through their paces in the upcoming Regular Season.
"We compete to win"Elliot Soprani, Art Director Växjö Lakers
"We have a wide spread of different teams, they are all going to be tough games," said Soprani, "but we're especially looking forward to facing Genève-Servette, as their new coach Sam Hallam won three championships with us and this will be the first time we face him."
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