For some members of the Tampa Bay Lightning, a much-needed break in the regular season gets underway today. The NHL is officially shut down for the next few weeks as the attention of the hockey world shifts to Italy and the 2026 Winter Olympics. After 12 years, NHL players are back for a best-on-best tournament (minus, of course, the Russians) and the players are excited to be heading overseas for a chance to earn a gold medal, as well as locker room bragging rights.
Even with Brayden Point (lower body injury) and Anthony Cirelli (upper body injury) missing their chance to play for Team Canda, the Bolts will be well represented in Milan as eight players (plus a member of the Syracuse Crunch) are set to play for their country. Not only that, but Jon Cooper will be behind Team Canda’s bench while Julien BriseBois will watch from the press box as he served as an assistant general manager for the team.
While he lost the services of Point and Cirelli, Coach Cooper still has Brandon Hagel on his team. Team Sweden boasts the most Bolts with Victor Hedman and Pontus Holmberg. Zemgus Girgensons returns to the Olympics to represent Latvia for the second time. Jake Guentzel will be relied on to provide some net-front scoring for Team USA while Oliver Bjorkstrand will be looking to provide the offense for Denmark. J.J. Moser (Switzerland), Erik Cernak (Slovakia), and Wojceich Stachowiak (Germany) round out the organization’s participants.
One of the aspects of having the NHL back in the Olympics is that it gives players a chance to join the elusive Triple Gold Club. Comprised of players who have won a gold medal at the World Championships and the Olympics as well as a Stanley Cup, there are only 30 players in the club (and one coach).
Three current members of the club played for the Lightning at some point in their career – Frederik Modin, Valterri Filppula, and Corey Perry. Is there anyone that can join them this year? Let’s take a look:
Brandon Hagel – 0 Stanley Cups, 0 Olympic Gold Medals, 1 World Championship Gold Medal
Oliver Bjorkstrand – 0 Stanley Cups, 0 Olympic Gold Medals, 0 World Championship Gold Medals
Wojciech Stachowiak – 0 Stanley Cups, 0 Olympic Gold Medals, 0 World Championship Gold Medals
Zemgus Girgensons – 0 Stanley Cups, 0 Olympic Gold Medals, 0 World Championship Gold Medals
Erik Cernak -2 Stanley Cups, 0 Olympic Gold Medals, 0 World Championship Gold Medals
Victor Hedman – 2 Stanley Cups, 0 Olympic Gold Medals, 1 World Championship Gold Medal
Pontus Holmberg – 0 Stanley Cups, 0 Olympic Gold Medals, 0 World Championship Gold Medals
J.J. Moser – 0 Stanley Cups, 0 Olympic Gold Medals, 0 World Championship Gold Medals
Jake Guentzel – 1 Stanley Cup, 0 Olympic Gold Medals, 0 World Championship Gold Medals
So, the answer is yes! Victor Hedman could join the club this year if Sweden pulls off the upset. Sweden is currently +650 to win the tournament according to Hard Rock Bet, but with one of the stronger goaltending duos participating, along with a solid defensive corps, they could be primed to give Canada (+105) and the USA (+170) a real challenge.
The games will be broadcast across the NBC spectrum of channels as well as through the Peacock app with the earliest games of the day starting around 6:00 AM and the final games of the day getting underway at 3:00 PM. The Gold Medal Game will take place on February 22nd at 8:10 AM.
Erik Cernak gets the first crack at a win when Slovakia hosts Finland to open the tournament on February 11 at 10:40 AM EST.