{"id":468226,"date":"2026-02-23T15:15:18","date_gmt":"2026-02-23T15:15:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/468226\/"},"modified":"2026-02-23T15:15:18","modified_gmt":"2026-02-23T15:15:18","slug":"anaheim-ducks-player-performances-at-the-2026-winter-olympics-the-hockey-writers-anaheim-ducks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/468226\/","title":{"rendered":"Anaheim Ducks’ Player Performances at the 2026 Winter Olympics – The Hockey Writers – Anaheim Ducks"},"content":{"rendered":"

Five Anaheim Ducks represented their home countries at the 2026 Winter Olympics. At the conclusion of the tournament, two medals were brought home to Anaheim. Radko Gudas<\/a> and Lukas Dostal<\/a> joined Czechia, Damian Clara played for Italy, Mikael Granlund<\/a> represented Finland, and Jackson LaCombe<\/a> was on the United States\u2019 roster. Let\u2019s take a look at each player\u2019s performance and how their countries fared in the Winter Olympic Games.<\/p>\n

Czechia \u2013 Radko Gudas & Lukas Dostal<\/p>\n

Defenseman Gudas and goaltender Dostal seem to be staples of the Czech national team. The pair also made the roster for the country\u2019s 2024 World Championship gold medal. While the nation\u2019s team did not medal at the Olympics, they made it\u00a0to the quarterfinals,\u00a0where they fell to Team Canada in a close 4-3 game. Dostal, in particular, fought hard in that game, but it was not enough to advance in the tournament.<\/p>\n

Gudas was a physical presence, as always, and tallied one point in five games with an assist. He had four penalty minutes and ended the tournament with a plus-3 rating. Czechia values Gudas for his defensive skills, dominant physicality, and veteran presence. He has appeared in six international competitions with the country and was selected as an alternate captain for this tournament<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"LukasFeb 18, 2026; Milan, Italy; Lukas Dostal and Radko Gudas of Czechia look dejected after Mitch Marner of Canada scores their fourth goal in overtime to win the match in a men\u2019s ice hockey quarterfinal during the Milano Cortina 2026 Olympic Winter Games at Milano Santagiulia Ice Hockey Arena. Mandatory Credit: Amber Searls-Imagn Images<\/p>\n

Dostal played four games in the country\u2019s run, where he had a 1-3-0 record<\/a>. He was not as successful in the tournament as he and his team may have hoped for, and did not meet his NHL level of play. The goaltender finished his four games with a .886 save percentage (SV%) and a 3.72 goals-against average (GAA). This season in the NHL, by comparison, he has a .897 SV% and a 2.92 GAA.<\/p>\n

Italy \u2013 Damian Clara<\/p>\n

Ducks goalie prospect Clara played four games with Team Italy, but they did not advance past group play to the quarterfinals. Unfortunately, he was unable to get a win for his team and ended with a 0-4-0 record.<\/a> He did have a .911 SV%, but a 5.13 GAA. The host country\u2019s performance in the hockey tournament was nothing short of disappointing.<\/p>\n

Related: Grading the Anaheim Ducks 2025-26 Newcomers<\/a><\/p>\n

At just 21 years old, Clara has a lot of room to grow and develop his game before the 2030 Olympics, where he may get another chance on the national team. He is not a bad goalie by any means \u2014 this season, he has a 16-13-0 record with Brynas IF. It just seemed as if he was not ready to face the level of play seen at the Olympics.<\/p>\n

USA \u2013 Jackson LaCombe<\/p>\n

While LaCombe was chosen to represent the United States, he never made the team\u2019s lineup. His presence was more of an \u201cin case of emergency\u201d situation, should another defender become injured or otherwise unable to play. However, Team USA did take home a gold medal after a 2-1 victory over Canada. LaCombe will be bringing a coveted gold medal home to Anaheim this week.<\/p>\n

It is disappointing that the United States opted out of dressing LaCombe for even one game. He is a skilled playmaker and defenseman who has 31 assists this season and would have fit in well alongside high-scoring US forwards like Jack Hughes and Auston Matthews. Hopefully, he will get a chance to play in 2030 and showcase his skills on the world stage.<\/p>\n

Finland \u2013 Mikael Granlund<\/p>\n

Granlund was the highest-performing Duck in the Olympic Games. This was his 11th time on Finland\u2019s national team, and his performance helped bring the country all the way to the bronze medal game. They took a decisive 6-1 victory over Slovakia to secure the medal. Granlund had three points<\/a> (two goals, one assist) in six games across the tournament. He also served as captain of the team,<\/a> with Sebastian Aho and Mikko Rantanen as his alternates. His medal is well-deserved and will be celebrated both in Finland and Anaheim alike. <\/p>\n

\"FinlandFeb 21, 2026; Milan, Italy; Finland pose for a photo with their bronze medals after the men\u2019s ice hockey bronze medal game during the Milano Cortina 2026 Olympic Winter Games at Milano Santagiulia Ice Hockey Arena. Mandatory Credit: Geoff Burke-Imagn Images<\/p>\n

Overall, the Ducks had a mediocre showing at the Olympics. With just a collective four points from the skaters and one win from the goaltenders, they left much to be desired for Ducks fans. However, there are ultimately two medals coming home with the players \u2014 and who could be mad at that?<\/p>\n

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<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Five Anaheim Ducks represented their home countries at the 2026 Winter Olympics. At the conclusion of the tournament,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":468227,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5123],"tags":[3189,2210,233,5292,1739,5,3041,1271,4,9464],"class_list":{"0":"post-468226","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-anaheim-ducks","8":"tag-2026-winter-olympics","9":"tag-anaheim","10":"tag-anaheim-ducks","11":"tag-anaheimducks","12":"tag-ducks","13":"tag-hockey","14":"tag-lukas-dostal","15":"tag-mikael-granlund","16":"tag-nhl","17":"tag-radko-gudas"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nhl\/116120606666417296","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/468226","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=468226"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/468226\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/468227"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=468226"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=468226"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=468226"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}