#NHLStats takes a look at the players, teammates, rivalries and more in each country grouping entering the round robin portion of the Olympic men’s hockey tournament.
* We are one day away from the first games of the men’s Olympic hockey tournament, with high-impact NHLers including Stars forward Mikko Rantanen (Team Finland), Canadiens forward Juraj Slafkovský (Team Slovakia) and Maple Leafs forward William Nylander (Team Sweden) set to contest their first game on Wednesday.
* NHL Network will air NHL Tonight: Milano Cortina 2026 Preview Show Tuesday at 6 p.m. ET. NHL Tonight: Milano Cortina 2026 presented by Honda will begin Wednesday, Feb. 11, and air daily at 6 p.m. ET throughout the Olympics. Click here for more details.
* The next edition of the NHL Morning Skate from Milan will be published Wednesday, Feb. 11, at the conclusion of the first day of action on the ice – a shifted timeline that will continue for the remainder of the tournament.
GROUP A: CAPTAINS, TOP SCORERS AND GOALIE WINS LEADER
Group A will feature Team Canada, Team Czechia, Team France and Team Switzerland – countries that account for four of the five gold medals from Olympics involving NHL players (CAN: 3, CZE: 1). It also will include 47 NHL players – the second-highest total among the three groups next to Group B (56) – and seven NHL captains, with Sidney Crosby (Team Canada) being the only member of that cohort currently also wearing the “C” for his country at the Olympic Winter Games Milano Cortina 2026 (with some teams still to announce).
* Four of the top six scorers in the NHL will be featured in Group A, including Team Canada’s Connor McDavid (1st; EDM), Nathan MacKinnon (2nd; COL), Macklin Celebrini (4th; SJS) and Team Czechia’s David Pastrnak (6th; BOS). Group A will also feature the goaltender atop the NHL in wins (tied) in Team Czechia’s Karel Vejmelka (UTA). Those two countries – Canada and Czechia – last met in a knockout game in an Olympics involving NHL players during the 1998 Semifinals when Czechia bested Canada with a 2-1 shootout win before going on to win gold.
* Nathan MacKinnon (Team Canada) and Martin Necas (Team Czechia) are among the Avalanche teammates who will face off in Group A. MacKinnon and Necas have factored on 40 goals together in the NHL so far this season, which is the third most among teammates.
* Team Switzerland features one of the top-producing defensemen in NHL history: Roman Josi (NSH), who sits in the top 25 on the League’s all-time goals (24th) and points (25th) list. Josi and Team Canada’s Cale Makar (COL) both land among the top 25 on all-time single-season defensemen lists: goals (Makar: t-16th), assists (Josi: t-18th) and points (Josi: t-18th; Makar: t-25th).
* France is participating in its third Olympics involving NHL players (also 2002 & 1998). The country is looking for its first win in that scenario since defeating Italy in the consolation round in 1998. In addition to Alexandre Texier (MTL), three other Team France players have NHL experience: Pierre-Édouard Bellemare, Yohann Auvitu and Stéphane Da Costa. In fact, Group A has 68 players with NHL experience, which is the most among all groups. Texier will face off against one of his Montreal teammates in Group A action when Team France faces Nick Suzuki (CAN).
GROUP B: HOST COUNTRY IN THE MIX WITH LONGSTANDING RIVLARY
Host country Team Italy, Team Finland, Team Sweden and Team Slovakia comprise the four-team lot jostling for positioning in Group B – a cluster highlighted by the long-standing rivalry between the Suomi and the Tre Kronor. Finland (1 silver, 3 bronze) and Sweden (1 gold, 1 silver), who met in the 2006 gold medal game, have accounted for six medals at Olympic Winter Games involving NHL players.
* Team Italy will compete at the Olympic Winter Games for the third time in six events involving NHL players, following 2006 and 1998, and seek their second-ever win following a victory against Austria during Group A preliminary round action in Nagano, Japan. Their roster includes Thomas Larkin, who was selected by Columbus in the fifth round of the 2009 NHL Draft (No. 137) – the same year that fellow Group B players Victor Hedman (TBL; Team Sweden), Oliver Ekman-Larsson (TOR; Team Sweden), Erik Haula (NSH; Team Finland) and Tomas Tatar (Team Slovakia) were picked.
* Olli Määttä (UTA) is one of three Olympic medal winners on Team Finland, after winning bronze in 2014 (also Anaheim’s Mikael Granlund: 2014 & Mikko Lehtonen: 2022). Määttä, with 3-2—5 in six career outings, needs one goal to break a tie with Kimmo Timonen (3-10—13 in 30 GP) for the most career goals by a Finnish defenseman in Olympic Winter Games involving NHL players.
* Erik Karlsson (PIT) is one of two Norris Trophy winners on Team’s Sweden’s roster, alongside Victor Hedman (TBL), and has accumulated 4-4—8 (6 GP) for his country in Olympic Winter Games involving NHL players – a total that includes three power-play goals. Karlsson can become the seventh player with four or more career power-play goals in that scenario, a list that includes fellow countryman Daniel Alfredsson (5).
* Team Slovakia returns 10 players who guided them to bronze at the 2022 Olympics, the country’s first medal of any color in Olympic ice hockey, including tournament MVP Juraj Slafkovský (MTL) after he scored seven goals in seven games. Slafkovský, who owns the second-fastest goal to start a game for the Canadiens this season (1:33 on Oct. 18, 2025), will represent a country that coincidentally owns the record for fastest goal to start a game in the Winter Olympics involving NHL players (Jozef Stumpel: 0:11 in 2002 preliminary round at LAT).
GROUP C: RECENT “ROCKET” WINNERS ON FULL DISPLAY
Two of the NHL’s elite goal scorers, Maple Leafs forward Auston Matthews and Oilers forward Leon Draisaitl, will be on display when the United States and Germany take to the ice and combat Denmark and Latvia’s goaltending, who have made a habit of rising to the occasion for their country. Matthews (2023-24, 2021-22 & 2020-21) and Draisaitl (2024-25) have combined for four of the past five Maurice “Rocket” Richard Trophy wins.
* Matthews’ 2025-26 season includes a newly established Maple Leafs record for career goals, and the captain of the Original Six franchise will now wear the ‘C’ for Team USA at an international event featuring NHL players for the second time in as many years following the 4 Nations Face-Off. The high-scoring center will look to join the only two American players who have scored five or more goals in a single Olympic tournament with NHL skaters: John LeClair (PHI; 6 in 2002) and Phil Kessel (TOR; 5 in 2014).
* Draisaitl, the highest scoring German player in NHL history who leads his country in goals, assists and points, looks to help his country earn its first win in Olympics with NHL players since 2002, when Germany blanked Slovakia during preliminary round action. Nine players have scored multiple goals for the country in those Games – including his father, Peter Draisaitl (2-2—4 in 4 GP; 1998). His four points during the 1998 Olympics are tied with Mark MacKay (1-3—4 in 4 GP in 1998) for the third most by a German player in one of those tournaments behind Len Soccio (3-3—6 in 2002) and Klaus Kathan (3-2—5 in 2002).
* Nikolaj Ehlers (CAR) is the highest scoring Danish player in NHL history for goals, assists and points who will be joined by Hurricanes teammate and goaltender Frederik Andersen, who went 3-0-0 at the 2024 Men’s Final Olympic Ice Hockey Qualification (.938 SV%, 1.31 GAA). Andersen is a two-time winner of the William M. Jennings Trophy, one of 14 netminders in NHL history to capture the award multiple times and one of only two named to a roster for the Olympic Winter Games Milano Cortina 2026. The other: Connor Hellebuyck (2x), set to compete in Group C action with Team USA.
* Goaltender Elvis Merzlikins (CBJ), who earlier this season became the second Latvian goaltender in NHL history to reach 100 career wins and entered the Olympic break with a 5-1-0 record in his last six games, is one of 10 players on Team Latvia’s roster with NHL experience – a list that also includes fellow netminders Arturs Silovs (PIT) and Kristers Gudlevskis (3 GP w/ TBL). Gudlevskis made his presence felt during the 2014 Olympics with a 55-save performance against Canada in the quarterfinals, the highest single-game total by a goaltender during Olympics with NHL players. Overall, a Latvian goaltender owns two of the top-five single-game performances in that scenario (also Edgars Masalskis: 47 saves, 2010 qualification playoffs at CZE).
OLYMPIC TOURNAMENT OPENS WEDNESDAY WITH DEFENDING CHAMPS
The puck will drop on the Olympic men’s hockey tournament Wednesday, with the opening game set to feature the defending Olympic gold medalists from Finland facing off against Slovakia, who are coming off the country’s first-ever Olympic medal in men’s hockey (bronze in 2022).
* Two players who have shone on the Olympic stage prior to their NHL debut are back for another go-around in 2026. Canadiens forward Juraj Slafkovský was named MVP in 2022, just months before Montreal selected him first overall in the 2022 NHL Draft, after leading the tournament in goals and tying for the lead in points (7-0—7 in 7 GP) to help Slovakia earn bronze. Kraken forward Eeli Tolvanen was an Olympic standout for Finland in 2018, securing a spot on the tournament All-Star team after tying for second in tournament scoring (3-6—9 in 5 GP).
* Skafkovsky could go head-to-head with Montreal teammate Oliver Kapanen (Team Finland), the only NHL teammates slated to go head-to-head on the opening day of the tournament.
* Team Finland includes four members of the Stars: Mikko Rantanen, Miro Heiskanen, Esa Lindell and Roope Hintz. This is the second time Dallas has sent four players to the Olympics as part of Team Finland, following 2006 (Niklas Hagman, Jussi Jokinen, Niko Kapanen and Jere Lehtinen).
* Team Italy opened the 2026 women’s hockey tournament with a win on home ice (4-1 W vs. FRA on Feb. 5) and the men’s side will look to do the same against a stacked Team Sweden that includes two Norris Trophy winners, 11 players who were top-10 selections in the NHL Draft and four Stanley Cup champions in Victor Hedman (2020 & 2021 w/ TBL), Gabriel Landeskog (2022 w/ COL), Gustav Forsling (2024 & 2025 w/ FLA) and Oliver Ekman-Larsson (2024 w/ FLA).
* The Wild are supplying four players to Team Sweden, including forwards Joel Eriksson Ek and Marcus Johansson as well as goaltenders Flip Gustavsson and Jesper Wallstedt. Gustavsson and Wallstedt will become the first goaltenders to be NHL teammates and Olympic teammates in the same season.
QUICK CLICKS
* Gabriel Landeskog (SWE) healthy, grateful for Olympic opportunity
* Nathan MacKinnon (CAN) all business in quest for gold
* Jaccob Slavin (USA) had warm sendoff from neighbors
* David Pastrnak (CZE) enjoying chilling with Czechia teammates
* Pierre-Edouard Bellemare (FRA) living Olympic dream at age 40