2026 Winter Olympics Preview: Early Lineups, Schedules, Early Thoughts ...Middle East

The men’s hockey tournament at the 2026 Winter Olympics gets going on Thursday, which is exciting. Players have moved into their rooms and there have been some practices, which give us an early look at how the coaches might line things up when the pucks drop to start things for real.

Let’s get into it with some of those early lineups and schedules for teams we’re going to be watching in the coming weeks. The Olympics are exciting — if they come anywhere close to the 4 Nations Face-Off, this should be one helluva dance.

I’m going to limit my previews to the three countries Blackhawks fans are most likely watching: the United States, Canada and Finland (because of Teuvo Teräväinen). As a reminder, Blackhawks prospect Adam Gajan is on the roster and will serve as a backup netminder for Team Slovakia.

Teams can dress 13 forwards and 7 defensemen in the Olympics.

Team USA

Here are the USA lines from practice as reported by Kyle Bukauskas on Monday morning (our time):

Brady Tkachuk — Jack Eichel — Matthew Tkachuk Jake Guentzel — Auston Matthews — Matt Boldy Kyle Connor — Dylan Larkin — Tage Thompson JT Miller — Brock Nelson — Jack Hughes Vinnie Trocheck — Clayton Keller

Quinn Hughes — Charlie McAvoy Jaccob Slavin — Brock Faber Jake Sanderson — Zach Werenski Jackson Lacombe — Noah Hanifin

Connor Hellebuyck

So, the US is going big on their top line. There’s speed and scoring everywhere; Jack Hughes as a fourth-line player speaks to the depth the Americans have in the tournament. We’ll see if these are the lines that roll out in the first game for the US.

The Americans’ blue line is good, top to bottom. And the goaltending is their biggest advantage over other teams in the tournament — especially Canada.

USA Schedule

The three preliminary games for the USA will air on USA Network.

Team Canada

Here are Canada’s lines from practice on Sunday as reported by Mark Masters:

Macklin Celebrini – Connor McDavid – Tom WilsonBrad Marchand – Nathan MacKinnon – Nick Suzuki Mark Stone – Sidney Crosby – Mitch Marner Brandon Hagel – Bo Horvat – Sam Reinhart Seth Jarvis — Sam Bennett

Devon Toews – Cale Makar Josh Morrissey – Colton Parayko Thomas Harley – Drew Doughty Shea Theodore – Travis Sanheim

Good luck in goal!

One big difference that sticks out immediately for me: Canada has one defensive tandem — Cale Makar and Devon Toews — that plays together in Colorado, and they’re sticking together at the Olympics. Right now, the US is breaking up Quinn Hughes and Brock Faber. I recognize Hughes and Faber haven’t been together nearly as long as Makar and Toews, but chemistry on the blue line can be incredibly valuable.

The fact that Crosby is their third-line center is your indication that this team is stacked up front. That top line with Wilson riding shotgun with McDavid and Celebrini is a fascinating one to watch.

Canada Schedule

Team Finland

Here are the lines from Finland’s first practice (from Konsta Kiviniemi):

Mikael Granlund – Roope Hintz – Mikko Rantanen Artturi Lehkonen – Sebastian Aho – Teuvo Teräväinen Eetu Luostarinen – Anton Lundell – Kaapo Kakko / Oliver Kapanen Joel Armia – Erik Haula – Eeli Tolvanen Joel Kiviranta

Esa Lindell – Miro Heiskanen Olli Määttä – Henri Jokiharju Niko Mikkola – Rasmus Ristolainen Mikko Lehtonen – Nikolas Matinpalo

Jusse Saros

Again, the top pair for Finland is a couple teammates in Dallas. This is an older team, but they’re going to be defensively sound and hard to play against. I’m interested to see what they do with Kakko up front. But the top six looks really good here. Lundell has been excellent for the Panthers in back-to-back Stanley Cup runs. In the forward group, Finland has multiple players from Colorado, Dallas, Seattle and Florida. And Aho and Teräväinen spent plenty of time together in Carolina.

Finland Schedule

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