The NHL is headed for a break, but hockey most certainly is not.
After an incredibly (and unexpectedly) delicious appetizer last February with the 4 Nations Face-Off, best-on-best men’s hockey returns in full bloom with the first Olympics to feature players from the world’s top league since 2014.
Following Thursday night’s games, the NHLers talented and fortunate enough to represent their countries will head to Italy to prepare for a tournament that begins on Wednesday with a tilt between Finland and Slovakia at 10:40 a.m. ET.
Ten other countries — Canada, the U.S., Sweden, Czechia, Switzerland, Germany, France, Latvia, Denmark and host Italy — will be part of the draw to decide who wins the gold medal Finland claimed in 2022 and Canada won the last time there was a best-on-best Olympics in 2014.
Naturally, NHL clubs will have a lot of skin in the game. First and foremost, they’ll be hoping none of their star players sustains an injury while on international sabbatical. On the positive side, even if it means bones are wearier upon their return, the experience of playing with and against the world’s best on the Olympic stage can provide tangible lessons that benefit a player for the rest of his NHL days.
The five-ringed fun is almost here. With that in mind, we’ll use the final power ranking before the NHL hiatus to highlight the players from all 32 squads who are set to live out an Olympic dream.
1. Tampa Bay Lightning (36-14-4) Winger Brandon Hagel will be there for Canada. We’re still assuming injured forward Brayden Point will join him, but Anthony Cirelli is a last-minute scratch for the Canadians due to injury. Victor Hedman will anchor Sweden’s blueline, and he’ll be joined by winger Pontus Holmberg. J.J. Moser, who’s having an incredible year, will be a huge piece on the back end for Switzerland; fellow defenceman Erik Cernak is set to represent Slovakia; forwards Zemgus Girgensons (Latvia) and Oliver Bjorkstrand (Denmark) will be in Italy, and Team USA will be looking to winger Jake Guentzel for a huge goal or two.
2. Colorado Avalanche (37-9-9) Centre Nathan MacKinnon and defenceman Cale Makar are two of the most important Canadians in the tournament. Canada is hoping defenceman Devon Toews will be there, but he has stated he’ll be staying home if his pregnant wife has not given birth before the tourney. Wingers Gabriel Landeskog (Sweden) and Martin Necas (Czechia) are dinged up, but expected to play. Winger Artturi Lehkonen could be a big-game player for Finland and he’ll be joined by fellow winger Joel Kiviranta. Meanwhile, Brock Nelson will extend his family’s incredible Olympic legacy with Team USA. Nelson’s uncle, Dave Christian, was on the 1980 ‘Miracle on Ice’ team, and both his grandfather (Bill Christian) and great uncle (Roger Christian) played on the U.S. team that won gold on home ice in Squaw Valley in 1960.
3. Carolina Hurricanes (35-15-6) Carolina is sending two Danes who could have a huge say in how the club fares in the form of goalie Frederik Andersen and winger Nikolaj Ehlers. Jaccob Slavin will be Team USA’s shutdown guy on the blueline and centre Sebastian Aho will be a lead horse for Finland.
4. Dallas Stars (34-14-9) Four Stars — defencemen Miro Heiskanen and Esa Lindel, winger Mikko Rantanen and centre Roope Hintz — will be enormous parts of Team Finland. Jake Oettinger dons the pads for the Stars and Stripes, Radek Faksa will be up the middle for Czechia and Thomas Harley is a Canadian blue-liner.
5. Minnesota Wild (34-14-10) One year after being forced to miss the 4 Nations due to injury, defenceman Quinn Hughes will be there for the Americans. He’ll be joined by his usual partner, Brock Faber, and scoring winger Matt Boldy. Minnesota’s Swedish goalie battery of Filip Gustavsson and Jesper Wallstedt is headed to Italy, along with winger Marcus Johansson and big centre Joel Eriksson Ek. Defenceman David Spacek — who’s played two NHL games this year — will line up for Czechia, while centre Nico Sturm will represent Germany.
6. Buffalo Sabres (32-18-8) American forward Tage Thompson and Swedish rearguard Rasmus Dahlin will represent Buffalo abroad.
7. Detroit Red Wings (33-19-6) Moritz Seider gets all kinds of ice time in Detroit and you can bet the German blue-liner will be playing close to 30 minutes per game at the Olympics. Forward Dylan Larkin will be there for Team USA and winger Lucas Raymond will be counted on to help drive the Swedish offence.
8. Montreal Canadiens (32-17-8) Winger Alexandre Texier is France’s lone NHLer, rookie centre Oliver Kapanen is on Finland and Nick Suzuki could conceivably play on any one of Canada’s four forward lines. Meanwhile, winger Juraj Slafkovsky — who became a national hero four years ago at age 17 by leading Slovakia to a bronze medal that represented the country’s first Olympic hockey medal — is back gunning for more glory.
9. Boston Bruins (32-20-5) Charlie McAvoy was crushed to leave the 4 Nations last February with an injury. He’ll be back on Team USA’s blueline in Italy, with Bruins goalie Jeremy Swayman alongside him. Expect winger David Pastrnak to have a huge smile when he carries the Czechia flag at the opening ceremonies, while Pavel Zacha will join him at the top of Czechia’s forward crew. The no-relation Lindholms — Hampus on defence, Elias up front — will be there for Sweden, while defenceman Henri Jokiharju is on Finland with goalie Joonas Korpisalo, the latter being a last-minute replacement for injured Sabre Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen.
10. Columbus Blue Jackets (29-20-7) Elvis Merzlikins is a Latvian goalie and Zach Werenski will be a huge presence on the American blueline.
11. Pittsburgh Penguins (28-15-12) Sixteen years after scoring the golden goal in Vancouver, forward Sidney Crosby is still a key cog on Team Canada. Goalie Arturs Silovs will wear Latvia’s colours, while defenceman Erik Karlsson and winger Rickard Rakell will rep Sweden.
12. New York Islanders (31-21-5) Forward Bo Horvat got the nod for Canada, while new Islander Ondrej Palat will be up front for Czechia.
13. Anaheim Ducks (30-23-3) Could Lukas Dostal steal an important game in the Czech crease? He’ll be joined by defenceman Radko Gudas. Sadly, an injury will prevent Leo Carlsson from lining up for Sweden, but American defenceman Jackson Lacombe will be there as a replacement for the dinged-up Seth Jones. Veteran forward Mikael Granlund will once again represent Finland.
14. Utah Mammoth (30-23-4) Four Mammoth players will represent four different counties in Italy. They are American winger Clayton Keller, German winger JJ Peterka, Czech goalie Karel Vejmelka and Finnish D-man Olli Maatta.
15. Vegas Golden Knights (26-16-14) Centre Jack Eichel and defenceman Noah Hanifin will wear the Stars and Stripes, while wingers Mitch Marner and Mark Stone will suit up for Canada. Defenceman Shea Theodore — who sustained an injury at the 4 Nations that ended his tournament — is back on the Canadian blueline. Big forward Tomas Hertl is on Czechia, new Knight Rasmus Andersson is a Swedish D-man and goalie Akira Schmid is on Switzerland.
16. Seattle Kraken (27-20-9) Philipp Grubauer’s performance in the German crease will be key to that country trying to pull off any kind of big upset. Forwards Kaapo Kakko and Eeli Tolvanen are Finnish Lions. Forward Oscar Fisker-Molgaard — a second-rounder in 2023 who’s played three NHL games this year — is part of Team Denmark.
17. Los Angeles Kings (23-18-14) Drew Doughty had just turned 20 years old when he won gold with Canada in Vancouver. Now, at 36, he’s back on the Canuck blueline, with goalie Darcy Kuemper wearing the same sweater. Offensive wingers Kevin Fiala (Switzerland) and Adrian Kempe (Sweden) are headed to Italy, as is Finnish winger Joel Armia.
18. Toronto Maple Leafs (27-21-9) Auston Matthews had his chances to win the 4 Nations for Team USA in overtime of the final versus Canada. He’s back, trying to lead America to Olympic glory. Winger William Nylander will be a front-line Swede, while Oliver Ekman-Larsson will be part of the Swedish ‘D’ crew.
19. Edmonton Oilers (28-22-8) Connor McDavid finally got his incredible international moment when he ended the 4 Nations final in overtime versus Team USA. Can he take it up a notch with Olympic gold for Canada? Forward Leon Draisaitl will be Germany’s flag-bearer in Italy.
20. Ottawa Senators (27-22-7) Forward Tim Stutzle, along with Leon Draisaitl, will be responsible for driving the German offence. Winger Brady Tkachuk is a signature American, while Jake Sanderson will be on the Team USA blueline. Veteran Danish centre Lars Eller is headed to Italy, as is Finnish rearguard Nikolas Matinpalo.
21. Washington Capitals (28-23-7) It sure looks like Logan Thompson will be Canada’s starter, while winger Tom Wilson gets his chance to bang and score up front. Martin Fehervary is a Slovakian defenceman.
22. Florida Panthers (29-24-3) Centre Sam Bennett is headed to the Olympics after all as a replacement for Anthony Cirelli on Canada. He’ll be joined by fellow forwards Sam Reinhart and Brad Marchand. Florida is also sending three Finns; D-man Niko Mikkola and forwards Anton Lundell and Eetu Luostarinen. Shutdown Swedish D-man Gus Forsling and Latvian rearguard Uvis Balinskis are both headed to Italy. And, of course, winger Matthew Tkachuk is more or less the face of Team USA. In all, Florida, Tampa and Minny will all send a league-high nine players to Italy.
23. San Jose Sharks (27-24-4) Let’s just take a minute to zoom out and marvel at the fact 19-year-old Macklin Celebrini actually cracked Team Canada and could play a major role for the club at the Games. Three other Sharks forwards are part of the fun; Alexander Wennberg (Sweden), Philipp Kurashev (Switzerland) and Pavol Regenda (Slovakia).
24. Philadelphia Flyers (25-20-10) Dan Vladar is in the Czech goalie mix, while two large defencemen — Canadian Travis Sanheim and Finn Risto Ristolainen — are Italy-bound.
25. Nashville Predators (26-23-7) Defenceman Roman Josi is the man for Switzerland, winger Filip Forsberg will be counted on for Swedish goals, while goalie Juuse Saros and forward Erik Haula are repping Finland.
26. New Jersey Devils (28-26-2) The expectation is injured forward Jack Hughes will still lineup with brother Quinn on Team USA. The Devils are providing three key Swiss players in centre Nico Hischier, winger Timo Meier and D-man Jonas Siegenthaler. Goalie Jacob Markstrom and winger Jesper Bratt are on Team Sweden, while defenceman Simon Nemec is there for Slovakia.
27. Winnipeg Jets (22-26-8) It’s still probably Connor Hellebuyck’s net to lose for Team USA, while winger Kyle Connor will be hoping for a bigger role than he got at the 4 Nations. Canada will be counting on Josh Morrissey’s cerebral game on the back end, while Nino Niederreiter will have to score some goals for the Swiss.
28. Calgary Flames (23-27-6) With Rasmus Andersson now a Golden Knight, the lone Flame representative is Slovakian forward Martin Pospisil.
29. Chicago Blackhawks (22-26-9) With Connor Bedard not quite cracking Canada, the only Blackhawk headed to Italy is Finnish forward Teuvo Teravainen.
30. St. Louis Blues (20-28-9) Will Jordan Binnington get a chance to play hero again for Canada in goal? Defenceman Colton Parayko is also suiting up for Canada. Philip Broberg will wear Sweden’s beautiful colours, while forwards Pius Suter and Dalibor Dvorsky will draw in for Switzerland and Slovakia, respectively.
31. New York Rangers (22-28-6) Forwards J.T. Miller and Vincent Trocheck are part of the Stars and Stripes. Another forward, Mika Zibanejad, is on Sweden.
32. Vancouver Canucks (18-33-6) Two Czechs — defenceman Filip Hronek and centre David Kampf — are headed to Italy, as is Latvian forward Teddy Blueger. Kevin Lankinen is a Finnish goalie, while centre Elias Pettersson will try to spark Sweden’s chances.
