Swedes Mika Zibanejad & Alex Wennberg get together with their families before the start of next NHL season

This week, the families of Swedish ice-hockey professionals Mika Zibanejad, Alex Wennberg and Erik Gustafsson enjoyed a day out by the lake. On Tuesday, Alex Wennberg’s wife Felicia shared a series of Instagram stories showing the families hanging out before the start of the upcoming NHL season.

One picture showed the kids gathered around a tabletop soccer game on a porch overlooking the water. Another pic captured a lakeside moment with Alex Wennberg in the water holding one of the children, while Erik Gustafsson sat nearby in a black t-shirt.

“New York Squad,” Felicia wrote followed by a white heart emoji.

Mika Zibanejad’s wife Irma later reposted both stories on her own account. The final photo showed the kids playing indoors, three of them standing on a window ledge and the other on the couch.

Mika Zibanejad is set to enter his 14th NHL season with the New York Rangers, following a challenging 2024-25 campaign where he recorded 62 points but struggled with consistency.

Meanwhile, Alex Wennberg returns for his second season with the San Jose Sharks after contributing 35 points in 77 games during the previous season and Erik Gustafsson is entering the final year of his two-year, $4 million contract with the Detroit Red Wings.

Mika Zibanejad surprises wife Irma with sweet birthday surprise

Earlier last month, Mika Zibanejad made sure his wife Irma Helin’s 31st birthday was one to remember. Irma later shared a video on her Instagram stories showing the heartwarming start to her day.

In the clip, Zibanejad walked into the room holding their baby daughter Ella in one arm and a bouquet of flowers in the other. He turned on the lights and sang a birthday song to his wife who was still in bed.

Helin reflected on her day in the caption writing that she enjoyed a sleep-in, a cozy breakfast with her family, a massage, a padel session and dinner with “Mikkis.”

The story was captioned in Swedish and translates to:

“Sleep-in. Cozy breakfast with my darlings. Massage!!! The best thing I know, kind of. Padel (yep, I still love that crap!!) Dinner with Mikkis ❤️ One hell of a great day!!! (Birthday. 31??!!??!! When did I become an old lady!!! Oh well!!! Best thing I know!!!)”

Mika Zibanejad and Irma Helin have been together for over a decade and tied the knot in August 2021 in Sweden. They welcomed their daughter Ella in September 2023.

About the author

Anjum is an NHL reporter at Sportskeeda with over five years of professional experience in the spectator sports industry. Raised in Bahrain, Anjum grew up close to the Formula 1 and GP2 scene, but it was ice-sports that she truly had a chance to play at school.

Anjum prioritizes thorough research, fact-checking and verification of sources when reporting, and has worked for Oil on Whyte, Leafs Herald, the Nation of Blaugrana, Barca International Cules, FromTheBend, Last Word On Sports and NASA.

She got interested in ice hockey after watching the “MVP” trilogy as a second grader and has not gotten over the sport yet. Her favorite player is Alex Ovechkin, whose legendary one-timers live rent free in her heart. The iconic moment when Ovechkin reached 800 career goals with a hat trick in Chicago as the away crowd chanted “Ovi, Ovi” is probably her happiest memory from an ice-rink.

When not enjoying the game, Anjum can be found sailing, star-mapping or collaborating with fellow citizen scientists at NASA.

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Edited by Anjum Rajonno