Report: Countries to name first six players for 2026 Olympic rosters in June
According to a report from TSN’s Pierre LeBrun, each country is expected to name its initial six players for the 2026 Winter Olympics in Italy in June, with the rest of the roster coming in December.
Italy NHL Olympic update:
The plan as of now regarding Olympic rosters is for each country to name 6 players in June and the rest of their rosters end of December.
The move would fall in line with how the NHL finalized its rosters for the 4 Nations Face-Off last year.
Denmark, Latvia and Slovakia helped finalize the initial 12-team tournament after winning the final Olympic qualification tournament last summer. Every other country – including the hosts from Italy – earned auto-berths to the main event.
Of note, a ruling on Russia’s participation in the 2026 Winter Olympics has not been made official yet. Russia is the highest-ranked team in Group C, ahead of the United States, Slovakia and Latvia. If the Russians were removed from the tournament due to the ongoing conflict in Ukraine, France would take their spot in Group C.
Both Russia and Belarus – who were banned from the qualification tournament – will remain banned for all IIHF World Championship events until the end of the 2025-26 season. That previous ruling did not include the Olympics.
The preliminary round of the men’s tournament will run from Feb. 11-15. The qualification round will start two days later, on Feb. 17, with the quarters taking place on Feb. 18. The semifinals will take place on Feb. 20, and the gold medal game will happen on Feb. 22.
This tournament will mark the first time the NHL has participated in the Olympics since 2014, when Canada beat Sweden to take home gold in Sochi, Russia. Russia (2018) and Finland (2022) are the last two gold medalists, with Canada taking home top honors in 2002, 2010 and 2014.
Of note, the only participating team without active NHLers is Italy. The team currently plays in the Division IA World Championship, having last played in the top division back in 2022. Daniel Catenacci was the lone player with NHL experience on the 2024 Division IA World Championship roster, skating in 12 games with the Buffalo Sabres and New York Rangers between 2015-18. He currently plays in the Elite Ice Hockey League in the United Kingdom.
One of Italy’s projected goaltenders is Anaheim Ducks prospect Damian Clara. The 20-year-old was a second-round pick in 2023 and became the first Italian-born player to sign an NHL contract.