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
Canada 🇨🇦 pic.twitter.com/StCmylmwRJ
— B/R Open Ice (@BR_OpenIce) July 26, 2024
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.