{"id":467105,"date":"2026-02-22T18:37:09","date_gmt":"2026-02-22T18:37:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/467105\/"},"modified":"2026-02-22T18:37:09","modified_gmt":"2026-02-22T18:37:09","slug":"flyers-olympic-wrap-two-medals-rising-stock","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/467105\/","title":{"rendered":"Flyers Olympic Wrap: Two Medals & Rising Stock"},"content":{"rendered":"

The 2026 Milano Cortina Winter Olympic Hockey is complete, and the Philadelphia Flyers are bringing home two medals. <\/p>\n

Rasmus Ristolainen and Finland brought home the bronze medal following their 6-1 route of Slovakia. <\/p>\n

Travis Sanheim and Canada earned the silver medal after the thrilling final vs. Team USA.<\/p>\n

Dan Vladar\u2019s tournament came to an end following Wednesday\u2019s quarterfinals. Czechia almost pulled off the unthinkable upset, but Canada was and come back and win in overtime.<\/p>\n

Vladar\u2019s tournament did not see much action. Lukas Dostal was clearly the No. 1 in the eyes of the Czechs. Vladar was the No. 2, as he dressed in every game, but only played in one, the 6-3 win vs. France. They finished the tournament 2-1-2. If it weren\u2019t for the bad stretch against France where the three goals were all allowed, Vladar would have likely got another look somewhere in elimination. <\/p>\n

Rasmus Ristolainen and Finland had a great tournament. They too, took Canada to the wire, but Nathan MacKinnon\u2019s heroics ended their gold medal hopes. Even without Mikko Rantanen, the Finns easily beat Slovakia en route to their bronze medal run. <\/p>\n

The Flyers\u2019 defenseman assumed a second pair role for Finland, and really dominated. Ristolainen ended the tournament with three assists and a +\/- of 9, which tied for the tournament lead with his defensive partner Niko Mikkola, and Canadian defenseman Devon Toews.<\/p>\n

Then, we have Travis Sanheim and Rick Tocchet, who earned silver in the tournament. Sanheim was a scratch in the opener, but played every game since (sound familiar?). The Flyers blueliner had a great tournament once he got on the ice, and proved once again that he belonged. Sanheim had an assist and a +6 rating. Considering he played one less game than most, that\u2019s certainly impressive.<\/p>\n

Both Sanheim and Ristolainen raised their stock in the Olympics. <\/p>\n

Read More: Which Flyers Olympian has the Most to Gain or Lose in Milan?<\/a><\/p>\n

Flyers Defensemen Stock Rises<\/p>\n

A little over a week ago, we looked at which Flyers Olympian\u2019s had the most to gain and lose in Milan. We determined Ristolainen had the most to gain, and Sanheim had the most to lose, but each in a different lens. <\/p>\n

In their own way, both Sanheim and Ristolainen\u2019s stock was raised during the Olympics. <\/p>\n

For Sanheim, he was always a bubble defender for Canada. Like at 4 Nations, an injury opened a door for Sanheim to move up. His initial role was as the extra defenseman, getting limited ice time. After just one game in that role, he grabbed on to a third pair role, and played very, very well. <\/p>\n

As a bubble player, Sanheim had the most to lose in this tournament because one bad moment could be the end of his time playing international best in best. Not only did he avoid that, but he played his way up the chart. Sanheim had a great tournament. <\/p>\n

As for Ristolainen, he had a lot to prove about his NHL value. He has always been known as a good defenseman, but his injury history has always been a bigger cloud. <\/p>\n

In an international best on best, not only did the Flyers\u2019 defenseman look strong, physical, and healthy, but he also proved he could hang with the best of the best, and then some. <\/p>\n

It was a good tournament to be a Flyers defenseman. <\/p>\n

What an ending<\/p>\n

While we\u2019re here, let\u2019s just take a second to talk about that ending. Oh my goodness. You could not have written a better ending to such a great tournament. Two phenomenal teams in a storybook battle. Overtime was destined. Even though they never trailed, the Canadian dominance through the final 40 minutes of regulation made it feel like an American comeback. <\/p>\n

And now, the Americans are gold medalists once again. Jack Hughes scored an amazing game winner, but Connor Hellebuyck willed Team USA to that win. What a morning, what a tournament, and what a game!<\/p>\n

Read More: Flyers Mailbag 3.0: Luchanko\u2019s Position Change; Locker Room Vibe; Postseason Frustration?<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The 2026 Milano Cortina Winter Olympic Hockey is complete, and the Philadelphia Flyers are bringing home two medals.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":457393,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5112],"tags":[3189,10328,6878,1468,5,4,1467,56,5205,4526,3673],"class_list":{"0":"post-467105","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-philadelphia-flyers","8":"tag-2026-winter-olympics","9":"tag-bronze-medal","10":"tag-dan-vladar","11":"tag-flyers","12":"tag-hockey","13":"tag-nhl","14":"tag-philadelphia","15":"tag-philadelphia-flyers","16":"tag-philadelphiaflyers","17":"tag-rasmus-ristolainen","18":"tag-travis-sanheim"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nhl\/116115737781285453","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/467105","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=467105"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/467105\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/457393"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=467105"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=467105"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=467105"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}