Jesper Bratt benched at the Olympics with Sweden's standings on the line

Team Sweden was reeling after a 4-1 loss to Finland this week at the Olympic Games. The loss to their rivals came after a slow start against the host nation, Italy. It hasn’t been a great Olympics for Swedish hockey, which came in as one of the expected contenders for a gold medal.

There are a few directions for ire from Sweden, but it appears two players are getting the brunt of the criticism, at least from the coaching staff. Jesper Bratt and Filip Forsberg, two of the best NHL forwards on Team Sweden, have both been essentially benched during the tournament. 

Bratt was listed as the 13th forward for their important tilt against Slovakia. That means he doesn’t have a line to play on and won’t have regular deployments. As of this writing (there are eight minutes left in the third period), Bratt hasn’t touched the ice the entire game. He’s basically a spectator. 

We talked before the tournament about who would be the ideal forwards on Bratt's line, but apparently, Sweden's staff felt that no linemates were the best linemates for Bratt.

Jesper Bratt was essentially benched in Sweden's final game of group play at the Winter Olympics

This is not good for Bratt’s legacy as an impact forward. He’s supposed to be one of the New Jersey Devils most important forwards. He was supposed to come to Milan and gain confidence after a rough season for the Devils. Instead, this might crush his confidence. 

There are many implications from this situation. How will the Devils deal with Bratt’s benching? Can he reverse this situation and get back into the good graces of Sweden’s coaching staff? 

Sweden is close to beating Simon Nemec and Team Slovakia without Bratt, but it was likely closer than they would have hoped. Devils goalie Jacob Markstrom is in net, and he’s another one who needs confidence from this tournament. 

If Sweden beats Slovakia by more than three goals, they win their group and an automatic move into the quarterfinals. If they win by fewer than three goals, then Slovakia is going to win the group and Sweden could get a terrible seed going into the knockout round. If they win by exactly three goals, then the tiebreaker scenarios go crazy and Sweden, Slovakia, or Finland could win the group. 

If only the Swedes had a great distributor who could help the team score more goals in a must-win situation. There's plenty of tournament left, but this is a bad look.