{"id":448800,"date":"2026-02-06T12:07:12","date_gmt":"2026-02-06T12:07:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/448800\/"},"modified":"2026-02-06T12:07:12","modified_gmt":"2026-02-06T12:07:12","slug":"dark-horse-to-medal-in-mens-hockey-at-the-olympics-nhl-players-make-their-picks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/448800\/","title":{"rendered":"Dark horse to medal in men\u2019s hockey at the Olympics? NHL players make their picks"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Athletic has live coverage of the 2026 Winter Olympics<\/a>. <\/p>\n

In the years between Sochi in 2014 and Milan in 2026, when NHL players did not participate in the Olympics, the men\u2019s hockey tournament was a lot more wide open. Russia beat Germany in the gold-medal game in Pyeongchang in 2018, and Finland knocked off Russia in Beijing in 2022, with Slovakia earning the bronze medal.<\/p>\n

Now that NHL players are back in the mix, the traditional powers have re-emerged as the heavy favorites \u2014 Canada, the United States, Sweden and, to a lesser extent, Finland. But anything can happen in a single-elimination tournament. Latvia gave Canada all it could handle in the quarterfinals in Sochi, with Kristers Gudlevskis making 55 saves in a 2-1 thriller. The Czech Republic won gold in Nagano in 1998, the first Olympics with NHLers. And the United States, despite its massive population advantage, hasn\u2019t won a gold medal since the Miracle on Ice in 1980.<\/p>\n

Hockey\u2019s a little wacky, and there are enough NHLers on nearly every team to force the power countries to take every game seriously.<\/p>\n

As part of The Athletic\u2019s player poll<\/a> this year, we asked 118 NHLers for their dark horse to medal in Milan. To ensure a \u201cfavorite\u201d didn\u2019t get picked as a \u201cdark horse,\u201d players weren\u2019t allowed to select teams that participated in the 4 Nations Face-Off: Canada, the U.S., Sweden and Finland.<\/p>\n

(Note: Not every player responded to every question.)<\/p>\n

Unsurprisingly, the Czech Republic got the most love from our voters. The Czechs have 13 NHLers on their roster, including a solid trio of goaltenders in Anaheim\u2019s Luk\u00e1\u0161 Dost\u00e1l, Utah\u2019s Karel Vejmelka and Philadelphia\u2019s Dan Vladar. And goaltending is the great equalizer.<\/p>\n

“Maaaybe the Czechs,\u201d one player said. \u201cMaybe. I could see them in a semi and getting that one game.”<\/p>\n

“(The Czech Republic is) usually a pretty good team,\u201d another player said. \u201cThat would be the one I could see ending up high.”<\/p>\n

“They play a stingy game,\u201d said another. \u201cThey can lock it down for a few games, and they have some guys who can score, too.”<\/p>\n

“I’ll go with the Czechs,\u201d one said. \u201cI feel like they always have a lot of pride for those tournaments.”<\/p>\n

The Anaheim Ducks, in particular, have produced believers in the Czechs, with Ducks captain Radko Gudas and Dost\u00e1l on the roster.<\/p>\n

“I’ve got to ride with my boys,\u201d said one Ducks player. \u201cWith Dosty on the team, I’ve got to go with them for sure.”<\/p>\n

“Czechia, obviously,\u201d said another. \u201cThey have a really good goalie and a good defenseman (Radko Gudas). I think the Czechs and Switzerland. They were quite a load in the World Championships, and they\u2019re really good on the international stage. Those two.”<\/p>\n

“Because of Dostal,\u201d said a former Ducks player. \u201cI think (Dost\u00e1l) is a phenomenal goalie and he can win you a game. \u2026 He\u2019d win us some games that we didn\u2019t deserve to.”<\/p>\n

Beyond the goalies, the Czech Republic also has David Pastr\u0148\u00e1k, Martin Ne\u010das and Tom\u00e1\u0161 Hertl, three premier offensive talents.<\/p>\n

\u201cI feel like they can be dangerous,\u201d one player said. \u201cIn a tournament like that, if you get really good goaltending, it’s a massive thing. Anything can happen.”<\/p>\n

“They have some really high-end forwards,\u201d said another player. \u201cThey just seem to always play well as a team in those events.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cSwitzerland, even Germany,\u201d said one player who ultimately picked the Czechs. \u201cThere\u2019s some good teams out there, and when you go to the tournament, it\u2019s all about the one game. Anything can happen. There\u2019s for sure some dark horses.”<\/p>\n

“Back in the day, I would have said the Czechs,\u201d one Swiss voter said. \u201cThey probably have the most players, but don’t think they’re a dark horse necessarily.”<\/p>\n

The Swiss, with Nico Hischier, Timo Meier and Roman Josi leading the way, also got some love from our voters.<\/p>\n

\u201cSwitzerland’s had a good run at World Championships,\u201d one educated voter said. \u201cBack-to-back top-three medal finishes.”<\/p>\n

“They were good at worlds \u2014 really good,\u201d said an American who picked Switzerland. \u201cWe beat them in overtime to win. They were a good team, and they’ve got some more guys now because everybody’s available.”<\/p>\n

“They just play structured,\u201d said a Switzerland voter.<\/p>\n

Germany, with Leon Draisaitl and Tim St\u00fctzle, earned some votes, too.<\/p>\n

“They shut it down pretty good,\u201d one voter said.<\/p>\n

“They’re going to have to rely on their special teams, but I think they could surprise some people,\u201d another voter said.<\/p>\n

And clearly, a couple of our voters remembered Sochi, throwing their support behind Latvia.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey have goalies who can steal games,\u201d one player said.<\/p>\n

That could be referring to Gudlevskis, who’s on the roster again this year \u2014 or to the Columbus Blue Jackets’ Elvis Merzlikins, or to the Pittsburgh Penguins’ Arturs Silovs, who led Latvia to bronze at the 2023 World Championship.<\/p>\n

“They’re gonna surprise some people,\u201d one player said.<\/p>\n

Reporting for this story by Arpon Basu, Peter Baugh, Max Bultman, Thomas Drance, Matthew Fairburn, Jesse Granger, Joshua Kloke, Kevin Kurz, Mark Lazerus, Julian McKenzie, Vincent Z. Mercogliano, Aaron Portzline, Scott Powers, Michael Russo, Jeremy Rutherford, Fluto Shinzawa, Joe Smith, Eric Stephens and Josh Yohe.<\/p>\n

Written by Mark Lazerus.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Athletic has live coverage of the 2026 Winter Olympics. In the years between Sochi in 2014 and…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":448801,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[233,95,229,26,29,96,144,230,147,93,146,57,5,145,54125,38,21,231,151,159,35,4,2602,25,56,100,168,234,171,273,84,92,31,3154,27,39,109,18],"class_list":{"0":"post-448800","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nhl","8":"tag-anaheim-ducks","9":"tag-boston-bruins","10":"tag-buffalo-sabres","11":"tag-calgary-flames","12":"tag-carolina-hurricanes","13":"tag-chicago-blackhawks","14":"tag-colorado-avalanche","15":"tag-columbus-blue-jackets","16":"tag-dallas-stars","17":"tag-detroit-red-wings","18":"tag-edmonton-oilers","19":"tag-florida-panthers","20":"tag-hockey","21":"tag-los-angeles-kings","22":"tag-mens-olympic-ice-hockey","23":"tag-minnesota-wild","24":"tag-montreal-canadiens","25":"tag-nashville-predators","26":"tag-new-jersey-devils","27":"tag-new-york-islanders","28":"tag-new-york-rangers","29":"tag-nhl","30":"tag-olympics","31":"tag-ottawa-senators","32":"tag-philadelphia-flyers","33":"tag-pittsburgh-penguins","34":"tag-san-jose-sharks","35":"tag-seattle-kraken","36":"tag-sports-betting","37":"tag-sports-business","38":"tag-st-louis-blues","39":"tag-tampa-bay-lightning","40":"tag-toronto-maple-leafs","41":"tag-utah-mammoth","42":"tag-vancouver-canucks","43":"tag-vegas-golden-knights","44":"tag-washington-capitals","45":"tag-winnipeg-jets"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":"Validation failed: Text character limit of 500 exceeded"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/448800","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=448800"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/448800\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/448801"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=448800"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=448800"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=448800"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}