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Roman Josi, Nashville Predators (Jess Starr/The Hockey Writers)

Ranking the 4 Nashville Predators’ Olympic Performances

Originally posted on The Hockey Writers | By Owen Hillman | Last updated Feb 24, 2026 2:45 PM ET

Four Nashville Predators participated in the 2026 Winter Olympics in Italy: Juuse Saros (Finland), Filip Forsberg (Sweden), Roman Josi (Switzerland), and Erik Haula (Finland). While all of them had strong teams, only two won a medal, a bronze for Team Finland.

Team USA won gold against Team Canada in a gold-medal showdown for the ages that ended in overtime. However, the Predators offered some amazing performances throughout the tournament. Here’s our ranking of how they played.

No. 4: Filip Forsberg

Through no fault of his own, Filip Forsberg is at the bottom of this list. There was a lot of controversy around Team Sweden’s decision to use Forsberg as an extra forward and not play him on one of the top four lines. With 24 goals this season, it was surprising that he didn’t fit on any of head coach Sam Hallam’s lines.

Forsberg scored just one goal, an assist, and earned a plus-2 rating. His lone goal came in a 5-2 win against Italy in the preliminaries. Sweden then fell to Team USA in the quarterfinals, a brutal 2-1 overtime loss that sent them home and gave them a seventh-place finish. They should have used Forsberg more, but Predators fans are probably excited that he’s well-rested for the final stretch.

No. 3: Roman Josi

Roman Josi, arguably the best defenseman in franchise history, nearly captained Team Switzerland to new heights. Switzerland has not won a medal since 1948 and has never finished higher than 8th since 1952, but they had a fighting chance to earn a medal this year.

A lot of that had to do with Josi, who had two goals, two assists and an even rating in five games. Switzerland fell just short of a medal, losing to Finland in the quarterfinals thanks to Artturi Lehkonen’s overtime goal. Switzerland finished fifth in the tournament, while Josi will probably return to Nashville with more confidence after an impressive tournament.

No. 2: Erik Haula

Nashville’s bottom-six center, Erik Haula, had the best Olympic performance of all the Predators who participated, including their biggest stars. Team Finland had high expectations coming into this tournament, as the defending 2022 gold medal champions in Beijing, China.

But with NHL players joining the tournament for the first time since 2014, Team USA and Canada had the top talent, and it was not meant to be. Haula, however, did his part for Team Finland, scoring three goals, three assists, and a plus-4 rating. He was one of the biggest surprises of the tournament, helping Finland secure the bronze medal with two goals in a 6-1 win over Slovakia. Nashville is hoping he can carry some of that momentum into the final stretch.

No. 1: Juuse Saros

Although Haula played very well, Juuse Saros wins the gold medal for best Predators performance in the Olympics. Saros was sensational, allowing just 10 goals on 167 shots, ranked second most among all goaltenders in the tournament (Samuel Hlavaj of Slovakia ranked first). That equated to a .941 save percentage (SV%) and a goals-against average (GAA) of 1.66.

Saros lived up to his “No Goals” commercial in the tournament. He even gave Finland a fighting chance against Canada in the semifinal, but they lost thanks to a Nathan MacKinnon power-play goal with just 36 seconds left in the game, ending their gold-medal hopes.

After a run-in with Florida Panthers center Sam Bennett, who was called for goaltender interference at 16:52 in the first period, Saros accused Bennett of doing that intentionally. “He does that all the time, so it’s a part of his game,” Saros said. “I think you know whether it’s on purpose.” Despite the disappointing loss to Team Canada, Saros rebounded to earn Finland the bronze medal, saving 30 of 31 shots to defeat Slovakia 6-1.

Predators’ Upcoming Schedule

The Predators continue their season on Thursday, Feb. 26, with a home game against the Chicago Blackhawks. They end the month with a road game against the Dallas Stars on Saturday, Feb. 28, and they head back home to face the Detroit Red Wings on March 2.

They have a road game against the Columbus Blue Jackets on March 6, and another home game vs. the Boston Bruins on March 5, before the trade deadline on March 6. The team could look vastly different at the deadline, with a new general manager on the way (earlier this month, Barry Trotz announced his retirement at the end of the season) and a middling record.