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what nhl players are playing in the olympics

Here’s the current picture of NHL players at the 2026 Winter Olympics : there are well over 100 NHLers spread across all major hockey nations, and every NHL team has at least one player in Milan-Cortina.

What NHL players are playing in the Olympics?

Big-picture snapshot

  • The NHL is officially back in the Olympics for 2026, so national teams are stacked with current NHL stars.
  • NHL.com and ESPN both report that every one of the 32 NHL teams has at least one player on an Olympic roster.
  • In total, media estimates put the number at around 140–150 NHL players in the men’s tournament alone.

A Reddit breakdown of rosters by league also notes that NHLers make up a large share of the 300 total players across all countries.

Some of the biggest NHL names going

You asked “what NHL players are playing in the Olympics,” and the full list is massive, but here are many of the headline names confirmed on 2026 rosters across power nations.

Team Canada (examples)

  • Sidney Crosby (PIT)
  • Connor McDavid (EDM)
  • Cale Makar (COL)
  • Nathan MacKinnon (COL)
  • Brad Marchand (BOS)
  • Travis Sanheim, Josh Morrissey, Tom Wilson, Logan Thompson, Mitch Marner, Mark Stone, Shea Theodore (among others listed as Canadian NHL Olympians).

Team USA (examples)

  • Charlie McAvoy, Jeremy Swayman, Tage Thompson
  • Brock Nelson, Dylan Larkin, Matt Boldy, Brock Faber, Quinn Hughes, Jack Eichel, Kyle Connor, Connor Hellebuyck, Jake Sanderson, J.T. Miller, Vincent Trocheck, Brady Tkachuk, Kyle Connor.

Team Sweden (examples)

  • Elias Lindholm, Hampus Lindholm, Rasmus Dahlin, Lucas Raymond, Moritz Seider (German, but Detroit teammate often grouped in coverage), Filip Forsberg, Adrian Kempe, Joel Eriksson Ek, Marcus Johansson, Victor Hedman, Gustav Forsling, Filip Gustavsson, Mika Zibanejad, Rasmus Andersson.

Team Finland (examples)

  • Sebastian Aho, Artturi Lehkonen, Joonas Korpisalo, Henri Jokiharju, Joel Armia, Erik Haula, Juuse Saros, Jesper Wallstedt, Oliver Kapanen, Anton Lundell, Eetu Luostarinen, Niko Mikkola, Rasmus Ristolainen.

Team Czechia, Slovakia, Germany, Switzerland, others (examples)

  • David Pastrnak, Pavel Zacha, Radko Gudas, Dan Vladar, Tomas Hertl, Martin Necas, Martin Pospisil, David Spacek.
  • Juraj Slafkovsky, Erik Cernak.
  • Leon Draisaitl, Moritz Seider, Tim Stutzle, Nico Sturm.
  • Roman Josi, Kevin Fiala, Nino Niederreiter, Nico Hischier, Akira Schmid.
  • Oliver Bjorkstrand, Lars Eller, Rasmus Andersson, Alexandre Texier, Uvis Balinskis, Elvis Merzlikins, Zemgus Girgensons and others from smaller hockey nations.

Sample: NHL players by selected NHL team

Below is a small slice of the much longer official list, showing how teams are represented. For full depth, NHL.com’s dedicated Olympic page and its “complete men’s hockey rosters” article carry every player and country.

[1] [1] [1] [3] [3] [3] [3] [3]
NHL team Example NHL Olympians Olympic nation
Boston Bruins Henri Jokiharju, Charlie McAvoy, David Pastrnak, Jeremy Swayman, Pavel Zacha, Brad Marchand, Tage Thompson Finland, USA, Czechia, USA, Czechia, Canada, USA
Colorado Avalanche Nathan MacKinnon, Cale Makar, Devon Toews, Mikko Rantanen, Artturi Lehkonen Canada, Canada, Canada, Finland, Finland
Florida Panthers Sam Bennett, Sam Reinhart, Matthew Tkachuk, Gustav Forsling, Anton Lundell, Eetu Luostarinen, Niko Mikkola Canada, Canada, USA, Sweden, Finland, Finland, Finland
Los Angeles Kings Joel Armia, Drew Doughty, Kevin Fiala, Adrian Kempe, Darcy Kuemper Finland, Canada, Switzerland, Sweden, Canada
Minnesota Wild Matt Boldy, Joel Eriksson Ek, Brock Faber, Filip Gustavsson, Marcus Johansson, Nico Sturm, Jesper Wallstedt USA, Sweden, USA, Sweden, Sweden, Germany, Sweden
Montreal Canadiens Juraj Slafkovsky, Nick Suzuki, Oliver Kapanen, Alexandre Texier Slovakia, Canada, Finland, France
Nashville Predators Filip Forsberg, Erik Haula, Roman Josi, Juuse Saros Sweden, Finland, Switzerland, Finland
Vegas Golden Knights Rasmus Andersson, Jack Eichel, Noah Hanifin, Tomas Hertl, Mitch Marner, Akira Schmid, Mark Stone, Shea Theodore Sweden, USA, USA, Czechia, Canada, Switzerland, Canada, Canada
NHL.com’s “Complete men’s hockey rosters for 2026 Winter Olympics” article gives full 25-man lists for Canada, USA, Sweden, Finland, Czechia, Germany, Slovakia, Switzerland, Denmark, Latvia, France, Italy and others, with every NHL player tagged by club.

Forum / fan angle and “trending topic” vibe

On hockey forums like Reddit, fans are buzzing over how many NHLers made it and which countries are most “NHL-heavy.”

“Following Italy's announcement of their squad today, the complete list of 300 players selected for the tournament has been made public. This includes the teams representing each player...”

Some recurring fan talking points:

  1. Canada vs USA of super-teams
    • Many commenters frame this as maybe the most talent-rich best-on-best showdown since 2010–2014, with McDavid–MacKinnon–Crosby on one side and a deep American core with Hughes, Eichel, Tkachuk, Hellebuyck and others on the other.
  1. Europe’s NHL core
    • Sweden’s blue line (Hedman, Dahlin, Rasmus Andersson, Gustavsson in net) plus Finland’s goaltending (Saros, Korpisalo, Wallstedt) and Germany’s Draisaitl–Stützle–Seider trio give Europe legitimate gold-medal paths.
  1. Smaller nations with lone NHL stars
    • Threads highlight how much pressure lands on players like Draisaitl for Germany, Bjorkstrand for Denmark, Merzlikins and Girgensons for Latvia, or Texier for France.
  1. League-representation trivia
    • One popular Reddit post ranks Olympic rosters by league, pointing out how many come from the NHL vs European leagues, and joking about how “every nation has precisely 25 players.”

Why there isn’t one simple list in this answer

The complete list is extremely long (over 140 NHL names across 12 men’s teams), and it’s updated directly on official hubs like:

  • NHL.com’s “NHL players on rosters for 2026 Winter Olympics” feature (team-by-team, club-by-club).
  • NHL.com’s “Complete men’s hockey rosters for 2026 Winter Olympics” page (every national roster in one place, including all NHLers).
  • ESPN’s “Which NHL players are playing in 2026 Winter Olympics?” story, which runs through names across all nations.

Those pages function as live reference sheets, so for the most accurate and exhaustive answer, they’re the go-to sources.

TL;DR (quick scoop)

  • Yes, tons of NHL players are playing in the 2026 Olympics — roughly 140–150 on men’s teams, with at least one from each of the 32 NHL franchises.
  • Superstars like Crosby, McDavid, MacKinnon, Makar, Marchand, McAvoy, Hughes, Eichel, Draisaitl, Josi, Hedman, Saros, Tkachuk, Pastrnak, Slafkovsky and many more are confirmed.
  • For a full, up-to-date, line-by-line roster of all NHL players in the Olympics, check the official NHL Olympic rosters and complete men’s rosters pages.

Information gathered from public forums or data available on the internet and portrayed here.