Marcus Johansson’s strong season with Wild puts him in Swedish Olympic team picture

LAS VEGAS — The Wild population at the Olympics will be visibly American.

New defenseman Quinn Hughes is already on Team USA, while Brock Faber and Matt Boldy are shoo-ins. Coach John Hynes is an assistant, Wild personnel are also filling out the support staff and president of hockey operations Bill Guerin is overseeing the entire operation as general manager.

But the Wild’s latest win looked more like a tune-up for Sweden.

Marcus Johansson had a hand in four goals, Joel Eriksson Ek scored one and set up another and Jonas Brodin assisted on two while also blocking four shots.

Filip Gustavsson, backed up by Jesper Wallstedt, was in net as the Wild dismissed Vegas 5-2 at the first West Coast stop on their season-long road trip.

Olympic rosters are due New Year’s Eve and while Brodin, Eriksson Ek and Gustavsson are considered locks after they suited up for Sweden in the 4 Nations Face-Off earlier this year, Johansson has made a compelling case to join them in Milan by debuting the best hockey of his NHL career in the first half of the Wild’s season.

“I would love to,” Johansson said. “Hopefully I’ve shown enough. We’ll see.”

The veteran winger has been steady all along as one of the Wild’s most consistent players — even when they were slumping early — and the proof is in his production: After his offense was limited to 11 goals in each of the previous two seasons, Johansson surpassed that total vs. the Golden Knights when he netted his 12th only 26 seconds into the game. Three assists later Johansson tied his career high with four points, a feat he previously accomplished against the Wild when he was with Washington in 2017.

“The way he plays, I don’t think he can do a lot more than he’s doing,” Eriksson Ek said.

Johansson’s four game-winning goals lead the Wild, as does his plus-21 rating.

The nine-game point streak he had in October and November is the longest of the 35-year-old’s career, and he celebrated 1,000 games in November — all while being on a team-friendly, one-year contract worth $800,000.

Only three Swedish NHLers have more points than his 32 in 38 games.

Performance aside, Johansson also has his experience working in his favor.

The native of Landskrona, Sweden, has played for his country in multiple tournaments, including the World Juniors, World Championship and Olympics; Johansson was on Team Sweden the last time the NHL sent its players to participate in 2014 in Sochi.

“It’s an honor to play for your country,” said Johansson, who mentioned he hasn’t heard from Swedish brass. “Like I said, I’ve tried to [do] what I can to earn a spot. We’ll see.”

Perhaps Johansson’s most appealing quality, though, is his connection with Eriksson Ek.

In a short tournament where teams need to click quickly to succeed, having a duo with familiarity is a plus; it’s why Faber and Hughes could headline the U.S. defense even though Faber and Carolina’s Jaccob Slavin were a shutdown force at the 4 Nations.

The Wild could have as many as 12 players at the Olympics.

Nico Sturm was named to Germany’s preliminary roster, and prospects David Jiricek and David Spacek could make the Czech Republic team; same with goaltender Samuel Hlavaj for Slovakia.

No country would have more Wild representation than Sweden if all five are taken.

But if they aren’t, they still deliver as a package deal for the Wild.