The Winter Olympics may be 527 days away, but for 12 national men’s hockey teams, the five-ring dream will be front and centre this weekend.
Three European cities will be hosting the final round of Olympic qualifying over the next four days, with a number of current and past NHLers, as well as draft picks, trying to lift their countries to a coveted spot in Milano Cortina.
While Canadian hockey fans can sleep securely in the knowledge that their invitation is already secured and ponder who will play on Connor McDavid’s wing, or if Connor Bedard deserves a spot on the team (he does), for nations such as Latvia, Denmark and 2022 bronze-medallist Slovakia, this will be their last shot for a place at the 2026 Games.
Here is a breakdown of the events:
Who has already qualified?
The International Ice Hockey Federation gave spots to host Italy and the top-eight ranked nations after the 2023 world championship … with one small caveat.
Russia is currently the third-seeded men’s team, but its invasion of and war in Ukraine has it barred from international hockey. According to the Associated Press, the IIHF will decide in February if the Russians will be allowed to participate. If not, the next best team after the three tournament winners will get that spot, filling out the 12-team Olympic field.
1. Canada
2. Finland
3. Russia*
4. U.S.A.
5. Germany
6. Sweden
7. Switzerland
8. Czechia
9. Italy (HOST)
Who is trying to qualify
There are three tournaments that will concurrently kick off on Thursday in Bratislava, Slovakia; Riga, Latvia; and Aalborg, Denmark.
It’s safe to say that the hosts of these three qualifiers can all be considered the favourites, with Olympic experience and deeper NHL-level talent in their favour. But that doesn’t mean it will be easy.
Here are the three events, with the teams listed alongside their current world ranking in brackets. All the games are to be streamed on YouTube.
Bratislava, Slovakia
Slovakia (9)
Austria (13)
Kazakhstan (15)
Hungary (18)
Having made history two and a half years ago in Beijing with their first podium finish in Olympic hockey, it must feel like an insult for the Slovaks to have to go through the qualifying process. Yet here they are. Making it more difficult is that they will have to do so without star forward Juraj Slafkovsky (Canadiens) and veteran defenceman Erik Cernak (Lightning), who have both been ruled out.
Instead the Slovaks will lean on the likes of veteran winger Tomas Tatar (Devils) and up-and-comers Martin Pospisil (Flames) and Simon Nemec (Devils), as well others with NHL and AHL experience.
Austria will be without Marco Rossi (Wild), but can at least boast Red Wings prospect Marco Kasper, who had 35 points last season in Grand Rapids (AHL) and Canadiens draft pick (fifth overall in 2023) David Reinbacher on its roster.
Riga, Latvia
Latvia (10)
France (14)
Slovenia (19)
Ukraine (27)
You need look no further than their historic third-place finish at the 2023 world championship and the celebrations that ensued to know how much the Latvians love their hockey. The star of that bronze-medal win was Canucks goalie Arturs Silovs, who was thrust into the starter’s role during this past spring’s Stanley Cup Playoffs when injuries took out Thatcher Demo and Casey DeSmith.
Silovs was listed on the Latvian camp roster, but did not feature in either of their tune-up games against Denmark and was not listed on the team’s roster for the tournament on Wednesday, which would be a major blow for the hosts, who were already without Blue Jackets goalie Elvis Merzlikins.
Vancouver teammate Teddy Blueger had already been ruled out due to “personal reasons,” but Latvia has other NHL-experienced players to draw upon, including defenceman Uvis Balinskis (Panthers) and veteran Zemgus Girgensons (Lightning).
Without Kings captain Anze Kopitar, the Slovenians will be in tough in the Riga qualifier, while the French will be captained by 39-year-old Pierre-Édouard Bellemare — a veteran of 600 NHL games, but currently out of contract — and leaning on lone current NHLer Alexandre Texier.
Aalborg, Denmark
Denmark (11)
Norway (12)
Great Britain (17)
Japan (24)
Is Denmark a rising hockey power? It seems strange to say when you consider the Danes have qualified just once for the Olympics, the most recent NHL-absent Beijing Games being the one. Still, Denmark won two games in its group at those Games, beating Czechia and Switzerland, and advanced to the quarterfinals, which shows it has some depth.
And in Aalborg the Danes won’t just have home-ice advantage, they’ll also have a deep roster laced with NHL players, including a pair goalies in Frederik Andersen (Hurricanes) and Mads Søgaard (Senators), and forwards Oliver Bjorkstrand (Kraken), Lars Eller (Penguins). They will also have Jets winger Nikolaj Ehlers, who collected three assists in a pair of warmup games against Latvia.
Norway, however, will counter with Minnesota Wild veteran Mats Zuccarello, as well as a pair of top NHL draft picks in Micheal Brandsegg-Nygard (15th overall by the Red Wings) and Stian Solberg (23rd overall by the Ducks), who made history for the country when they were both drafted in the first round this past summer. No Norwegian had ever been drafted in the first round prior to that.
As the 11th and 12th seeded teams in the world, the Danes and Norwegians look like the sure bets to be fighting it out for top spot in Aalborg, with Great Britain and 28th-ranked Japan facing long odds to upset either of them.
