Predators' Mattias Ekholm added to Sweden's World Cup roster

Predators defenseman Mattias Ekholm was added to Sweden's final World Cup of Hockey roster Friday, becoming the fifth Predators player named to participate in the preseason tournament.

Ekholm, who recently represented Sweden in the International Ice Hockey Federation World Championships, had a career-high eight goals and 35 points for Nashville this season. He scored three goals and seven points in 14 playoff games.

"It's like Olympics. It's the best (players) from Sweden, and the defense group we have is unbelievable," Ekholm said earlier this month of the possibility of playing in the World Cup of Hockey. "To be a part of that would be amazing. It would be just a great experience for me personally."

Sweden's defense also includes Ottawa's Erik Karlsson, Arizona's Oliver Ekman-Larsson, Tampa Bay's Victor Hedman and Anton Stralman, Chicago's Niklas Hjalmarsson and Detroit's Niklas Kronwall.

In March, Predators captain Shea Weber (Canada), defenseman Roman Josi (Europe), forward Filip Forsberg (Sweden) and goaltender Pekka Rinne (Finland) were listed on the preliminary World Cup rosters for their respective countries.

The World Cup of Hockey is an eight-team international tournament set for Sept. 17-Oct. 1 in Toronto. Six countries — the United States, Canada, Sweden, Finland, Russia and the Czech Republic — will have their own 23-man teams.

Team Europe will be made up of players outside of the four European countries already participating, and Team North America will feature American and Canadian players who will be 23 or younger as of Oct. 1.

Reach Adam Vingan on Twitter @AdamVingan.