Winter Olympic Ice Hockey Rosters: Who’s Suiting up for the Big Show in Milan? Part Two.

Less than a month till the start

The rosters are flying out with less than a month till Milan-Cortina. With all the rosters out and the rink hosting test events this week, the Olympic spirit is well and truly in full swing.

In part two of this series we will be looking at Finland, Czechia and Switzerland. Finding out who were the lucky ones to receive the call up and represent their nations on the worlds biggest stage. All for the glory not to mention, the honour and experience representing your nation for the chance to battle it out and bring home a gold medal/medals.

Finland:

Finland will go into the 2026 Winter Olympics with high expectations of reaching the medal matches of the tournament. With a huge depth of NHL players on their roster, notably the man who wore the C on his chest at the four nations, Finland will be without two-time Stanley Cup winning champion Aleksander Barkov who has missed this season with a lengthy knee-injury (we hope to see him return to the ice soon).

Forwards:

Joel Armia (Los Angeles Kings), Sebastian Aho (Carolina Hurricanes), Mikael Granlund (Anaheim Ducks), Erik Haula (Nashville Predators), Roope Hintz (Dallas Stars), Kaapo Kakko (Seattle Kraken), Oliver Kapanen (Montreal Canadiens), Joel Kiviranta (Colorado Avalanche), Artturi Lehkonen (Colorado Avalanche), Anton Lundell (Florida Panthers), Eetu Luostarinen (Florida Panthers), Mikko Rantanen (Dallas Stars), Teuvo Teravainen (Chicago Blackhawks), and Eeli Tolvanen (Seattle Kraken).

Defence:

Miro Heiskanen (Dallas Stars), Henri Jokiharju (Boston Bruins), Mikko Lehtonen (Zurich), Esa Lindell (Dallas Stars), Olli Maatta (Utah Mammoth), Nikolas Matinpalo (Ottawa Senators), Niko Mikkola (Florida Panthers), and Rasmus Ristolainen (Philadelphia Flyers).

Goaltenders:

The goaltending duties for Finland at the 2026 Winter Olympics will be handled by Kevin Lankinen of the Vancouver Canucks, Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen from the Buffalo Sabres, and Juuse Saros representing the Nashville Predators. These three netminders bring a wealth of international experience and top-level skill, giving Finland a formidable last line of defence as they chase Olympic glory.

Dallas Stars are home to a number of Finnish players in the NHL, the heat of Dallas, Texas is one that we can all imagine is a lot more inviting than the cold of Finland. Nonetheless these players have a wealth of experience, spending time playing alongside one another, compared to other nations who have two maybe three players at the same team.

 Could this be the key piece that could pull Finland all the way to final? We will have to wait and find out as we continue the countdown to puck drop.

Czechia:

Czechia go into Milan-Cortina with a squad made up of some top tier NHL players sprinkled with players who play their games across Europe’s top leagues. Players such as Dominik Kubalik who has been playing for EV Zug and Michal Kempny of Brynas IF have made it to the semifinals of the Champion Hockey League (CHL).

Most notable of the players who will wear the Czechia jerseys will be Boston Bruins fan favourite David Pastrnak who has forty-nine points this NHL season split between nineteen goals and thirty assists throughout the duration of the first half of the NHL season.

Forwards:

Roman Cervenka (Dynamo Pardubice), Radek Faksa (Dallas Stars), Jakub Flek (Kometa Brno), Tomas Hertl (Vegas Golden Knights), David Kampf (Vancouver Canucks), Ondrej Kase (HC Litvinov), Dominik Kubalik (EV Zug), Martin Necas (Colorado Avalanche), Ondrej Palat (New Jersey Devils), David Pastrnak (Boston Bruins), Lukas Sedlak (Dynamo Pardubice), Matej Stransky (HC Davos), David Tomasek (Farjestad), and Pavel Zacha (Boston Bruins).

Defence:

Radko Gudas (Anaheim Ducks), Filip Hronek (Vancouver Canucks), Michal Kempny (Brynas IF), Tomas Kundratek (Ocelari Trinec), Jan Rutta (Servette Geneve), Radim Simek (Bili Tygri Liberec), David Spacek (Iowa Wild), and Jiri Tichacek (Karpat Oulu).

Goaltenders:

The goaltending duties for Czechia will be handled by Lukas Dostal of the Anaheim Ducks, Karel Vejmelka who currently plays for the Utah Mammoth, and Dan Vladar, representing the Philadelphia Flyers.

After winning the IIHF Men’s world championships in 2024 at home in Prague. This Czechia side is not one that shy away from a big occasion, with proof already evident from previous tournament wins.

Czechia last won gold at the 1998 Winter Olympics in Nagano and will be hoping they can regain the gold medal after twenty-eight years. With a healthy mixture of elite NHL pedigree and players competing at the highest levels across Europe this Czechia side has a great blend of talent, which has been produced at home including players like Pastrnak who have travelled around the world all in hope of reaching ice hockey top leagues.

Czechia should go proceed through to the medal rounds in this tournament, their Junior side losing out to Sweden on January 5^th IIHF World Juniors, only goes to show the excellence of Czechia hockey philosophy’s.

Switzerland:

Switzerland head across the Alps for their time in Milan-Cortina. This Swiss side is made up of ten current NHL players spread across the league. Nico Hischier, Kevin Fiala, Nino Niederreiter and Timo Meier are a few of the biggest names out of Switzerland to make it to ice hockey’s top league in North America.

Switzerland’s side are made up with a majority of players who do not play in the NHL but by Swiss National League players, with former Montreal Canadiens player Sven Andrighetto who has lit up the Swiss National League, alongside his formidable performance in last seasons Champions hockey league and helped ZSC lions to their first title championship in the 2024/2025 CHL final.

Forwards:

Sven Andrighetto (ZSC Lions), Christoph Bertschy (Fribourg-Gottéron), Kevin Fiala (Los Angeles Kings), Nico Hischier (New Jersey Devils), Ken Jäger (Lausanne), Simon Knak (Davos), Philipp Kurashev (San Jose Sharks), Denis Malgin (ZSC Lions), Timo Meier (New Jersey Devils), Nino Niederreiter (Winnipeg Jets), Damien Riat (Lausanne), Sandro Schmid (Fribourg-Gottéron), Pius Suter (St. Louis Blues), Calvin Thürkauf (Lugano).

Defence:

Tim Berni (Genève-Servette), Michael Fora (Davos), Andrea Glauser (Fribourg-Gottéron), Roman Josi (Nashville Predators), Dean Kukan (ZSC Lions), Christian Marti (ZSC Lions), Janis Moser (Tampa Bay Lightning), Jonas Siegenthaler (New Jersey Devils).

Goaltenders:

In between the pipes, Switzerland can rely on the experience of Reto Berra from Fribourg-Gottéron in the Swiss National League, the proven talent of Leonardo Genoni who plays for EV Zug, and Akira Schmid, currently with the Vegas Golden Knights in the NHL. This trio offers a strong blend of domestic and international pedigree, giving the Swiss side confidence in their goaltending options for the tournament.