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Dylan Larkin of the United States in action against Canada in the men’s ice hockey gold medal game during the Milano Cortina 2026 Olympic Winter Games (Amber Searls-Imagn Images)

Revisiting Red Wings Predictions for the 2026 Olympics

Originally posted on The Hockey Writers | By Logan Horn | Last updated Feb 25, 2026 9:55 AM ET

In the leadup to the Olympics, I made some predictions for each of the Red Wings players (plus one from the Grand Rapids Griffins) who were set to represent their countries in Italy. Now that the 2026 Winter Olympics have concluded and NHL hockey is returning after a three week break, I wanted to take a quick look back at those predictions to see how I fared.

I made four predictions and added a special, super-unlikely prediction for each player to really press my luck. What good are predictions if you’re never held accountable to them? Let’s take a look at what I predicted and grade each prediction out of 10 for fun.

Dylan Larkin – Team USA

Prediction: Dylan Larkin will score a game winning goal in the knockout round
Score: 2/10

Okay, so maybe I should get a zero on this one since Larkin definitively did not score a game winner in the knockout round, but here’s why I’m taking a teeny tiny piece of partial credit. After scoring exactly zero goals through the round robin, Larkin scored Team USA’s first goal in both the quarterfinal and semifinal games.

He elevated his play when the lights got brighter and that’s got to feel good for Red Wings fans as Detroit looks to end their playoff drought in the near future.

Super Bold Prediction: Larkin will score the Golden Goal in overtime
Score: 0/10

What’s a bold predictions article without a complete whiff or two. If overtime had lasted long enough for Larkin to crack the three-on-three rotation then I still would have stood by this prediction. Alas, Jack Hughes’ now-crooked smile is the image that will forever be associated with Team USA’s gold medal in 2026.

Lucas Raymond – Team Sweden

Prediction: Raymond will lead Sweden in scoring at the tournament
Score: 10/10

Lucas Raymond had an excellent tournament for Team Sweden. He was one of their most consistent offensive drivers from start to finish and was leaned on heavily in the knockout round. Unfortunately, Sweden drew Team USA as their quarterfinal opponent and were an overtime goal away from knocking off one of the tournament favorites.

As the dust settled, Raymond was in fact Sweden’s leading scorer, but it honestly wasn’t as close as I expected. He finished with nine points in just five games, good enough for third in tournament scoring despite dropping from the tourney in just the quarterfinals. Sweden’s next leading scorers were Mika Zibanejad who had six points and Rasmus Dahlin with five. I think I nailed that one so let’s look at the super specific prediction.

Super Bold Prediction: Raymond will score nine points in six games, with four of them coming against Italy
Score: 6.5/10

Okay, so not too bad overall. I got the amount of points exactly right, but my six games prediction was premised on the assumption that Sweden would play their way into the medal round. However, since scoring nine points in five games is even more impressive I’m giving myself most of the credit here. The big mistake here was the four points against Italy prediction as Raymond left that game with just one assist.

He scored just one assist again in Sweden’s next game before exploding for three points in each of his next two games against Slovakia and Latvia. Overall, I’m giving myself a decent grade although I may have been underestimating this Italian team and/or overestimating Sweden.

Moritz Seider – Team Germany

Prediction: Seider will lead the tournament in average ice time
Score: 8/10

The logic was sound in this prediction, with Seider being one of the NHL’s ice time leaders and playing for a German team that lacked any other serious difference makers on the back-end.What I didn’t account for was just how hard the Finns would ride Miro Heiskanen, playing him 27:33 in their semifinal matchup against Canada. Seider finished second in the tournament by average ice time at 26:16 per game so I’ll still give myself a good score.

Moritz Seider, Detroit Red Wings (Jess Starr/The Hockey Writers)

Super Bold Prediction: Seider will finish the tournament tied for the scoring lead among defensemen
Score: 1/10

Oof, yeah this one didn’t go so well. The only reason I gave myself a pity point on this one was that I didn’t clarify that he would be tied for the tournament lead in points, just that he would be tied for the scoring lead among defensemen. While his two points tied him for 19th in tourney scoring among defenders, it did also tie him for first in scoring amongst German defenders. For finding that loophole, I have awarded myself one point. Thanks, me!

Eduards Tralmaks – Team Latvia

Prediction: Tralmaks will score a goal against Team USA in the round robin
Score: 3/10

I’ve given myself one point for each of the three goals Tralmaks scored in the Olympic tournament, though sadly none of them came against the Americans so I can’t argue for more than this. Tralmaks did earn some attention at this tournament though, and his three goals tied him with high-end NHL players like Timo Meier, Martin Necas, Tage Thompson, and Auston Matthews. This also means he scored more goals at the Olympics than Leon Draisaitl so you heard it here first, Tralmaks is going to become a franchise-caliber goal scorer.

Super Bold Prediction: Tralmaks’ goal against Team USA will be a late game-tying tally to really make the Americans sweat.
Score: 0/10

Yeah, wasn’t even a little close on this one. What can I say, shoot for the moon and . . . sometimes you miss pretty badly. Would’ve been fun though, right?