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Olympic men’s hockey: 6 players announced, full analysis
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- Olympic men’s hockey: 6 players announced, full analysis
The 12 countries participating in the 2026 Winter Olympics have rolled out the names of the first six players for their preliminary men's hockey rosters for the tournament in Milan and Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy.
Five players named on Monday, June 16 – Connor McDavid , Leon Draisaitl , Aleksander Barkov , Matthew Tkachuk and Sam Reinhart – are facing off in the Stanley Cup Final. Canadian Olympic hero Sidney Crosby also was named. The USA, Canada, Finland and Sweden preliminary rosters feature players from the 4 Nations Face-Off.
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The rest of the rosters will be announced during the 2025-26 NHL season.
The NHL is sending its players back to the Olympics for the first time since the 2014 Sochi Games. The 2026 tournament will be held in February.
Here are the first six players for each country (with NHL team listed), plus analysis:
USA
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F Jack Eichel , Vegas
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F Brady Tkachuk , Ottawa
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D Charlie McAvoy, Boston
Analysis:All except Hughes played for the second-place USA at the 4 Nations Face-Off. There's plenty of offense on the team and the Tkachuk brothers also add grit. Remember their fights against Canada in the preliminary round? Hughes was on the initial 4 Nations roster but missed the tournament with an injury. Having the former Norris Trophy winner in the lineup will make a difference.
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Canada
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F Sam Reinhart , Florida
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D Cale Makar , Colorado
Analysis:Canada is bringing back the stars who helped it win the 4 Nations Face-Off. McDavid scored the winning goal in that tournament and MacKinnon was MVP. Crosby helped Canada win the last two Olympics that involved NHL players. He scored the golden goal in overtime against the USA in the 2010 Olympics and also scored in the gold-medal game in 2014.
Finland
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F Sebastian Aho , Carolina
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F Aleksander Barkov , Florida
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F Mikko Rantanen , Dallas
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D Miro Heiskanen , Dallas
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D Esa Lindell , Dallas
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G Juuse Saros , Nashville
Analysis:A strong start for the defending Olympic champions with scoring threats Rantanen and Aho and three-time Selke Trophy winner Barkov. This is similar to Finland's 4 Nations Face-Off roster, except Heiskanen was hurt and couldn't play. He returned for the playoffs . Saros had a down season in 2024-25 but is a two-time All-Star.
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Sweden
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F Gabriel Landeskog , Colorado
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F Lucas Raymond , Detroit
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F William Nylander , Toronto
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D Rasmus Dahlin , Buffalo
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D Victor Hedman , Tampa Bay
Analysis:All of these players took part in the 4 Nations Face-Off except Landeskog. But he had returned from a three-year injury absence for the Avalanche and will add to an impressive forward group. Nylander, Kempe and Raymond combined for 107 goals this season. Hedman and Dahlin also provide offense from the blue line.
Czechia
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F Martin Necas , Colorado
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F David Pastrnak , Boston
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F Pavel Zacha , Boston
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D Radko Gudas , Anaheim
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G Lukas Dostal , Anaheim
Analysis:Pastrnak is an elite scorer and has chemistry with Boston teammate Zacha. Necas averaged a point a game last season, and Palat is a two-time Stanley Cup winner. Gudas is a heavy hitter and Dostal will be the Ducks ' No. 1 goalie after they traded John Gibson to Detroit .
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Switzerland
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F Kevin Fiala , Los Angeles
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F Nico Hischier , New Jersey
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F Timo Meier , New Jersey
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D Roman Josi , Nashville
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D Jonas Siegenthaler , New Jersey
Analysis:Hischier is a strong two-way center and he and Fiala each had 35 goals last season. There's built-in chemistry with three Devils players. Josi is a former Norris Trophy winner.
Slovakia
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D Erik Cernak , Tampa Bay
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D Simon Nemec , New Jersey
Analysis:Slafkovsky was MVP of the 2022 Olympics. He scored seven goals as Slovakia finished with a bronze medal then was chosen No. 1 overall in the 2022 NHL draft. Nemec also played on that Olympic team and went No. 2 overall in the draft. Tatar, who signed to play in Switzerland the next two seasons, is a 14-year NHL veteran with seven 20-goal seasons.
Germany
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F Leon Draisaitl , Edmonton
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F Lukas Reichel , Vancouver
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F Nico Sturm , Minnesota
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F Tim Stutzle , Ottawa
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D Moritz Seider , Detroit
Analysis:The key to the offense is Draisaitl, a former Hart Trophy winner and 2024-25 runner-up . He had 52 goals in the regular season and has four playoff overtime goals . Stutzle also provides a lot of offense and Seider was the NHL's 2021-22 rookie of the year.
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Latvia
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F Teddy Blueger , Vancouver
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F Zemgus Girgensons , Tampa Bay
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D Uvis Balinskis , Florida
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G Elvis Merzlikins , Columbus
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G Arturs Silovs , Pittsburgh
Analysis:Girgensons was an NHL All-Star in 2014-15. Merzlikins is a No. 1 NHL goalie and Silovs had a good playoff run with the Canucks in 2024. He was tournament MVP as Latvia won bronze at the 2023 world championships.
Denmark
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F Oliver Bjorkstrand , Tampa Bay
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F Nikolaj Ehlers , Carolina
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F Lars Eller, Ottawa
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F Jonas Rondjberg, Vegas
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D Jesper Jensen Aabo
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G Frederik Andersen , Carolina
Analysis:Denmark is coming off an upset of Canada at the world championships. Ehlers has a lot of speed and is a consistent 20-goal scorer. So is Bjorkstrand. Eller is a defensive center. Denmark will be solid in net with Andersen.
France
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F Pierre-Edouard Bellemare
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F Jordann Perret
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F Alexandre Texier, St. Louis
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D Jules Boscq
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D Hugo Gallet
Analysis:Texier is the only current NHL player, but Bellemare played 700 games over 10 NHL seasons. He went to the 2022 Stanley Cup Final with the Tampa Bay Lightning . Auvitu played in the NHL from 2016-18.
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Italy
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F Diego Kostner
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F Daniel Mantenuto
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F Tommy Purdeller
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D Luca Zanatta
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D Thomas Larkin
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G Damian Clara
Analysis:Host Italy has no NHL players so they'll be bringing mostly players from European leagues. Purdeller had 17 goals in the Austrian league this past season. Clara played two games in the American Hockey League.
(This story was updated with new information.)
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Olympics men's hockey rosters: Analysis on first six players
