Finland revealed its roster for the Milan Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics on January 2, naming a group that will attempt to bring the country its second consecutive gold medal.
Finland, which won gold at the 2022 Beijing Olympics, a tournament that did not feature NHL players, will field a team similar to the one it featured in last February’s 4-nation showdown.
The only big difference is that the Florida Panthers center Alexander Barkovcaptain of Finland in the 4 Nations, is out for the regular season due to a knee injury. Trying to help take over for Barkov, Finland added Eeli Tolvanen (Seattle Kraken), Olivier Kapanen (Montreal Canadiens) and Joel Kiviranta (Colorado Avalanche) to its forward group.
“No one can replace Barkov, but we have a lot of different leaders (on the ice and in the locker room),” Finland general manager Jere Lehtinen said. “They will bring different types of leadership to the team.”
In defense, Mikko Lehtonenwho played for the Toronto Maple Leafs and Columbus Blue Jackets in the 2020-21 season and now plays for the ZSC Lions in the Swiss National League, was added to the squad during the 4 Nations showdown.
“We have a very experienced team, with a lot of experience playing for the Finnish team,” said coach Antti Pennanen. “Attackers who can play multiple roles, a big defense with one of the best defenders in the world (Miro Heiskanen). Good goalkeepers.”
This is the first group of NHL players to represent Finland at the Olympics since 2014, when NHL players last participated.
The tournament will feature all 12 teams playing three preliminary matches in their respective groups.
The three group winners and the best second-placed team will receive a bye to the quarter-finals; the other eight teams will play knockout matches to determine the remaining four quarterfinalists.
The gold medal game will take place on February 22.
“The Finnish team always aims for a medal, regardless of the tournament,” Pennanen said.
Team Finland, which is part of Group B, will start against Team Slovakia on February 11, then face Team Sweden on February 13 and Team Italy on February 14.
Here is Finland’s team roster for the Milan Cortina 2026 Olympic Winter Games (in alphabetical order) and a breakdown by NHL.com of each position group:
