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Preliminary Winter Olympics Rosters – First Six Players
Several countries have announced their preliminary first six choices for men’s hockey rosters for the 2026 Olympic Winter Games in Milano-Cortina Feb 20, 2025; Boston, MA, USA; [Imagn Images direct customers only] Team Canada forwards Connor McDavid (97) and center Sydney Crosby (87) before the 4 Nations Face-Off ice hockey championship game against the United States at TD Garden. Mandatory Credit: Winslow Townson-Imagn Images

Several countries have announced their preliminary first six choices for men’s hockey rosters for the 2026 Olympic Winter Games in Milano-Cortina, marking the return of NHL players to Olympic competition for the first time since 2014.

Preliminary games will get underway on February 11th. The gold medal game is scheduled for February 22nd.

Here are the initial selections for the major hockey nations:

Canada:

  • Sidney Crosby
  • Nathan MacKinnon
  • Connor McDavid
  • Cale Makar
  • Brayden Point
  • Sam Reinhart

United States:

  • Auston Matthews
  • Matthew Tkachuk
  • Jack Eichel
  • Adam Fox
  • Quinn Hughes
  • Charlie McAvoy

Sweden:

  • Rasmus Dahlin
  • Victor Hedman
  • Adrian Kempe
  • Gabriel Landeskog
  • William Nylander
  • Lucas Raymond

Finland:

  • Sebastian Aho
  • Aleksander Barkov
  • Mikko Rantanen
  • Miro Heiskanen
  • Esa Lindell
  • Juuse Saros

Czechia:

  • Lukas Dostal
  • Radko Gudas
  • Martin Necas
  • Ondrej Palat
  • David Pastrnak
  • Pavel Zacha

Switzerland:

  • Roman Josi
  • Nico Hischier
  • Kevin Fiala
  • Nino Niederreiter
  • Timo Meier
  • Jonas Siegenthaler

Germany:

  • Leon Draisaitl
  • Moritz Seider
  • Tim Stützle
  • Philipp Grubauer
  • Nico Sturm
  • John-Jason Peterka

Slovakia:

  • Juraj Slafkovsky
  • Martin Fehervary
  • Martin Pospisil
  • Tomas Tatar
  • Simon Nemec
  • Pavol Regenda

Latvia:

  • Uvis Balinskis
  • Zemgus Girgensons
  • Elvis Merzlikins
  • Arturs Silovs
  • Teodors Blugers
  • Rihards Bukarts

Denmark:

  • Frederik Andersen
  • Nikolaj Ehlers
  • Oliver Bjorkstrand
  • Jesper B. Aabo
  • Lars Eller
  • Jonas Rondbjerg

Italy:

  • Andreas Bernard
  • Luca Frigo
  • Alex Petan
  • Daniel Mantenuto
  • Diego Kostner
  • Luca Zitterbart

France:

  • Yohann Auvitu
  • Pierre-Edouard Bellemare
  • Jules Boscq
  • Hugo Gallet
  • Jordann Perret
  • Alexandre Texier

This article first appeared on NHL Rumors and was syndicated with permission.

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