Hockey is expected to be one of the most anticipated events at the Beijing 2022 Olympic Games. The 12-team tournament, which concludes with the gold medal game on February 20, will once again feature National Hockey League (NHL) players after league executives and the NHL Players’ Association came to an agreement with the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF). NHL players didn’t participate in the 2018 Games, but the League will take a 20-day break during the 2022 Games so that players can represent their nations.
“We understand how passionately NHL players feel about representing and competing for their countries,” said NHL deputy commissioner Bill Daly when the agreement was announced in September. “We are very pleased that we were able to conclude arrangements that will allow them to resume best-on-best competition on the Olympic stage.”
NHL players first began competing in the Winter Olympics at the 1998 Games in Nagano. Since then, Canada has won the gold medal in three of the five Olympic tournaments in which NHL players have participated. Czech Republic won gold in 1998 and Sweden won gold at the 2006 Turin Games.
Below is a look at the four most likely gold medal contenders for the upcoming Beijing Games.
Canada
At the request of the IIHF, 11 of the 12 teams participating in the upcoming Games have already named three players to their respective rosters. Not surprisingly, Canada named Connor McDavid, Sidney Crosby, and Alex Pietrangelo to its team. McDavid, a three-time Art Ross Trophy winner as the NHL’s top scorer, is arguably the best player in the world, while Crosby scored the game-winning goal in overtime for Canada in the gold medal game at the 2010 Vancouver Games. Pietrangelo, meanwhile, was named the fourth-best defenseman in the NHL by Sporting News in October 2021.
Canada has some tough choices to make, especially at the forward position, but players like Nathan MacKinnon, Mitch Marner, Brad Marchand, and Brayden Point are expected to be on the team. Other forwards in contention include Steven Stamkos, Jonathan Huberdeau, and Mark Scheifele. Defense candidates include Pietrangelo’s Vegas teammate Shea Theodore as well as Cale Makar, Aaron Ekblad, and Dougie Hamilton. Carey Price, who allowed only three goals through five games at the 2014 Sochi Games, is expected to be Canada’s starting goaltender.
United States
The United States hasn’t won gold in Olympic hockey since the 1980 Lake Placid Games, but it finished as runner-up to Canada in 2002 and 2010. The 2022 US Olympic team is expected to once again challenge for the gold medal and boasts a talented group of young forwards in addition to some experienced veterans.
Patrick Kane, Auston Matthews, and Seth Jones have already been named to the team. Kane is a veteran of more than 1,000 NHL games and former Hart Trophy winner as the league MVP, while Matthews won the Maurice “Rocket” Richard Trophy last season as the league’s top goal scorer with 41 goals in 52 games. Jones, a teammate of Kane with the Chicago Blackhawks, is among the league’s best defensemen.
Forwards Kyle Connor, Brock Boeser, and Matthew Tkachuk are also expected to make the US team. Defense candidates include Zach Werenski, Quinn Hughes, and Adam Fox, while Connor Hellebuyck is expected to be the team’s starting goaltender.
Russia
Russia, which won the gold medal at the 2018 Pyeongchang Games, has a bevy of skilled wingers from which to pick, but will likely be relatively weak at the center position. Wingers Alex Ovechkin, Nikita Kucherov, and Aretmi Panarin are among the most dynamic players in the NHL. Sporting News named the latter two among the top 10 forwards for the 2021-22 season and Ovechkin, who received honorable mention, ranked fifth all-time in goals as of November 3, 2021, with 741 in 1,206 games.
Evgeni Malkin is expected to be the team’s top center, while the others will likely come from the KHL. Ovechkin’s Washington Capitals teammate Evgeny Kuznetsov would have made the team, but he is serving a four-year IIHF suspension. Russia’s defense core will likely include Ivan Provorov, Artem Zub, and Mikhail Sergachev. Reigning Conn Smythe Trophy winner Andrei Vasilevskiy will be the team’s starting goaltender.
Sweden
Sweden has already named Mika Zibanejad, Gabriel Landeskog, and Victor Hedman to its roster. Like the United States, it’s expected to have a mix of aging veterans and skilled young players on its roster. At forward, Zibanejad and Landeskog are likely to be joined by William Nylander, Filip Forsberg, Elias Pettersson, and Viktor Arvidsson. The country has an abundance of quality centers in the NHL, so players like Elias Lindholm and William Karlsson may have to shift to the wing position.
Hedman, meanwhile, is among the top defensemen in the NHL. He won the James Norris Trophy in 2017-18 and the Conn Smythe Trophy in 2019-20. John Klingberg, Oliver Ekman-Larsson, and Rasmus Dahlin are among the other defensemen expected to be named to the team. Jacob Markstrom and Robin Lehner are likely to compete for the role of starting goaltender.