Latvia name first six players to 2026 Olympic roster

Ben Steiner
Ben Steiner
Jun 16, 2025, 04:07 EDT
Latvia
Credit: Steven Ellis/Daily Faceoff

Latvia has their six. 

On Monday, the Latvian Hockey Federation announced the first six players to the country’s preliminary men’s hockey roster for the Milano-Cortina 2026 Olympic Winter Games, the first of 12 qualified teams to do so. 

Columbus Blue Jackets goaltender ⁠Elvis Merzļikins and Vancouver Canucks forward Teddy Blueger highlight the list as the six become the first NHL players to officially be named to Olympic hockey rosters since Sochi 2014.

Additional forwards include Tampa Bay Lightning veteran center ⁠Zemgus Girgensons and Philadelphia Flyers center Rodrigo Abols, while the only blueliner named to the roster is Florida Panthers’ Uvis⁠ ⁠Balinskis. Canucks’ third-string netminder Arturs Silovs has also been named to the team. 

Outside of Blueger and Silovs, all have participated in previous Olympic tournaments prior to their NHL careers and will now look ahead to the 2026 tournament, which is set to open on Feb. 11, 2026, before the medal games on Feb. 22. 

Merzļikins and Silovs will offer depth at goaltending for Latvia, as they look to continue their hot run from recent World Championships, which saw Silovs backstop them to a bronze medal in 2022 

Merzļikins returns to the Olympic stage for the second time in 2026, having previously backstopped Latvia at the PyeongChang 2018 Olympics while playing his club hockey with HC Lugano of the Swiss league. There, he kept a 4-2 record and a .940 save percentage before moving on to the NHL the following year., 

The 31-year-old has since played 244 NHL regular-season games for the Blue Jackets, keeping a .902 save percentage and 94-100-35 record. 

Meanwhile, Silovs, 24, has thrived under international and playoff pressure, posting a .952 save percentage at the 2022 World Championship and .921 in 2023, before putting in standout performances for the Canucks in the 2024 Stanley Cup Playoffs.

On the blueline, Balinskis will play a key role for Latvia. Currently with the Panthers in the Stanley Cup Final, he has five goals and 21 points in 102 career NHL games, and scored his first playoff goal against the Toronto Maple Leafs in May. 

Among the forwards, Blueger heads to his first Olympics with 49 goals and 152 NHL points in 418 games, in addition to three goals and eight points in 19 World Championship games from 2017, 2018 and 2019. 

At the same time, Girgensons brings his 91 goals and 194 career NHL points back to the Olympic Games, after he potted a goal and two assists in five games at the Sochi 2014 Games, where Latvia gave Canada a scare with a 2-1 loss in the quarterfinal. 

Abols rounds out the forwards and made his NHL debut in 2024-25, scoring two goals and three assists in 22 games with the Flyers. Previously, he scored a goal and an assist in four games at the Beijing 2022 Olympics while playing his club hockey in Sweden. 

While Latvia was the first, all 12 nations will announce the first six players on their men’s hockey rosters on Monday, as anticipation builds for the first Olympics featuring NHL players since the 2014 Sochi Games.

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