It’s always fun to follow international tournaments to see who makes their respective nation’s rosters. In some cases, like Team Canada, Team USA, Team Sweden, Team Finland, etc., the countries are made up of the NHL’s top stars mixed with some depth players.
But when you go down the list to the European countries that don’t have as many current NHLers, it’s always fun to see who makes the roster. They’re often made up of players who never made it to North America. But you usually have former NHL players, and perhaps even draft picks, who get a chance to play on the international stage.
That’s the case for Team Switzerland. They revealed their Olympics roster on Wednesday, highlighted by NHL superstars Roman Josi and Nico Hischier. Also of note are Timo Meier, J.J. Moser, Jonas Siegenthaler, Kevin Fiala, Nino Niederreiter, and Pius Suter. In goal, Akira Schmid is the lone NHL goalie on the team.
Three former Avalanche players will also represent Switzerland. Forwards Sven Andrighetto and Denis Malgin, and goaltender Reto Berra.
Malgin was a member of the Avs during the 2022-23 season. He mostly played a third-line role, recording 11 goals and six assists in 42 games while averaging just 10:32 per game in ice time. In one stretch, Malgin had 10 goals and four assists in 27 games.
Andrighetto spent three years with the Avs. His numbers popped when he first arrived in a midseason trade, but he was unable to keep that up in the following two seasons. The Avs acquired Andrighetto during their terrible 2016-17 season.
He played 19 games for Colorado that year, posting 5 goals, 11 assists and 16 points in 17:30 time-on-ice per game. Andrighetto ended that season and started the 2017-18 year on a line with Nathan MacKinnon and Mikko Rantanen. It didn’t last long in 2017-18, and in his final 114 games with Colorado, he had just 15 goals and 24 assists.
His most famous goal came in the playoffs. Andrighetto scored the game-winning goal in Game 5 against the Nashville Predators in 2018 to extend the series to a sixth game.
Berra didn’t have nearly the success the two forwards had. He was infamously acquired in a puzzling trade from the Calgary Flames that sent a second-round draft pick the other way in 2014. Berra, now 39, started 26 and appeared in 35 games for Colorado over three seasons, going 10-13-2 with three shutouts.
