Ruling Opens Door for Lundqvist to Play in Sweden Sweden's top league, the Elitserien, has been ordered by the government to lift its ban against short-term contracts, opening the way for locked-out N.H.L. players to play in the only European league that had blocked their entry. The government Competition Authority handed down a decision Friday that the Elitserien's ban violates Swedish and European labor laws. Translation here. Any club continuing to ban locked-out N.H.L. players faces a $3 million fine. The decision had been expected ever since the Competition Authority general counsel, Per Karlsson, said last week that the Elitserien's ban "can be repealed." Earlier this month, the Competition Authority made a similar decision in connection to the second-tier Allsvenskan, and clubs in that league have been signing locked-out N.H.L. players ever since, including the Los Angeles star Anze Kopitar. Now the door is open in the Elitserien (often not quite accurately referred to as the Swedish Elite League in North American news reports), and ready to walk through it to Frolunda Gothenburg are three big-time N.H.L. stars: Henrik Lundqvist, Erik Karlsson and Loui Eriksson. The supertrio, as Eurosport Sweden calls the three ex-Frolunda players (translation here), have been talking to the club in anticipation of the Competition Authority decision. Lundqvist, the Rangers' goalie, won last season's Vezina Trophy; the Senators defenseman Karlsson is the Norris Trophy holder; and the Stars forward Eriksson is an N.H.L. All-Star. About 60 locked-out N.H.L. players have agreed to or signed overseas contracts, less than a week into the work stoppage. In 2004-5, almost 400 N.H.L. players played overseas.