(Reuters) – The National Hockey League (NHL) will hold four regular-season games in Sweden next season featuring the Toronto Maple Leafs, Detroit Red Wings, Ottawa Senators and Minnesota Wild, the league said on Wednesday.
There will be a game each day from Nov. 16-19 at Avicii Arena in Stockholm with a clash between Detroit and Ottawa kicking off the 2023 NHL Global Series – Sweden.
For the Maple Leafs, who Forbes lists as the NHL’s second most valuable team, their Nov. 17 clash against Detroit will mark the first time they play a regular season game outside of North America.
Minnesota will face Ottawa on Nov. 18 before closing out the series against Toronto on Nov. 19.
There are 36 players of European nationalities on the Red Wings, Wild, Senators and Maple Leafs, including 21 Swedish players.
To date, there have been 38 NHL regular-season games played outside of North America, including 32 played in Europe. There have been 13 NHL regular-season games played in Sweden.
(Reporting by Frank Pingue in Toronto; Editing by Toby Davis)
