Leon Draisaitl gets real on Olympic motivation with Germany

Edmonton Oilers superstar Leon Draisaitl is making his Winter Olympics debut with Team Germany in Milan, and although his main goal is helping the country capture a medal, he also wants to grow the game on home soil.

“We’re hoping to gather some fans,” the 30-year-old said after practice in Italy on Tuesday, per NHL.com’s Dan Rosen. “We’re hoping to get kids in Germany to tune into our games against Denmark, against Latvia, against the U.S. and for them to say, ‘Oh, I want to try that sport,’ because back home the easiest thing in the world to do is grab a soccer ball and play soccer. For us, it’s time to get kids in Germany to love hockey and enjoy it and enjoy watching it, and this is a great stage to do that.”

The reigning Rocket Richard Trophy winner continued: “You know, this doesn’t happen every day. This is not my jersey every day, so this is really special, especially at this event. There’s really no bigger stage than this for us. It makes it probably a little bit more important.”

Draisaitl wasn’t yet a professional the last time NHL players participated in the Olympics, which was 12 years ago in Sochi, Russia. He is hoping to make up for lost time along with a German squad that also features Ottawa Senators forward Tim Stutzle, Detroit Red Wings defenseman Moritz Seider and Seattle Kraken goaltender Philipp Grubauer.

Draisaitl, who has 29 goals and 80 points in 55 games with the Oilers in 2025-26, was named captain of Germany. He’s undoubtedly the best player in the world from his country, and also probably the best ever.

Leon Draisaitl unsurprisingly assuming German captaincy

The former No. 3 overall pick in the 2014 NHL Draft was a no brainer to be selected team captain; he’s helped the Oilers march to back-to-back Stanley Cup Finals in each of the last two seasons.

He’s also the all-time leading scorer among German players, with 1,036 points in just 845 games, and was selected as Germany’s flag-bearer for the Olympic Ceremony. That was voted on by fans and other members of the team.

“It’s really, really special getting to represent your country and carry the flag out at maybe the biggest sporting event in the world,” Draisaitl explained, per Rosen. “It is something I don’t take for granted, something I don’t take lightly and something that I’m certainly very proud of.”

Germany has struggled in Olympics that feature NHL players, although the country was able to capture silver in PyeongChang in 2018, losing in overtime to the Olympic Athletes from Russia despite leading late in regulation.

This time around, Draisaitl will lead the charge toward the podium in the 2026 iteration of the Winter Olympics. Germany will play against Denmark on Thursday (3:10 PM ET), Latvia on Saturday (6:10 AM ET) and the United States on Sunday (3:10 PM ET).