2026 Olympic fantasy hockey player rankings: The Top 100

Missing your fantasy hockey fix during the NHL Olympic break, with no games from Feb. 6-24?

Don’t fret. Band together with your friends and form a Milano-Cortina 2026 Olympic hockey pool! I’m here to make the process easy for you with special fantasy player rankings just for the tournament.

As is the case with Stanley Cup playoff pools, international hockey pools are unique in that (a) they tend to be more casual, with streamlined stat categories often reduced to just player points, goalie wins and goalie shutouts; and (b) volume is unpredictable because some teams will play more games than others.

The latter point is particularly important when determining rankings. We know every team is guaranteed at least four games in Milan – three in the preliminary round and one in the playoff round, be it a play-in or a quarterfinal matchup. But the top four finishers – the gold and silver medallists and the two teams battling in the bronze-medal game – will play between six and seven contests.

So deciding which players to back comes down to predicting how many games they’ll play. You could put all your eggs in the basket of a powerhouse such as Canada or USA, or you could gamble on a mid-pack team that may get a seventh game if it has to compete in the play-in round before the quarters.

Another important consideration: usage trees. If a nation has only one or two bona fide NHLers, those players will be asked to do a lot. That’s why players like Slovakia’s Juraj Slafkovsky and Switzerland’s Roman Josi could have sneaky fantasy value playing top-line minutes and PP1 over, for example, a star-grade Canadian player who might play on the fourth line or get bounced to the press box.

A refresher on the groupings for the tournament, listed by their world rankings:

GROUP A: Canada, Switzerland, Czechia, France
GROUP B: Finland, Sweden, Slovakia, Italy
GROUP C: USA, Germany, Latvia, Denmark

With that, let’s get to the fantasy rankings. The tiers matter more than the rankings themselves; my advice is to choose whomever you want within those tiers.

Stat categories: one point for a goal, one point for an assist, one point for a win, one point for a shutout.

TIER 1: The Gods

1. Nathan MacKinnon, C, Canada
2. Connor McDavid, C, Canada
3. Cale Makar, D, Canada

These are the best players on the planet, playing for the best team on the planet, deployed on the top power-play unit, highly likely to play five or six games. MacKinnon was the 4 Nations Face-Off MVP, McDavid scored the tournament’s golden goal, and these prime-aged superstars are the safest picks on the board by a wide margin.

TIER 2: The Superstars

4. Jack Eichel, C, USA
5. Quinn Hughes, D, USA
6. Connor Hellebuyck, G, USA
7. Auston Matthews, C, USA
8. Sidney Crosby, C, Canada
9. David Pastrnak, RW, Czechia
10. Mikko Rantanen, RW, Finland
11. William Nylander, RW, Sweden
12. Matthew Tkachuk, RW, USA
13. Brady Tkachuk, LW, USA

Any of these players can be your first-round pick. All are locks to play huge minutes in major scoring roles, and each of them, Hellebuyck aside, has potential to lead the Olympic tournament in scoring. The Tkachuk-Eichel-Tkachuk line was a force at the 4 Nations. If you’re picking back to back at the turn in a snake draft and can somehow land two of the three, you likely win your pool.

TIER 3: The Elite

14. Sam Reinhart, RW, Canada
15. Rasmus Dahlin, D, Sweden
16. Macklin Celebrini, C, Canada
17. Mark Stone, RW, Canada
18. Sebastian Aho, C, Finland
19. Mitch Marner, RW, Canada
20. Tage Thompson, C, USA
21. Lucas Raymond, RW, Sweden
22. Roman Cervenka, C, Czechia
23. Matt Boldy, RW, USA
24. Martin Necas, RW, Czechia
25. Miro Heiskanen, D, Finland
26. Leon Draisaitl, G, Germany
27. Roman Josi, D, Switzerland
28. Zach Werenski, D, USA
29. Moritz Seider, D, Germany
30. Juraj Slafkovsky, LW, Slovakia

This is a fun tier. It’s a mix of (a) high-floor stars guaranteed to contribute a lot, such as Aho, Dahlin and Heiskanen; (b) all-world players who could dominate if deployed on major scoring lines but might not if demoted, such as Stone, Raymond and Boldy; and (c) megastars playing on mid-pack teams who are locks to play a ton and get all their teams’ key offensive looks. That’s Draisaitl, Seider and 2022 Olympic MVP Slafkovsky. Also: do not sleep on Cervenka in this tier. He’s stapled to Pastrnak’s wing. In the past two World Championships they played together, Cervenka piled up nine goals and 25 points in 18 games.

TIER-4: Star Upside with Risk

31. Jake Guentzel, LW, USA
32. Jack Hughes, C, USA
33. Victor Hedman, D, Sweden
34. Kyle Connor, LW, USA
35. Adrian Kempe, LW, Sweden
36. Mika Zibanejad, C, Sweden
37. Brandon Hagel, LW, Canada
38. Brad Marchand, LW, Canada
39. Roope Hintz, C, Finland
40. Jordan Binnington, G, Canada
41. Juuse Saros, G, Finland
42. Dylan Larkin, C, USA
43. Erik Karlsson, D, Sweden
44. Clayton Keller, LW, USA
45. Josh Morrissey, D, Canada
46. Anton Lundell, C, Finland
47. Filip Forsberg, LW, Sweden
48. Nick Suzuki, C, Canada
49. Joel Eriksson Ek, C, Sweden
50. Artturi Lehkonen, LW, Finland
51. Jesper Bratt, RW, Sweden
52. Filip Gustavsson, G, Sweden
53. Elias Pettersson, C, Sweden
54. Nico Hischier, C, Switzerland
55. Shea Theodore, D, Canada
56. Lukas Dostal, G, Czechia
57. Tim Stutzle, C, Germany

A lot of uncertainty in this tier. Many of these players are elite in season-long fantasy leagues but carry unusual risk in a short tourney. Will Hughes and Connor make big splashes or be relegated to background players like they were at the 4 Nations? Will Hedman and/or Karlsson take a backseat to Dahlin? Will Binnington and Gustavsson hold onto their starting jobs or be pushed by the younger, more talented netminders below them on the depth chart? Will Dostal shine like he did at the 2024 Worlds, or will Czechia be overmatched in a best-on-best format? You have to make a lot of judgement calls, but there are several league winners in this group.

TIER 5: Pick a Horse to Back

58. Logan Thompson, G, Canada
59. Nikolaj Ehlers, LW, Denmark
60. Kevin Fiala, LW, Switzerland
61. Rickard Rakell, LW, Sweden
62. Lukas Sedlak, LW, Czechia
63. Philipp Grubauer, G, Germany
64. Brock Faber, D, USA
65. Charlie McAvoy, D, USA
66. Tom Wilson, RW, Canada
67. Thomas Harley, D, Canada
68. Drew Doughty, D, Canada
69. Devon Toews, D, Canada
70. JJ Peterka, LW, Germany
71. Filip Hronek, D, Czechia
72. Bo Horvat, C, Canada
73. Sam Bennett, C, Canada
74. Seth Jarvis, RW, Canada
75. Frederik Andersen, G, Denmark
76. Timo Meier, LW, Switzerland
77. Leonardo Genoni, G, Switzerland
78. Tomas Hertl, C, Czechia
79. Jake Sanderson, D, USA
80. Eetu Luostarinen, LW, Finland
81. Arturs Silovs, G, Latvia

Selecting from this tier is a matter of faith, be it in certain teams or individuals. If you have a hunch on a deep run for a Czechia or Germany or Switzerland or Denmark, you should nab a couple of their players here, paying special attention to projected starting goalies Grubauer (Ger), Genoni (Sui), Andersen (Den) and Silovs (Lat). You can also roll the dice on depth players winning unexpectedly large roles. Could Wilson earn a look on McDavid’s wing? Will Thompson overtake Binnington in Canada’s crease? Does Sedlak stick with his Worlds linemates Cervenka and Pastrnak and rack up points?

TIER 6: Depth Options & Sleepers

82. Pavel Zacha, C, Czechia
83. Jake Oettinger, G, USA
84. Brock Nelson, C, USA
85. J.T. Miller, C, USA
86. Jesper Wallstedt, G, Sweden
87. Vincent Trocheck, C, USA
88. Kevin Lankinen, G, Finland
89. Darcy Kuemper, G, Canada
90. Oliver Bjorkstrand, RW, Denmark
91. Samuel Hlavaj, G, Slovakia
92. Gabriel Landeskog, LW, Sweden
93. Alexandre Texier, LW, France
94. Teddy Blueger, C, Latvia
95. Yohann Auvitu, D, France
96. Jaccob Slavin, D, USA
97. Elvis Merzlikins, G, Latvia
98. Simon Nemec, D, Slovakia
99. Eeli Tolvanen, RW, Finland
100. J.J. Moser, D, Switzerland

If you mine the right gem here, you could look pretty smart. You could gamble on Oettinger or Wallstedt stealing the starting gigs for their nations. Or you could hope players on minnow countries like Texier, Blueger, Auvitu and Nemec accumulate points simply because they’re forced into major roles. That’s the fun of an Olympic pool; when else would you get to draft those guys? You have to take one of them just for fun.

On the Bubble

Elias Lindholm, C, Sweden
Oliver Ekman-Larsson, D, Sweden
Gustav Forsling, D, Sweden
Martin Fehervary, D, Slovakia
Karel Vejmelka, G, Czechia
Frederik Dichow, G, Switzerland
Jeremy Swayman, G, USA
Rasmus Andersson, D, Sweden
Noah Hanifin, D, USA
Jackson LaCombe, D, USA
Jacob Markstrom, G, Sweden
Colton Parayko, D, Canada
Travis Sanheim, D, Canada

_____

PRESENTED BY DAILY FACEOFF’S OLYMPIC COVERAGE