Lapsed fan’s guide to the Olympic men’s hockey 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?”

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Why are NHL players back in the Olympics?

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.

For decades, the NHL and its players have sparred over Olympic participation. The players want to represent their countries in the world’s most prestigious and historic athletic event — like the generations of Americans inspired by the “Miracle on Ice” in 1980. NHL owners are loathe to shut down their regular season and loan their talent to an IOC that doesn’t share revenues or give the league any tangible financial benefit. But for the sake of “growing the game,” the NHL has participated, with some exceptions.

The league didn’t participate in the 2018 Olympics in Pyeongchang because of a change in terms with the IOC and because “the overwhelming majority of our clubs” were “adamantly opposed” to disrupting the 2017-18 season, according to commissioner Gary Bettman, who was also seeking concessions from the NHL Players Association. NHL owners were opposed to shutting down the regular season to play in South Korea, a market the league didn’t consider a priority for global growth.

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.

International Ice Hockey Federation president Luc Tardif backed the league, saying, “We understand the NHL’s decision is in the best interest of the health and safety of its players.” When Marty Walsh, former U.S. Secretary of Labor under President Joe Biden, was hired as NHLPA executive director in 2023, he made a return to the Olympics his priority. After months of contentious negotiations, the NHL announced in February 2024 that it would send its players to the Milan Cortina Games. Bettman said the negotiations turned on the players’ “big ticket” items being taken care of, like insurance and travel and accommodation costs, as that responsibility fell to the IIHF and IOC.

With that, it was game on for Italy, for players from almost every country.

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Why isn’t Russia in the tournament?

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.

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Is U.S. vs. Canada an inevitability in the gold-medal game?

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).

Team Canada’s offense offers:

• One of the greatest center trios in hockey history. Edmonton Oilers star Connor McDavid, in his first Olympics, has four MVP wins (three regular season, one postseason) and five scoring titles in his 11-year NHL career. Colorado Avalanche star Nathan MacKinnon, also in his first Olympics, has scored 40 goals in 55 games this season. Pittsburgh Penguins star and two-time Olympic gold-medalist Sidney Crosby remains a point-per-game player at 38 years old and is considered the NHL’s best all-around player of this century.

• A collection of wingers such as Mitch Marner and Mark Stone (Vegas Golden Knights), Nick Suzuki (Montreal Canadiens), Brandon Hagel (Tampa Bay Lightning) and Sam Reinhart (Florida Panthers) who are as good offensively as they are defensively.

• The NHL’s greatest antagonist in Brad Marchand (aka the “Rat King”) of the Panthers, and the league’s most controversial checker in Tom Wilson of the Washington Capitals, both of whom can also thrive offensively.

• Macklin Celebrini, the San Jose Sharks’ 18-year-old scoring phenom who played his way onto the Olympic team.

• Defenseman Cale Makar of the Avalanche, who is third all time in the NHL for points per game among defensemen (1.08).

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:

There’s a reason fans have been shaking with anticipation about these Olympics. U.S. vs. Canada could be an all-timer, whether they meet for a medal or earlier in the knockout round.

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When could the U.S. and Canada conceivably meet?

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:

Group A: Canada, Switzerland, Czechia, France

Group B: Finland, Sweden, Slovakia, Italy

Group C: United States, Germany, Latvia, Denmark

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.

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What are the major concerns for Canada and the U.S.?

Canada’s weakness is glaring: Its goaltending.

St. Louis Blues netminder Jordan Binnington was absolutely brilliant in Canada’s 4 Nations overtime win over the U.S. but has been one of the two worst goalies in the NHL this season by traditional or advanced stats. Canada swapped out its other 4 Nations goalies (Adin Hill of Vegas and Samuel Montembeault of Montreal) for demonstrable upgrades: Kings goalie Darcy Kuemper, who won a Stanley Cup with Colorado in 2022; and Capitals goalie Logan Thompson, tied for sixth in NHL save percentage over the past two seasons. They’re better, but still nowhere near the U.S. in goaltending quality.

For the Americans, it’s scoring and experience. Will GM Guerin regret leaving off some pure scorers at forward and on defense — where Montreal’s Lane Hutson and the Rangers’ Adam Fox were snubbed — in favor of players with more defensive acumen? How much can New Jersey Devils star Jack Hughes, hampered by injuries and playing out of position, and New York Rangers captain J.T. Miller, having a terrible season, contribute? Can Matthews, who didn’t have a goal at 4 Nations, find the back of the net?

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.

One of Guerin’s big bets on this roster is IIHF world championship experience. The Americans won that event in 2025, the first on-ice trophy for USA Hockey in the tournament in 92 years. Olympic forwards Tage Thompson (Buffalo Sabres) and Clayton Keller (Utah Mammoth), defensemen Jackson LaCombe (Anaheim Ducks, an injury replacement for Florida’s Seth Jones) and Werenski, as well as Swayman, played in that championship game. So a lot of American players have “big game” experience. But they don’t come much bigger than Olympic tournament elimination games.

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Who are the other medal contenders?

Sweden is the consensus pick for the third-best team in the tournament, and it would be foolish to count the Swedes out.

They have a stout defense corps: Buffalo Sabres star Rasmus Dahlin and Panthers stopper Gustav Forsling; Tampa Bay Lightning captain Victor Hedman and the Golden Knights’ Rasmus Andersson; as well as Erik Karlsson, the 35-year-old Penguins blueliner who can still make things happen on offense.

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.

Finland is the reigning gold medal winner, having captured the championship in Beijing with non-NHL players. The Finns suffered the tournament’s most significant injury loss when Florida star Aleksander Barkov needed preseason surgery to repair a torn ACL and MCL in his right knee. He was the engine that drove the Panthers to back-to-back Stanley Cup wins and a center who would have given Finland formidable depth at the position along with Sebastian Aho (Hurricanes), Roope Hintz (Stars) and Anton Lundell (Panthers).

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.

Switzerland brings an interesting squad to Italy, with NHL standouts in forwards Nico Hischier and Timo Meier (Devils), Kevin Fiala (Kings), Nino Niederreiter (Jets) as well as defenseman Roman Josi (Predators) and J.J. Moser (Lightning). What they don’t have in these Olympics is a difference-maker in goal, with NHL goalie Akira Schmid (Golden Knights) joining Swiss league players Reto Berra (who has NHL experience) and Leonardo Genoni, who has played well at Worlds. Where have you gone, Jonas Hiller?

Germany boasts one of the best hockey players in the world in Oilers star Leon Draisaitl, as well as one of the NHL’s best defensemen in Moritz Seider of the Red Wings. They also have pair of accomplished scorers in Utah’s JJ Peterka and Ottawa’s Tim Stutzle. The rest of the roster is mostly made up of Deutsche Eishockey Liga players, some with NHL experience. Someone who could play spoiler: Seattle Kraken goalie Philipp Grubauer, one of the NHL’s best netminders this season and a candidate for comeback player of the year.

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.

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.

France made the 2026 Olympics after Russia was ruled ineligible. Italy made the tournament as the host nation. It would be a mini-miracle if either of them won a game in group play. But hey, maybe they’ll benefit from the smaller ice.

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What was the controversy over the Olympic rink?

Well, the most prominent controversy was whether the Olympic hockey tournament would be held in a pile of slush in the middle of rubble. As of November, construction was so far behind schedule that test events had to be moved and Olympic organizers declared there was no “Plan B.” As late as Jan. 25, there was a layer of mud down the Zamboni tunnel all the way to the ice at Milano Santagiulia Ice Hockey Arena.

By the time the Olympics started, the venues were still be worked on but were more than functional — including the ice, which players called soft but not unplayable.

The other controversy was over the size of the Olympic ice. A few months ago, Team Canada GM Doug Armstrong and assistant coach Peter DeBoer casually mentioned that the ice in the 2026 Olympics would be smaller than an NHL rink. The IIHF released a statement in September confirming the rink would be a 196.85-foot by 85.3-foot sheet, smaller than the NHL’s standard 200-foot by 85-foot dimensions.

Though NHL teams that play internationally have often had to adapt to different ice dimensions, the fact the Olympic sheet was smaller caught some observers off guard. Will the smaller ice surface create more physicality between the teams, necessitating Canada’s adding of Wilson to the roster? Or is he simply an anti-Tkachuk deployment mechanism?

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What are the major dates to know for the tournament?

The fun starts Wednesday with round-robin action in Group B. Team USA, seeking its first gold medal since 1980, hits the ice against Latvia on Thursday, and Canada opens against Czechia.

The men’s qualification round playoff is scheduled for Feb. 17, with the quarterfinals set for Feb. 18. The semifinals are set for Feb. 20, with the losers of those games vying for the bronze medal on Feb. 21, and the winners playing for Olympic gold on Feb. 22.

Will we see another round of hockey’s greatest rivalry in these games? It’s finally time to find out.