Greg WyshynskiFeb 10, 2026, 07:00 AM ETCloseGreg Wyshynski is ESPN’s senior NHL writer.Follow on XMultiple Authors
play1:13P.K. Subban’s biggest question for Team USA heading into the OlympicsP.K. Subban’s biggest question for Team USA heading into the Olympics
play1:55Macklin Celebrini scores filthy tying goal, then sets up Sharks’ OT winnerMacklin Celebrini scores the tying goal in the third period, then makes the winning assist to William Eklund.
play0:54Mikko Rantanen scores a beauty for the StarsMikko Rantanen dangles his way to the net and scores a brilliant goal for the Stars.
What are the USA men’s hockey team’s chances for gold? (1:53)Greg Wyshynski previews Team USA men’s hockey’s chances at gold ahead of the start of the 2026 Olympic Winter Games. (1:53)
P.K. Subban’s biggest question for Team USA heading into the OlympicsP.K. Subban’s biggest question for Team USA heading into the Olympics
Macklin Celebrini scores filthy tying goal, then sets up Sharks’ OT winnerMacklin Celebrini scores the tying goal in the third period, then makes the winning assist to William Eklund.
Macklin Celebrini scores the tying goal in the third period, then makes the winning assist to William Eklund.
Mikko Rantanen scores a beauty for the StarsMikko Rantanen dangles his way to the net and scores a brilliant goal for the Stars.
play0:34Oliver Bjorkstrand capitalizes on the power playOliver Bjorkstrand nets power-play goal
What are the major dates to know for the tournament?
The 2026 Milan Cortina Olympic men’s ice hockey tournament begins Wednesday with round-robin play, and it’s the first time NHL players have participated in the Winter Games since 2014.
Here’s a primer for this best-on-best tournament for the hockey die-hards — and for those Olympic fans asking, “What’s a Tkachuk?”
The NHL began sending its players to the Winter Olympics in 1998. Perhaps not coincidentally, the Canada men have won three gold medals since then, having previously not won once since 1952. Canada’s last gold was in the 2014 Sochi Games, which was also the last time NHL players graced Olympic ice.
Discouraged by that decision, the NHLPA had language written into their new collective bargaining agreement signed in 2020 that stated the players would participate in the 2022 and 2026 Olympics. But the caveat for the 2022 Beijing Games was whether the 2021-22 NHL season was “materially impacted” by COVID-19 postponements. The NHL and NHLPA agreed to hold players back from the Beijing Games after 50 NHL games had already have been postponed through Dec. 23, 2021.
Russia and Belarus have been banned from IIHF events at every level since the invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, including the 2026 Olympics. The IIHF has cited “security conditions” as the motivating factor.
Hence, some see the 2026 tournament as “best-on-most-of-the-best.” Two of the NHL’s top 10 scorers — Tampa Bay Lightning winger Nikita Kucherov and Minnesota Wild winger Kirill Kaprizov — are absent from the tournament, as are stars such as Artemi Panarin (Los Angeles Kings), Evgeni Malkin (Pittsburgh Penguins) and Alex Ovechkin (Washington Capitals), who became the NHL’s all-time leader in goals scored last season.
This could be the last Olympic hockey tournament played under these restrictions. The IIHF kept its ban in place for the 2026-27 season, but signaled a willingness to reconsider the status of Russian and Belarusian under-18 teams for 2027-28. Organizations such as FIFA also have signaled they’re ready to lift their restrictions on Russia.
Russia’s absence from international tournaments prevented the NHL and NHLPA from staging another World Cup of Hockey since the last one in 2016, so they had to get creative. The result was the 4 Nations Face-Off held last February in Montreal and Boston, a successful event that solidified the U.S. and Canada as hockey’s current superpowers and gave their rivalry nuclear-level heat.
P.K. Subban’s biggest question for Team USA heading into the Olympics
P.K. Subban’s biggest question for Team USA heading into the Olympics
Like King Kong and Godzilla (or the Canadian kaiju equivalent) flattening cities before the two monsters throw down against each other, so are the U.S. and Canada in the men’s tournament. They are easily the deepest two teams in all positions, especially as injuries have affected other traditional hockey powers. They also have Cup-winning coaches in Canada’s Jon Cooper (Lightning) and Team USA’s Mike Sullivan (Rangers).
Macklin Celebrini scores filthy tying goal, then sets up Sharks’ OT winner
But for the first time in the NHL’s Olympic era, Team USA has iced a roster that can match Canada’s depth while surpassing it in some areas. Even while deciding to leave some great offensive players off the roster — Montreal’s Cole Caufield and Dallas Stars winger Jason Robertson most prominently — the Americans might have their deepest collection of scoring talent ever.
Minnesota GM Bill Guerin built the 4 Nations team that lost in overtime to Canada in the championship, and ran back much of that roster for the Olympics. Among the Team USA highlights:
The Olympic men’s hockey tournament is split into three groups for the qualification round. Though the Olympic draw does give us an opening-round rivalry game between Finland and Sweden, the other two teams from the 4 Nations Face-Off, Canada and the U.S., are in separate groups:
Seeding for the elimination round is determined (in order) by record, points, goal differential, total goals scored and then IIHF world ranking. The top four teams receive a bye to the qualification round, and it would be stunning if Canada and the U.S. were not among them. Team USA has arguably the easiest draw, while Canada should be better than Switzerland and Czechia — although neither will be easy outs.
Keep in mind that this isn’t a rigid bracket. According to the IIHF, the semifinal round has the highest-seeded team playing the lowest-seeded team after the quarterfinals, and the second- and third-highest seeds play each other. So if Canada and the U.S. are seeded first and second after the round robin and win out, they could meet for gold.
But there’s an X factor here: Group B. Please recall in the 2014 Sochi Games that the U.S. and Canada were seeded in different groups and both had two regulation wins and one overtime/shootout win. Sweden, meanwhile, was in a third group and had three regulation wins to finish first after the round-robin. That led to the U.S. and Canada facing off in the semifinals for the right to play for gold. Canada beat the U.S. 1-0 and the Americans were so disheartened that they didn’t even win bronze.
Team USA has Stanley Cup champions in forwards Eichel, Matthew Tkachuk and Jake Guentzel (Tampa Bay Lightning), but Canada has more rings in the room. It also has Crosby, and no one on the U.S. roster comes close to matching the experience and leadership of Canada’s captain. When adversity hits — like a third-period deficit in an elimination game — the Canadians have calming influences where the Americans might have players gripping their sticks tighter.
Sweden is the consensus pick for the third-best team in the tournament, and it would be foolish to count the Swedes out.
Their forward group has dangerous scorers in William Nylander (Maple Leafs), Adrian Kempe (Kings), Filip Forsberg (Nashville Predators) and Lucas Raymond (Detroit Red Wings). What they lack is quality down the middle, especially with Anaheim star Leo Carlsson (44 points in 44 games) missing the Olympics because of injury. That said, Mika Zibanejad’s resurgent season with the New York Rangers (23 goals) has helped ease some concern.
But to take down either Canada or the U.S., it will take elite goaltending. Sweden might have it. Minnesota’s Filip Gustavsson has been one of the NHL’s top netminders and is seeking redemption after giving up two goals on four shots to Finland in the 4 Nations Face-Off before being pulled because of illness. He should be their No. 1 over the inconsistent Jacob Markstrom (Devils) and Wild rookie sensation Jesper Wallstedt, who has better numbers than Gustavsson this season.
As usual, underestimate the hard-working Finns at one’s own peril. Winger Mikko Rantanen (Stars) showed in last season’s Stanley Cup playoffs that he can carry a team on his back offensively. His Stars teammate Miro Heiskanen is one of the best defensemen in the tournament. If Juuse Saros (Predators) can level up his game from a below-average regular season, the Finns could be dangerous. At a minimum, Finland is never a pushover.
Mikko Rantanen dangles his way to the net and scores a brilliant goal for the Stars.
Czechia’s forward group is dotted with names familiar to NHL fans, each of whom have 22 goals on the season: Boston scoring star David Pastrnak, Colorado winger Martin Necas and Vegas center Tomas Hertl. But the great hope for the Czechs is their goaltending, which boasts one of the best trios in the tournament based on their NHL campaigns: Anaheim’s Lukas Dostal, Utah’s Karel Vejmelka and Philadelphia’s Dan Vladar.
Slovakia won its first men’s hockey medal when it captured bronze in Beijing. Montreal forward Juraj Slafkovsky was that tournament’s MVP and returns here as one of Slovakia’s only NHL standouts at forward. They have some NHL talent on the back end, including Erik Cernak (Lightning), Martin Fehervary (Capitals) and Simon Nemec (Devils). But none of their three goalies have any NHL experience — and one of them, Adam Gajan, is in his second NCAA season with the University of Minnesota-Duluth.
Denmark has three familiar faces at forward — Nikolaj Ehlers (Hurricanes), Oliver Bjorkstrand (Lightning) and Lars Eller (Senators) — and in net Frederik Andersen (Hurricanes), who once upon a time was a game-stealer internationally but has been off his mark with Carolina this season.
Oliver Bjorkstrand capitalizes on the power playOliver Bjorkstrand nets power-play goal
Latvia has several players with North American experience but only three currently in the NHL: Forwards Teddy Blueger of Vancouver, Zemgus Girgensons of Tampa Bay and Uvis Balinskis of Florida. The Latvians do have some intriguing goaltenders in Elvis Merzlikins of the Blue Jackets and Arturs Silovs of the Penguins.