The Edmonton Oilers are putting their best foot forward in the Milano Cortina Winter Olympic Games.
Make that best feet, as both superstars Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl will lead the charge for their home countries. That means they will be trading in their orange and blue sweaters for the colours of their home nations, as they will become opponents in the same tournament for just the second time in their hockey careers.
The men’s tournament opens Wednesday, Feb. 11, with the Oilers bolstering both Team Canada’s and Team Germany’s rosters.
These Winter Games are the first involving NHL players since the 2014 Sochi Winter Games, when Team Canada won gold with Carey Price in net for a 3-0 shutout over Team Sweden in the final.
Here’s a closer look at each of the three Olympic-bound Oilers players and what they’ll bring to their national teams.
Oilers captain Connor McDavid is making his Olympic debut in his 11th season in the NHL, where he’s done just about anything but win a Stanley Cup. Since being drafted first overall in 2015 by the Oilers and becoming the youngest captain in NHL history, the now-29-year-old native of Richmond Hill, Ont., is a seven-time NHL all-star with five Art Ross trophies, four Ted Lindsay awards, three Hart Memorial trophies, a Maurice ‘Rocket’ Richard trophy and a Conn Smythe trophy.
He currently leads the NHL with 96 points and 62 assists in 58 games prior to the Olympic break.
Internationally, while McDavid will be stepping onto Olympic ice for the first time, his Team Canada resume includes a gold medal at the 2013 U18 world junior championships, gold at the 2015 world junior championships, gold at the 2016 World Cup (where he faced Draisaitl on Team Germany in their one and only meeting as opponents), and gold in last year’s 4 Nations Face-off, where he scored in overtime of the final against Team USA.
That tournament marked McDavid’s second foray into a best-on-best matchup outside of the junior level, but only included Canada, the U.S., Sweden and Finland.
Connor McDavid #97 of Team Canada celebrates his goal against Team Finland at 4:13 of the first period in the 4 Nations Face-Off game at TD Garden on February 17, 2025 in Boston, Massachusetts.
Leon Draisaitl (Germany)
Edmonton’s second-line centre and oftentimes wingman to McDavid will be centring the top line on Team Germany. Draisaitl is hands down the best player from his country ever to lace up a pair of skates, having earned 1,036 points (428 goals, 608 assists) in 845 NHL games.
The next closest German national on the list is Marco Sturm, who had 487 points (242 goals, 245 assists) in 938 NHL games.
The 30-year-old native of Cologne, Germany, was drafted third overall in 2014 by the Oilers on his way to five all-star nods, an Art Ross trophy, a Ted Lindsay trophy, a Hart Memorial trophy and a Maurice ‘Rocket’ Richard trophy. His 173 power-play goals are an Oilers franchise record, as he currently sits sixth overall in NHL scoring with 80 points (29 goals, 51 assists) in 55 games.
Internationally, Draisaitl was named to the IIHF all-time Germany team in 2020, the same year he was named German Sportsman of the Year. He has 34 points (13 goals, 21 assists) in 42 games since 2014 with Germany’s senior national team, while his best result came as a contingent on Team Europe at the 2016 World Cup, where he earned a silver medal.
On Wednesday, Draisaitl was named one of Germany’s flag bearers for the opening ceremonies alongside ski jumper Katharina Schmid.
Germany’s Leon Draisaitl vies during the IIHF Ice Hockey World Championships first round match between Italy and Germany in Cologne, western Germany on May 13, 2017.
Josh Samanski (Germany)
While the other two soon-to-be Oilers Olympians are both more than a decade and 1,000 points into their NHL careers, Samanski only made his NHL debut with Edmonton last month, after having been named to Team Germany’s roster for Milano Cortina.
Technically, he is a member of the Bakersfield Condors, their American Hockey League affiliate, after being sent back down to the farm Wednesday. But not before earning a pair of assists in his first five NHL games. As the Condors’ first-line centre, Samanski is tied for sixth in team scoring with 28 points (seven goals, 21 assists) in 39 AHL games this season.
The 23-year-old native of Erding, Germany, spent one season in the Ontario Hockey League with the Owen Sound Attack after growing up playing with Jungadler Mannheim of the Schüler-BL, a top-tier U16 German ice hockey league, where his best season saw him earn 106 points in 36 games.
Professionally, Samanski served as alternate captain of the Straubing Tigers of the Deutsche Eishockey Liga last season, his last of four with the team before signing a two-year, $1,950,000 contract with Edmonton on April 2, 2025.
Internationally, Samanski played in a pair of world junior championships in 2021-22, before joining the senior team for the 2025 world championships, where he had two goals and three assists in seven games. Like his Oilers teammates, this will mark his first Olympic Games appearance, as well.
Edmonton Oilers forward Josh Samanski skates to the corner with Minnesota Wild defenceman David Jiricek at Rogers Place on Saturday, Jan. 31, 2026.
The schedule
Men’s hockey gets underway in Milano Cortina on Wednesday, Feb. 11. While games start as early as 4 a.m. Mountain Time, you will only have to set the alarm in order to see Team Germany take on Team USA. Team Canada’s preliminary round games are scheduled between 8:30 a.m. and 1 p.m.
McDavid and Draisaitl aren’t scheduled to face off against each other in the preliminary round since they are in different pools. The only way it would happen is if it works out in the playoff or medal rounds.
Group 1 is made up of Canada, Switzerland, Czechia and France, while Group B contains Finland, Sweden, Slovakia and Italy. Group C is the United States, Germany, Latvia and Denmark.
Here is Team Canada’s schedule for the preliminary round (all times in MT):
Thursday, Feb. 12 at 8:40 a.m. vs. Czechia
Friday, Feb. 13 at 1:10 p.m. vs. Switzerland
Sunday, Feb. 15 at 8:40 p.m. vs. France
Here is Team Germany’s schedule for the preliminary round (all times in MT):
Thursday, Feb. 12 at 1:10 p.m. vs. Denmark
Saturday, Feb. 14 at 4:10 a.m. vs. Latvia
Sunday, Feb. 15 at 1:10 p.m. vs. USA
Here is the medal round (all times in MT):
Saturday, Feb. 21 at 12:40 p.m. Bronze medal final
Sunday, Feb. 22 at 6:10 a.m. Gold medal final
E-mail: gmoddejonge@postmedia.com
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