The NHL hosted the 4 Nations Face-Off in February of last year as a primer for the 2026 Milano Cortina Winter Olympics and to reintroduce fans to best-on-best hockey.
Just a few months later in the Western Conference finals of the Stanley Cup playoffs, the Dallas Stars foreshadowed what one Olympic team could look like.
On May 23, 2025, the Stars started five Finnish players in Game 2 of the third-round series with the Edmonton Oilers — the first time in NHL history that a team put out five Finns to start a game. Those five players — Mikko Ratanen, Roope Hintz, Mikael Granlund, Esa Lindell and Miro Heiskanen — are expected to be reunited as Finland’s starting five skaters in the upcoming men’s Olympic tournament, beginning with a game against Slovakia at 9:40 a.m. CT Wednesday.
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While Finland’s roster will be different than four years ago now that NHL players can compete in the Olympics for the first time since 2014, the Finns are looking to defend their first gold medal from the 2022 Beijing Games. The Finns won bronze the last time NHL players participated.
“I think it’s good for the hockey world in general to have the best players playing in the Olympics, so I was obviously really excited to hear that it’s going to happen,” Rantanen said.
The success of the Finnish national team this year runs through Dallas. The team was assembled by general manager Jere Lehtinen, a longtime Dallas Star and member of the 1999 Stanley Cup team. He selected four current players from the Stars’ roster — Rantanen, Lindell, Heiskanen and Hintz — while reuniting them with former Finns who passed through Dallas, like Granlund, who signed with Anaheim in the offseason, and Colorado’s Joel Kiviranta.
Projected lines have Granlund, Hintz and Rantanen, who skated together last postseason, as Team Finland’s top line and Lindell and Heiskanen, who have skated together all season, as its top defensive pairing.
The Stars’ Finns hope it will help their chances in the tournament.
“Me and Roope and Granny had some good chemistry last year, so obviously, that helps in a short tournament if you’ve had guys who have played together before,” Rantanen said. “Hopefully, we can take advantage of that.”
In 18 games last postseason, the three forwards combined for 44 points. In just shy of 60 games this season, Heiskanen and Lindell have combined for 68 and rank first and second, respectively, on the team in ice time, with both defensemen averaging over 23 minutes per night.
The Finns will get a big boost with Heiskanen on the roster, as the nation’s top defenseman was unable to play in the 4 Nations Face-Off due to a knee injury.
“It always sucks when you get hurt and you’re not able to play,” Heiskanen said. “It sucks to watch those games, but it was good watching on TV. It was really fun to watch those games, so it’s probably gonna be pretty similar.”
All four of the Stars’ Finns said playing in the Olympics has been a childhood dream. Lindell remembers watching Finland’s silver medal finish in 2006 when he was just 11 years old — its best finish in nearly 30 years.
“I remember that from my childhood,” he said. “I’m pumped up to see what the whole tournament is going to be and just honored to represent the country.”
Childhood memories will also be renewed for Lindell, who will be reunited with Bruins goalie Joonas Korpisalo, his former classmate in school from ages 10-15. With a population of just 5.6 million, Finland’s stars — even those who didn’t cross paths in Dallas — are already quite familiar with one another.
Rantanen and his fellow alternate captain Sebastian Aho played together in juniors. He’s also from the same town as right winger Kaapo Kakko and defenseman Rasmus Ristolainen.
“I think we have a really good team there,” Heiskanen said. “Almost everybody knows each other really well. It’s a tight group. I feel really good about our chances.”
The tournament also offers Dallas’ Finns a feeling of being closer to home. Instead of the typical eight-hour time difference between Dallas and Helsinki, it’s just a one-hour time difference for their friends and family hoping to watch their games. Many are even planning to make the three-hour flight to be there in person.
The four Stars also know they’ll have a strong support system halfway across the globe in Dallas, waking up early each morning to watch them play.
“It’s nice that they’re supporting us, even though we’re kind of the enemies of the USA,” Rantanen said. “They’re still on our side a little bit. I’m happy to hear that.”
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