In Antwerp 1920, after the Great War, ice hockey made its Olympic debut. It was in August, at a Summer Games, and Canada, the dominant nation in the historical medal table in this sport (nine golds), won its first title. Four years later, the discipline was included in the program of the Winter Games (Chamonix, France), where it has remained to this day. The king of each Winter Olympic Games has an immense capacity for fascination due to the very nature of hockey on sharp blades on an icy surface: dizzying, spectacular, physical, unpredictable, in short, a game of precision between giants equipped with armor that move at 40 kilometers per hour, a video game come true that is part of Olympic memory. In 1980, in Lake Placid, in the last years of the Cold War, the United States, with college players, beat the all-powerful USSR against all odds, in what was considered the Miracle on Ice. In Milan, the Olympic tournament offers unbeatable appeal. For the sixth time in history and 12 years after their last appearance, NHL players from the United States will compete for the crown currently held by Finland.
The tournament puts $3.7 billion at stake. That’s how much it cost to insure the 158 players who flew from New York last Friday to land in the heart of Lombardy. They have decided to stay in the Olympic Village, to distance themselves from the ‘showmanship’ of the NBA players, the well-known Dream Team, every time they show up for a Games. The owners of the 32 NHL teams are paying for the party and are terrified.
All NHL teams represented
No franchise is spared. All contribute at least one player and Florida Panthers, who won the Stanley Cup in 2025, has 10 players of five different nationalities: Latvia, USA, Canada, Sweden and Finland. With the championship interrupted by the Games (from 11 to 18 is the men’s hockey competition) and guaranteed contracts of $12 million for some of them, the NHL ensured a quiet Games in a sport where injuries are relatively common, especially in the mouth, and the risk is high. The big bosses also know that their boys will be motivated. Olympic glory is priceless. “We’re focused to go to war with these guys. This is gold or nothing,” said Jon Cooper, Canada’s head coach.
This is the sixth time that the NHL, which brings the great icons of the sport (Canadians Connor McDavid, the NHL’s leading scorer with 96 points, and Mackinnon, the second with 93, Finn Aho, Swiss Hischier, Americans Matthews and Hellebuyck and German Dreiseitl, who was his country’s flag bearer), has taken part in the Games. Only the great Russian players such as Kucherov (Lightning), Panarin (Rangers) and Ovechkin (Capitals), among others, will be missing. The ice rink at the new Santa Giulia arena has been adapted to NHL standard dimensions so that nothing goes wrong and the stars can shine without missing the arenas in the United States and Canada. However, in Milan they will not be able to fight to settle a dispute.
12 years later
It has been 12 years since their last appearance, in Sochi. In 2018, in PyeongChang, South Korea, it was precisely the insurance coverage for the players that failed and in 2022, in Beijing, the pandemic and its aftermath helped so that six weeks before the start, the professionals decided to stay at home. It was too much of a risk.
With NHL players in their five previous appearances, Canada, the inventors of the game, won three times. The Czech Republic won the inaugural tournament in 1998 in Nagano and Sweden in 2006, also in Italy (Turin). Canada is one of three teams to have its entire roster made up of players from the professional competition. Only the United States, which has won two Olympic gold medals in its history despite the tradition of the sport in that country (the last one 46 years ago), and Sweden can say the same. Finland has all but one of its internationals in the NHL. Italy, which competes among the best as host nation, does not have any elite ice hockey players.
Who will win?
A good starting point was the Four Nations Face Off just a year ago. Canada, the United States, Sweden and Finland played it and the North Americans won after beating the United States (3-2, in overtime) at the TD Garden in Boston in a climate of high tension due to Donald Trump’s statements and his threat with the increase of tariffs for its neighbors. Revenge is served on the ice. Last year, the United States won the World Cup by defeating Switzerland in the final (1-0, in overtime). Anything is possible in Milan.