f players have been unable to return to form after a patellar tendon tear

GOTHENBURG, Sweden -- Team USA needs to decide which goalie will be its No. 1 starter.Team Canada has some questions on defense.Team North America is loaded with dynamic and exciting young talent but lacks veteran leadership.The Russians havent had much success on the international scale of late.Team Europe is a group of players without a country.Finland also has to settle on its starting goaltender.The Czechs have been slashed with injuries to key players.So what are the issues for Team Sweden? Absolutely nothing.The Swedes, fresh off a silver medal at the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics, are solid in every aspect of the game. Its chemistry, depth, talent and consistency are four reasons Team Sweden will win the World Cup of Hockey in Toronto.Its more than just a gut-check prediction.Each of these eight teams in this tournament are loaded with the best players in the world, so it shouldnt take long for every team to mesh during training camp. But after scouting Team Sweden for the first three days of camp, its as though this group has been playing together forever. In some cases, many of these players have, especially on the international level. The majority of this roster played in the last Olympics, and combined its players have 815 games with the national team.Theres a calm demeanor about Sweden. Its players collectively ooze a quiet confidence.Obviously, we want to win it, said forward Nicklas Backstrom. Ultimately, thats our goal. Were striving for that, but we know there are a lot of good teams out there, so we really have to play our best.Theres no blah-blah-blah to this teams chemistry.Its huge, Backstrom said. If you look at teams that have been successful, its always the team that really gets together and plays as a team. Its so important. Weve got to get everything together. Its been good so far, but were starting games [Thursday], so itll be interesting.Henrik Lundqvist is the No. 1 goalie now and for the foreseeable future, until he decides to give up his throne. Coach Rikard Gronborg can still be flexible with his lines and defensive pairings, but things appear pretty much set. Special teams looked fantastic during the first week of training camp. The players are focused and jovial as they prepare for a pair of preseason games against Finland on Thursday and Saturday before both teams travel to Washington, D.C., to continue the World Cup pre-tournament season.Sweden is the poster child for consistency -- and conformity.Everyone knows their role from the get-go, said defenseman Victor Hedman. We had a couple of meetings during August in Stockholm and went through the way we want to play and whos going to play where, so we had time to prepare. Its on everyone to bring their best to every game. Thats something were really looking forward to, and well try to play at our best when the World Cup starts.It starts in net.Lundqvist, who will not play in the first pre-tournament game against Finland, has been working hard in practice. Hes been getting plenty of reps and is fighting for every puck, even those third and fourth chances during drills. There was some concern that he could miss time after he took a puck to the ribs in practice last week, but he said he will play through the soreness because it doesnt affect his game.Its likely he will play in the second pre-tournament game against Finland on Saturday at Scadinavium in Gothenburg. Theres no doubt hes focused on the task at hand.This past month, Ive been skating harder than Ive done before just to prepare for this and prepare for the new season with the?New York Rangers. I feel like its an important year, Lundqvist said.Swedens special teams are potent. The first power-play unit features?Loui Eriksson, Henrik Sedin and Daniel Sedin, along with defensemen Erik Karlsson and Oliver Ekman-Larsson. If that lineup doesnt scare you, Sweden follows with forwards Backstrom, Patric Hornqvist, Gabriel Landeskog and Filip Forsberg, with Anton Stralman running the back end. And dont be surprised to see Karlsson play the majority of the minutes on the power play because of his striking offensive ability.A major strength for Sweden is its ability to control the puck. These players are known for their hockey sense and can slow the game down and turn it into a thinking persons game. Eriksson is a master at doing this, and playing alongside the Sedins should allow him to make it even more difficult on his opponents.Each day after practice, Swedens centers have worked on faceoffs for more than 30 minutes. A team with such strong puck-possession skills needs to control faceoffs.Well, we recognized -- when we sat down and looked at our faceoff percentage last year for our centermen in the National Hockey League -- [that] its obviously not very good, Gronborg said. Its a big emphasis for us. And in a puck-possession game, theres no better way to gain possession of the puck than to win the faceoffs. It would be stupid for us not to work on it and emphasize it in practice, so thats what were trying to do.Before training camp, Swedens roster took a hit, losing captain Henrik Zetterberg, goalie Robin Lehner, defenseman Niklas Kronwall and forward Alexander Steen. Replacments were forwards Rickard Rakell, Mikael Backlund, goalie Jhonas Enroth and defenseman Hampus Lindholm. Backlund and Lindholm will not dress for the first pre-tournament game against Finland, Gronborg announced Wednesday.Even as Sweden prepares to compete on the international stage, the memory of its loss to Canada in the gold-medal game in Sochi is still fresh. Despite their professed one-game-at-a-time mentality, theres no doubt the Swedes would love another shot against Canada.Everybody who comes here, everybody who sits here, wants to win, Karlsson said. We dont want to go to have fun and not win. We want to go there have fun, play hard and win. That rubs off on the rest of the people in our nation, and theyre starting to expect it as well.Despite the underdog classification, Karlsson said it wouldnt be a surprise if Sweden beat Canada. In fact, you cant consider Sweden a long shot. Its the top team in the tournament.Weve beaten them before and we can beat them, Karlsson said. We know we can beat them. 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RENTON, Wash. -- Jimmy Graham jogged out wearing his white Seattle practice uniform as usual on Wednesday.Except this time, Graham was wearing his helmet, too.When you are away from it for as long as Ive been, its very sweet when you get the opportunity to do it again, Graham said.Graham was activated off the physically unable to perform list by the Seahawks, another step in his recovery from his major knee injury last season. Coach Pete Carroll kept saying Graham was inching closer to a return, and one day after running back Thomas Rawls got back on the field, Graham joined in.Graham went through a light practice, doing some positional drills but not taking part in any full team work. It was his first time on the field with his teammates since Week 12 of last season when he tore the patellar tendon in his right knee in a game against Pittsburgh.Graham had surgery almost immediately after the injury and his right knee was completely immobilized for 11 to 12 weeks. The recovery from a patellar tendon tear can sometimes take up to a year but Graham was back on the field in less than nine months.There were some dark days. Its been eight months and its been a constant eight months, Graham said. Ive never been through something where every day you had to do something for it. Every day you wake up and until you go to bed youre doing some type of rehab. Its been like that for me for eight months and it will continue to be like that for me for the next eight months. Its something Im always going to have to pay attention to.Grahams injury happened as he attempted to pull in a pass in the end zone during Seattles victory over the Steelers. Seattle had struggled to find the best ways to utilize Graham even before the injury. Some games he was dominant over the middle. Some gamees he mostly disappeared.dddddddddddd.Graham already had four catches in the game against the Steelers before going down. He finished the season with 48 receptions and two touchdowns.The pain was pretty terrible. Thats for sure, Graham said. And when you look down at your knee and dont see your kneecap you know something is wrong.Now, the lingering question is whether he still has the speed and agility that made him such a difficult matchup prior to the injury. A number of players have been unable to return to form after a patellar tendon tear. New York Giants wide receiver Victor Cruz, who had the same injury, told Graham not to rush his return.I dont think about how other guys have been or what its done to other guys, Graham said. I think Im a little different. Im still fast, which is real good.Graham now wants to start rebuilding his link with quarterback Russell Wilson. Its unlikely that Graham will play in the preseason and he jokingly said hes not allowed to say whether hell be ready for the season opener against Miami on Sept. 11.Its time for me to start that connection with Russ. I think we both felt it, Graham said. Ive been out here busting my butt every morning and every afternoon, so its time.Game notes Second-round pick DT Jarran Reed left the field Wednesday after appearing to have his left ankle stepped on during a drill. Reed limped off to the sideline under his own power but was taken to the locker room by cart. There was no update on his status. ... WR Doug Baldwin returned to limited work after missing the past week when his Achilles tendon was stepped on.---AP NFL website: www.pro32.ap.org and http://twitter.com/AP-NFL ' ' '