Eight Canucks named as potential participants of the 2026 Olympics

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Cooper Godin
September 2, 2024 (6:27 PM)

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A look at which members of the Vancouver Canucks we could see at the 2026 Winter Olympics in Italy.

The final qualifying tournament for the 2026 Winter Olympics wrapped up on Sunday afternoon with Denmark, Latvia and Slovakia grabbing the final three spots joining Canada, Sweden, Switzerland, Italy, Finland, Germany, Czechia, Russia, and the United States.

It's worth noting that while Russia is currently qualified for the Olympics based on their IIHF ranking, their participation will be determined in February 2025. If they're not allowed to participate, they'll be replaced by France, who had the best goal differential among the second place teams at the final qualifying tournament.

Here at the groups for the Olympics, which will be held in Italy:

Group A: Canada, Sweden, Switzerland, Italy.
Group B: Finland, Germany, Czechia, Denmark.
Group C: Russia, United States, Slovakia, Latvia.

Now that all 12 teams have been confirmed, other than Russia's participation, we're going to see plenty of roster predictions over the next year and there's a good chance we'll see a number of Vancouver Canucks represent their nation at the Olympics, with NHLers returning to the Games in 2026.

Elias Pettersson is likely a lock for Sweden's roster in Group A, while Pius Suter will be an option for Switzerland. In Group B, Filip Hronek will play a massive role on the blueline for Czechia and they'll be in tough against the defending gold medalists, Finland, along with Germany, who will have Leon Draisaitl, and Denmark.

Group C is where we'll see the most members of the Vancouver Canucks. The United States' roster could feature up to four players - Thatcher Demko, Quinn Hughes, J.T. Miller and Brock Boeser, while Latvia will have Arturs Silovs competing with Elvis Merzlikins for the starting role and Teddy Blueger likely in their top-six.

We're still 17 months away from the start of the 2026 Winter Olympics and a lot can change between now and then, but it'll be an exciting time for Canucks fans to watch their favourite players on the international stage.

Of these four nations, who do you think has the best chance at bringing home gold - Canada, Finland, Sweden or the United States? Let us know what you think in the poll below!