8 Flyers Candidates To Travel to the 2026 Winter Olympics

NHL players will return to the Winter Olympics in Milano Cortina in 2026. They haven't competed in the Olympic games since 2014.

The rivalry between Team USA and Team Canada ignited at the NHL 4 Nations Face-Off in February 2025. The dynamic matchups fed the appetite for international best-on-best hockey.

A bumpy road with labor negotiations, Covid-19, and a four-team warmup tournament has finally ended.

The Philadelphia Flyers sent four players and one coach to the 4 Nations Face-Off, but how many Flyers will take the flight to Italy for the Milano Cortina Winter Olympics in 2026?

When Team Canada announced their roster for the 4 Nations Face-Off, general manager Don Sweeney (Boston Bruins) unofficially announced that Travis Sanheim had completed his long, grueling journey to NHL stardom.

The eighth-year defenseman had navigated a shaky development path and earned a roster spot against the world’s most loaded national talent pool.

Sanheim’s athleticism, long skating stride, and impressive conditioning have again landed him in the mix for a spot on Team Canada’s blue line. He sits fifth in the NHL in average ice time through 25 games, but he’ll face the toughest roster bubble competition once again.

Team Canada chose eight defensemen to compete last February, and they could keep the exact same group intact. However, Alex Pietrangelo (Vegas Golden Knights) has regained his form after missing the tournament last year. Evan Bouchard (Edmonton Oilers) has also pushed his way into the conversation.

Sanheim played three of Canada’s four games at the 4 Nations Face-Off. If he does land a spot on the roster bubble, he will still battle to stay in the lineup or sit as a healthy scratch in Italy.

Team Canada enjoys the pick of the litter. Offensive firepower all over the NHL hails from the game’s home country. The reality of the roster selection process means some excellent skill players won’t participate.

Travis Konecny sat three of Canada’s four games as a healthy scratch at the 4 Nations Face-Off. Although he’s found his rhythm with five goals and 15 assists through 25 games, he hasn’t locked himself into a spot for the Canadians.

The selection process does, however, include more team-building strategy than onlookers sometimes give credit for. Sweeney won’t build a roster exclusively of NHL All-Stars.

Don’t forget what Herb Brooks said: All-Star teams fail because they rely solely on the individual's talent.

Some skaters with less impressive stats could earn roster spots for more specialized skill sets as role players.

Konecny has experience as a penalty killer and pesky attitude that feeds intensity in high-stakes situations. He participated in the 2025 World Championship alongside Sanheim, and his head coach Rick Tocchet is a strong advocate on the Canadian staff to select Konecny.

Dan Vladar will compete with Karel Vejmelka (Utah Mammoth) and Lukas Dostal (Anaheim Ducks) for Team Czechia’s crease.

The first-year Flyers goaltender has stormed out of the gates to seize the number one spot between the pipes from the incumbent Sam Ersson.

He allowed two goals or fewer in his first six starts with the Flyers. Despite a recent return to Earth, his .906 save percentage ranks well above the plummeting .897 NHL average. He also ranks well above the league median with 10.7 goals saved above expected, widely considered the most comprehensive advanced goaltending stat.

Jakub Dobes (Montreal Canadiens) will also earn some consideration for a roster spot on Team Czechia behind Vejmelka and Dostal. However, Vladar’s early-season performance will be hard to overlook.

When the NHL created the 4 Nations Face-Off, why didn't they include the Czechs? If Vladar earns a roster spot, a tight competition between three solid NHL goaltenders with comparable track records will feed the motivation for a national team that the NHL snubbed last winter.

Will one of the best American hockey markets see any representation on Team USA?

Trevor Zegras is the likeliest of the American Flyers to travel to the Winter Olympics. Current GM and former Team USA star Bill Guerin (Minnesota Wild) will focus more on track record to build his roster, which minimizes Zegras’ hot start in Philadelphia against a loaded talent pool of American wingers.

The most interesting conversation surrounding Zegras, however, involves the shootout format in international hockey. T.J. Oshie famously scored on four of six shootout attempts to defeat Team Russia at the Sochi Games in 2014.

Would Guerin carry Trevor Zegras – the NHL’s all-time leader in shootout success rate – for the niche skill set?

Olympic hockey games don’t reach the shootout often. Players are only eligible to shoot more than once if a shootout is tied after the first five shooters. The scenario with Oshie instantly became one of the best memories in USA Hockey history, but it’s simply not likely to happen again.

Jacob Markstrom (New Jersey Devils) suffered an injury just before the 4 Nations Face-Off, and Sam Ersson slipped into the mix for Team Sweden.

Ersson led the Swedes to victory in his only start, playing against Team USA only for consolation purposes. 

The 26-year-old has slumped to begin the 2025-26 season. He missed time with a groin injury in early November, and he’s posted a poor .859 save percentage in eight games.

Filip Gustavsson (Minnesota Wild) and Linus Ullmark (Ottawa Senators) still sit above him on the depth chart, and they’ve both started the 2025-26 season in better rhythm than Ersson. A healthy Markstrom should team up with Gustavsson and Ullmark to bump Ersson off the roster for the 2026 Winter Olympics.

If Team Sweden needs an injury replacement again, they’d potentially choose Ersson for his solid NHL track record before the 2025-26 season.

Rasmus Ristolainen missed 94 regular-season games in first four seasons with the Flyers, and he hasn’t appeared in a game this season. The question of his participation is more about health than talent. 

Team Finland will depend heavily on Dallas Stars defensemen Miro Heiskanen and Esa Lindell on the blue line, but a physical defenseman like Ristolainen could add value as role player lower in the lineup. 

The 6-foot-4 bruiser improved in three seasons under John Tortorella and defensive coach Brad Shaw. He corrected frequent lapses to remake his defensive game.

Ristolainen scored the dramatic overtime winner against Team Sweden to give the Finns the gold medal at the 2014 World Junior Championship. He also played in the World Cup of Hockey in 2016.

If he gets on the ice soon enough, the Finns could use some size on the back end at the Milano Cortina Games.

Canadian head coach Jon Cooper (Tampa Bay Lightning) chose an Olympic assistant staff of NHL head coaches with Tocchet, Bruce Cassidy (Vegas Golden Knights), and Pete DeBoer on his bench.

Cooper has guided an All-Star roster to two Stanley Cups in the most dominant era in Tampa’s franchise history. Cassidy led Vegas to their first Stanley Cup in 2023, and DeBoer coached in five of the last six Western Conference Finals before entering this season without a head coaching job.

Tocchet’s inclusion in a group with outstanding NHL pedigree has helped him develop into a better modern coach. The former NHL tough guy spoke at Camp Out For Hunger about how the new school coaches have helped him gain perspective beyond his playing career.

Team Latvia announced Rodrigo Abols as one of their participants on the preliminary roster in June.

Abols leads the pack of six Latvian players who have appeared in the NHL this season with 20 games played. The 29-year-old made a late NHL debut in January 2025 after a journeyman career with stints in professional leagues overseas and North American minor leagues.

The Latvians are a longshot for a medal. However, Abols will continue a long history of representing his country in international competition, including a role as an alternate captain at the Winter Olympics in Beijing in 2022.

Abols spent three days in quarantine during the Beijing Games. Additional Covid restrictions also spoiled important parts of his Olympic experience for him and other athletes who competed. He spoke thoughtfully about the chance to compete in Milano Cortina after a "wasted Olympics."

Advanced stats courtesy of MoneyPuck and QuantHockey