NHL back to Sweden for 2017 Global Series

The NHL will stage two regular season games in Sweden in 2017-18 as part of the 2017 NHL Global Series. They made the announcement this morning and unveiled the event logo, designed by Fanbrandz.

The Colorado Avalanche and Ottawa Senators will meet for the two games at Ericsson Globe Arena in Stockholm on Nov. 10 and 11. Why the Avs and Sens? Consider their Swedish captains: Gabriel Landeskog and Erik Karlsson. Both are very popular in their home country.

The two teams have actually played in Sweden in the past as well. The Avalanche played an exhibition game against a Swedish club in the 2001 NHL Challenge, an event cut short by the U.S. terror attacks. The Senators opened the 2008-09 season with two games against the Pittsburgh Penguins as part of the NHL Premiere event.

In fact, this Global Series seems a lot like NHL Premiere without the part where hometown fans feel cheated out of attending their team's season opener. NHL Premiere opened the regular season for five straight years from 2007-08 to 2011-12. At its peak in 2010-11, the NHL sent six different teams to play games in Europe. They haven't sent any since October 2011.

What do you think of the new Global Series logo? And do you like the idea of teams playing regular season games in Europe?