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Bleacher Report's Olympic hockey projections are incredibly exciting

Bleacher Report's Olympic hockey projections are incredibly exciting to look at.

By Vincent Parise |
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Vancouver Canucks v New Jersey Devils / Bruce Bennett/GettyImages
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The 2024 Summer Olympics are well underway in Paris, France. As hockey fans, it is hard not to watch it and get excited for the 2026 Winter Olympics. Best-on-best competition is always as fun as it gets in sports, especially for the game of hockey. 

NHL players haven’t been allowed to participate in the Winter Olympic Games since Sochi in 2014 when Canada won the Gold Medal over Sweden. They were supposed to go in 2022 but the coronavirus shut that down. 

Now, with that long decade+ drought, it is time to get excited about the return of NHL players to the Olympics. Thinking about what the teams will look like is not a perfect science because a lot can happen in two years. 

Bleacher Report put out projections for the six major hockey countries on their “Open Ice” account and they look very nice: 

Team USA and Team Canada will come in as the two Gold Medal favorites

It isn't easy to project everything about Team USA. There is a ton of talent flowing in and out when it comes to American-born players.

One certain thing is that the top guys will be there. Auston Matthews, Jack Eichel, Jack Hughes, Quinn Hughes, Charlie McAvoy, Adam Fox, and Matthew Tkachuk amongst others are all elite players who bring different things to the table.

The rest of the lineup that Bleacher Report has is loaded and could win a Gold. With Connor Hellebuyck leading a really good goalie trio, it will be hard to score goals against them with that group of defensemen in front of them.

As for Canada, they are always big-time favorites in best-on-best hockey tournaments. With guys like Connor McDavid, Nathan MacKinnon, Cale Makar, Sidney Crosby, and Brad Marchand leading the way, it is easy to figure out why.

Some incredible players will have a chance to surround them. One of them may be Connor Bedard of the Chicago Blackhawks. He is only one year into his NHL career but Bleacher Report is projecting him to be on the team.

Macklin Celebrini hasn't made his NHL debut yet and he hasn't made this list either. He very well could prove he is worthy before then.

The only skeptical part for Canada is their goaltending. BR has Stuart Skinner, Tristan Jarry, and Adin Hill as the three listed. Skinner just went to the Stanley Cup Final as the Edmonton Oilers goaltender but he has been up and down so far in his career. Beyond him, it doesn't stack up with other countries.

These two hockey countries have become great rivals and are sure to ice great teams for this tournament. The rosters/line combos above may change but they look good based on where we stand here in 2024.

Sweden and Finland's rivalry in the Olympics will be reunited in a big way

Sweden and Finland always come in as teams that could potentially take down Canada for the ultimate crown. With the rosters shown above, there is no doubt that they could be threats again.

Over the last decade, the Swedes have had an upper hand over their Finnish rivals but the tides could be turning. The high-end talent in Sweden is there but they have had some players age out over the years.

Finland is restocked with stars like Sasha Barkov, Mikko Rantanen, and Miro Heiskanen. With Jusse Saros in the net, they are set.

Sweden will shine on the blue line. Stars like Victor Hedman, Erik Karlsson, Gustav Forsling, and Rasmus Dahlin amongst others will make life easier on Linus Ullmark who is sure to be their starting goalie as Bleacher Report suggested.

We'll see what each country develops in the next two years but BR did a great job on these two with how they stand right now.

Russia and Czechia will come into the Olympics hoping to make some noise

If Russia participates in the 2026 Olympics, it will ice a lot of talent that NHL fans are very familiar with. As Bleacher Report shows above, old favorites like Alexander Ovechkin, Evgeni Malkin, and Vladimir Tarasenko are projected to make the team.

There are also some elite players in their prime like Nikita Kucherov, Kirill Kaprizov, Andrei Svechnikov, and Mikhail Sergachev who will all help this be an incredible team.

They are also very strong in the net with the projections of Igor Shesterkin, Ilya Sorokin, and Andrei Vasilevskiy. They left off defending Stanley Cup champion Sergei Bobrovsky but his age by 2026 is likely the reason for that.

There is no reason for leaving off Artemi Panarin of the New York Rangers. They did so because of political reasons but he is the second-best Russian player right now behind Nikita Kucherov. If Russia is willing to let him play despite the off-ice stuff, he is likely to be a big-time contributor to the top six.

Forwards like Nikita Gusev and Evgeny Kuznetsov both project to make it on Bleacher Report's model despite them both being back in the KHL. If they, as a hockey country, feel that they are two of their 12 best forwards, they will make the team no matter what club they play for.

As for Czechia, they aren't as strong as the other hockey countries but they have a lot of talent still. David Pastrnak of the Boston Bruins is their true leader both on and off the ice.

They've been feisty in other world hockey competitions lately including a World Championship win in 2024 and a World Junior Silver in 2022-23. If they can bring some of that chemistry to the big stage, they will be hard to beat.

If their bottom six, defense, and goaltending can all be at their best, the high-end forwards alongside Pastrnak listed above could make enough noise to become a winner.

The conclusion is that hockey as a sport is thriving around the world

If Russia is allowed to play (they are currently only banned through 2025), they are one of the 12 teams set to make it along with the other five listed here (USA, Canada, Czechia, Finland, & Sweden).

Italy, Switzerland, and Germany have all locked in their spot as well. Italy is the host country while the Swiss and Germans have earned it. Three more teams will earn their chance to play on the world stage.

For Switzerland, you can expect some big names like Nico Hischier, Roman Josi, and Timo Meier amongst others. They will be a great team.

Leon Draisaitl and Moritz Seider are two very good NHL players expected to be on that team. They might not be deep enough to compete with the big teams yet but they will be hard to play against as they've shown in recent world hockey events.

Around the world, more and more countries are picking up the game and producing talent. That is evidenced by all of the great players listed for these countries.

We will have a small sneak peek in 2025 when the NHL hosts the "Four Nations Faceoff". Only the United States, Canada, Sweden, and Finland will be involved with that one so it isn't a true world tournament but it will be wildly entertaining regardless. Until the Olympics in 2026, that will do.

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