Bleacher Report's Olympic hockey projections are incredibly exciting

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.