NHL
2026 Olympic
Hockey
Auston Matthews and the United States play their first game on Thursday. Gregory Shamus / Getty Images
After 12 years, an appetizer last February in the form of the 4 Nations Face-Off and four months’ worth of regular-season prologue, NHL players are ready to return to the ice at the Olympics.
The best hockey players on Earth didn’t participate at PyeongChang in 2018 or Beijing in 2022 due to disputes between international governing bodies and the COVID-19 pandemic.
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“It was difficult,” Canada captain Sidney Crosby, one of the few holdovers from Sochi 2014, told reporters in Milan. “You try not to get your hopes up too much, but you also had to be ready in case we did go.”
“It was a bit of a roller coaster. I am really happy we have the opportunity to come back here. It is an amazing experience.”
With the tournament beginning on Wednesday, here’s everything you need to know about Olympic men’s hockey.
The basic format is unchanged from 2014. If you’ve forgotten how things worked over the last 12 years, though, you’re forgiven.
There’s a 12-team field: the top eight participating nations in the IIHF rankings, host country Italy and three others (Slovakia, Latvia and France) that qualified through performance at other tournaments.
Those 12 teams are divided into three groups. Canada is the highest-ranked team in Group A, Finland the highest in Group B and the United States the highest in Group C. Each team will play every other team within its group once from Feb. 11-15. Teams will receive three points for a regulation win, two for an overtime or shootout win and one for an overtime or shootout defeat. Four teams (the top team from each group, along with the second-place team with the most points) will automatically advance to the quarterfinals, or “round of eight.”
The remaining eight teams will advance to the so-called "playoff round," where the four winners will advance to the quarterfinals and face the waiting top four qualifiers. The four teams that lose in the quarterfinals will be finished. The two teams that lose in the semifinals will play for the bronze medal. The two teams that win the semifinals will play for gold.
There's a world in which the United States entered the tournament as the favorite to win gold over Canada. That's how much the gap between the two countries has closed over the last 12 years — an optimized American lineup could turn games between the countries into a coin flip.
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The question, of course, is whether that's the type of lineup the U.S. has brought to Milan. Three of the top four American goal-scorers in the NHL this season (Dallas' Jason Robertson, Montreal's Cole Caufield and Detroit's Alex DeBrincat) are staying home.
Whether those three were in the mix or not, the top of the U.S. lineup doesn't compete with Canada's; Connor McDavid and Nathan MacKinnon are the two best forwards in the tournament. Auston Matthews and Jack Eichel are good enough to keep the gap manageable enough, but they can't close it entirely. That's Canada's greatest edge.
Really, for all the carping about the absence of Robertson and Caufield — deserved as it may be — the rest of the U.S. forward lineup is deep and talented enough to hang together. While Matthew and Brady Tkachuk playing between Eichel is intriguing, the Americans can't quite offer anything quite like "third-line center Sidney Crosby," and they don't have a next-gen player on par with Macklin Celebrini. That may well be their undoing, but it's no sure bet.
Defensively, the Canadians have Cale Makar. Some recent uneven play aside, he's the best in the world. His American counterpart, viewed as 1A in some circles, is Quinn Hughes. Fittingly, neither team has any real blue-line weakness, and both will have a lineup filled with players who fill particular needs. Zach Werenski's high-end offensive ability make him something of an X-factor for the American team. He was outstanding at the 4 Nations tournament.
Goaltending figured to be the U.S.'s biggest advantage, and that may well turn out to be the case, but Connor Hellebuyck — the starter and consensus best in the world at the position — is in the midst of a mediocre season with the Winnipeg Jets. That fact, combined with his recent postseason problems, should be noted. For Canada, Jordan Binnington has followed up his strong play at the 4 Nations tournament with putridity for the St. Louis Blues (.867 save percentage, a league-worst 20 goals saved below expected). It's easy to imagine him flipping the switch, and it's easy to imagine him getting benched early in the tournament for Logan Thompson, who's been one of the best goalies in the league since joining the Washington Capitals ahead of the 2024-25 season and who played his way on to the Olympic roster.
• Not long ago, injuries had Sweden's arrow pointing decidedly downward. Over the last week or so, though, Victor Hedman (their cornerstone defenseman) and William Nylander (their best forward) returned to their respective NHL lineups, as did a few other role players — although Nylander's status for the opener has come back into question. That should put Sweden back at the top of the list of bronze-medal favorites; the blue line has Hedman, an in-his-prime Norris candidate in Rasmus Dahlin, a bounce-back likely Hall of Famer in Erik Karlsson and plenty of other highly competent NHL players.
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One issue, though, is a lack of superstar talent in the forward group. Leo Carlsson of the Anaheim Ducks was on his way to providing that after a remarkable start to the season, but a nasty thigh injury forced him to withdraw. As a high-end first-line center, he could help Sweden push the North American teams down the line, but not this year.
Sweden's goaltending situation also could be better. Ostensible No. 1 Filip Gustavsson has put up an .894 save percentage and allowed more than two goals above expected since Jan 1, while his teammate in Minnesota, Jesper Wallstedt, is just 23. Jakob Markström is in the midst of an ugly stretch for the New Jersey Devils.
• When Aleksander Barkov tore his ACL and MCL in training camp, it let some out of the air out of Finland's balloon. Barkov is a two-way superstar for the Florida Panthers, a game-changing force at the top of any lineup. The Panthers haven't adequately replaced him, and the Finns likely won't be able to, either.
There's still elite talent at other positions in defenseman Miro Heiskanen and winger Mikko Rantanen. Sebastian Aho and Roope Hintz aren't Barkov, but they're high-end NHL players in their own right. Beyond that, the Finns have a knack for playing pesky, effective international hockey — which you'll hear about, ad nauseam, during the tournament — but there's a very large, Barkov-shaped hole on the roster.
• The Czech Republic, also known as Czechia during international sports competitions, has become something of a trendy upset pick. That's for good reason: winger David Pastrnak is a game-dominating winger and one of the best players in the NHL, and the forward group is an interesting one overall. Goaltender Lukas Dostál of the Anaheim Ducks is highly capable of stealing games and, after some uneven play, put up a .930 save percentage in his last nine pre-Milan games. The issue for Czechia, though, is a defensive group with just two NHL players (Radko Gudas and Filip Hronek).
• Switzerland has a few high-end players in the mix in Nashville Predators defenseman Roman Josi, New Jersey Devils center Nico Hischier and Los Angeles Kings winger Kevin Fiala. They've got a handful of other legit NHLers too, including in net. Akira Schmid has been decent for the Vegas Golden Knights, and he was spectacular during a silver-medal run at the 2024 World Championships. Still, there's not enough depth to make them anything more than a snowball's-chance bronze candidate.
• Slovakia has done well to rebound in the 12 years since their crash-out in Sochi, with a roster built around Montreal Canadiens winger and 2022 No. 1 overall pick Juraj Slafkovský and a solid defensive group led by Erik Cernak (Tampa Bay Lightning), Martin Fehervary (Washington Capitals) and Simon Nemec (New Jersey Devils). They don't have an NHL goalie on the roster, though, and that feels like a fatal flaw.
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• Germany is led by a former MVP (Leon Draisaitl), a 90-point center (Tim Stützle), a potential future Norris Trophy winner (Moritz Seider) and a three-time 20-goal scorer (JJ Peterka). That alone makes them interesting. The rest of the roster, though, remains a step behind the medal contenders.
• For Denmark, Nikolaj Ehlers was one of the best wingers in last season's free-agent class and Frederik Andersen, when healthy, has been a solid starting NHL goaltender. They're joining plenty of holdovers from a roster that in 2025, for the first time, played in the bronze-medal game at worlds.
• Latvia's best players are bottom-six NHL forwards (Tampa Bay's Zemgus Girgensons, Vancouver's Teddy Blueger) and backup goaltenders (Pittsburgh's Arturs Silovs, Columbus' Elvis Merzlikins). The country hasn't competed at the Olympics since 2014, when goaltender Kristers Gudlevskis pushed Canada to its limits with a 55-save quarterfinal loss.
• There are familiar names on France's roster — Alexandre Texier scored seven times in his first 30 games with the Canadiens this season, and Pierre-Edouard Bellemare played for five different NHL teams in five seasons — but overall, they're in the happy-to-be-here group. France hadn't qualified for the Olympics since 2002.
• Italy, included due to its host nation status, could've tried to load up on NHL players with Italian heritage. Instead, each of its 25 players is at least a dual citizen, and all have played a part in helping Italy earn a promotion to the top level of the IIHF World Hockey Championship in 2025. It's an interesting story, if nothing else.
Feb. 11: The first day will give us our first look at Finland in a relatively tough matchup against Slovakia. In the late game, Sweden gets to ease into the tournament against Italy.
This will also be our first chance at watching men's action at Milano Santagiulia Ice Hockey Arena — but after some touch-and-go moments during the construction process, all signs point to the ice surface being a non-issue. The women's tournament began on Feb. 5 without any immediately obvious pressure points.
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Feb. 12: The second day of games brings us our first of four straight quadruple-headers. We're getting our first looks at Canada (Game 2 against Czechia) and the United States (Game 4 against Latvia), so don't forget to overreact. Game 3 might be the most relevant of the day, though, as whoever loses between Germany and Denmark can likely forget about advancing directly to the quarterfinals.
Feb. 13: Today's highlight, undoubtedly, is Sweden vs. Finland in Game 2. The result could well determine who wins Group B and earns an automatic pass to the quarterfinals. In Game 1, Italy plays Slovakia in what's likely its best shot at winning a game on home ice.
Feb. 14: Game 1, Slovakia-Sweden, in Group B could be huge for seeding purposes. In Group C, the United States will be heavily favored over Denmark, so the more compelling game figures to be between Germany and Latvia.
Feb. 15: Czechia, in the early game against Switzerland, could be playing for an auto-pass to the quarterfinals. Canada should be able to ease out of group play against France. Latvia vs. Denmark may well have major seeding implications. In the late game, the U.S. plays Germany — and that could be an interesting one, given the star power at the top of the German lineup.
Men's Olympic hockey games will be available on national broadcasts across CBC, TSN and Sportsnet in Canada. Games will also be on the CBC Gem streaming service.
NBC is the American Olympic broadcaster and will air games largely on USA Network and CNBC, with at least one quarterfinal and semifinal, along with the gold-medal game, on NBC. Games will also be streamed on Peacock and NBC Sports platforms. The TV and streaming schedule can be seen here.
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Sean Gentille is a senior writer for The Athletic covering the NHL. He previously covered Pittsburgh sports with the The Athletic and Pittsburgh Post-Gazette and the NHL for Sporting News, and he's a graduate of the University of Maryland. Follow Sean on Twitter @seangentille
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