Denmark Announces First 6 Names For 2026 Winter Olympics Team 

The tournament will consist of 12 teams. As expected, there is not going to be a Team Russia. The 12 teams will be separated into groups, which are as follows: Group A features Canada, Czechia, France, and Switzerland. Group B includes Finland, Italy, Sweden, and Slovakia. Lastly, Group C has Denmark, Germany, Latvia, and the United States. The hockey tournament will take place on February 11th and run until the 22nd.

Now onto the first six players on Team Denmark’s preliminary roster.

Frederik Andersen

Andersen has been the face of Denmark’s crease for the last decade, and that will continue again with him being named to the Olympic team. The 35-year-old had a 13-8-1 record with a 2.50 goals against average and an .899 save percentage in 22 games with the Carolina Hurricanes this season. He has hit the 20-win mark nine times between the Anaheim Ducks, Toronto Maple Leafs, and Hurricanes. He has played for Denmark three times at the World Championships and at three Olympic qualifiers.

Oliver Bjorkstrand

Bjorkstrand, 30, spent the first portion of the 2024-25 season with the Seattle Kraken before getting traded to the Tampa Bay Lightning just before the NHL Trade Deadline. In 79 games, he had 21 goals and 25 assists for 45 points. The 30-year-old has scored 172 goals and 212 assists in 624 games. He has yet to represent Denmark at the Olympics but has at the Worlds and Olympic qualifiers twice.

Nikolaj Ehlers

Ehlers, 29, has the most goals and points and is second in assists for a Denmark-born player in NHL history. He has scored 225 goals and 295 assists for 520 points in 674 NHL games. This season with the Winnipeg Jets, he had 24 goals and 39 assists for 63 points in 69 games. He has scored 20 goals in eight of his 10 seasons in the NHL. He has represented Denmark five times on the international stage.

Lars Eller

Eller, 36, has had a long NHL career. He has played in 1,116 NHL games and scored 188 goals and 236 assists for 424 points. He has played for the St. Louis Blues, Montreal Canadiens, Colorado Avalanche, Pittsburgh Penguins, and Washington Capitals, where he won a Stanley Cup in 2018. This past season, he had 10 goals and 12 assists for 22 points in 80 games, split between the Penguins and the Capitals. He has yet to play for Denmark in the Olympics but has played at the Worlds five times and in the Olympic qualifiers in 2009.

Jesper Jensen Aabo

Unfortunately, Jensen Aabo has never played in the NHL but still has had a very good hockey career. The 33-year-old was the captain for Denmark at the 2025 Worlds. He has played for Denmark 14 times at the Worlds, totaling 92 games, as well as at the 2022 Olympics. He has played for EC-KAC of the ICE Hockey League, which is the top league in Austria. He has also played in Germany, Sweden, and Russia.

Jonas Rondbjerg

Rondbjerg, 26, is a member of the Vegas Golden Knights and has played 76 games over four seasons. He has recorded three goals and seven assists for 10 points; however, in 13 games this season, he didn’t register a point. He has played for Denmark at the Worlds and World Juniors four times.

The 2026 Olympics in Milano Cortina will be the first time in 12 years that NHL players will be allowed to participate in the Olympic Winter Games.