Olympic Preview

Well the Olympics are coming up and I can watch little to no games. There will probably be some cancellations due to COVID, but I am still going to do this preview. I’ll go group by group and eventually share who I think will win.

Logo of the 2022 Olympic Games (Lin Cunzhen)

Group A

Canada

Canada has 4 players that are prospects on an NHL team. They have Devon Levi (Buffalo Sabres) who is tied for first in Save Percentage (.948) and third in Goals Against Average (1.55) in the NCAA. They also have 1st overall pick Owen Power (Buffalo Sabres). Then they have a player who has played in 3 different leagues, 4 different teams, in half a season (19 points in 20 games). His name is Mason McTavish (Anaheim Ducks). He also played in the WJC this year, getting 5 points in the 2 games that Canada played. Finally, Jack McBain (Minnesota Wild). McBain plays for Boston College and is 9th in the NCAA in Points Per Game.

Canada also has some guys with previous NHL experience. They have a combined 4633 NHL games played (272+699+58+7+6+30+117+210+524+77+53+52+9+41+1293+169+218+798). The main player that would stand out to you on this roster would be Eric Staal. Staal was a key player to the Hurricanes Cup run and would eventually be their captain. But now he’s in the AHL, which technically makes him eligible for the Olympics. The last, and only time, he went to the Olympics is when Canada won gold in 2010. Maybe he can do it again.

China

There’s really nothing to say about this team. The entire team is just the Kunlun Red Star KHL hockey team, minus a few players. They literally had to give players who weren’t Chinese, Chinese citizenship to fill the Olympic requirements. Only 10 of their players are actually of Chinese citizenship. They have 1 NHL prospect in Parker Foo (Chicago Blackhawks). But I guess they have Chris Chelios’ son, Jake Chelios.

Germany

The reigning silver medalist are here for more. Everyone, except for a handful of players, play in the DEL, the German professional hockey league. The German team has a total of 1,118 games played in the NHL, a little less than their last Olympic team. They do have some players coming back, like goalie Danny aus den Birken who went 3-2-0 in the 6 games he played in last Olympics. They still have defensemen Jonas Müller and Moritz Müller (no relation), who were solid defensemen for the last Olympic team. Finally, they still have team-leading forward, Patrick Hager. Hager would get 7 points in the 7 games they played last Olympic Games.

I do have high hopes for this team, mainly because they have professional players on this team. The DHL doesn’t have much bad hockey in their league. They have many good players, many of which are on this team.

United States

This team is mostly filled up with overseas players or Juniors, mostly the latter. They have 13 NHL prospects, including, I’m guessing starting goalie, Drew Commesso. Commesso would play in the only game that the US would play in the WJC. In that game, Commesso would get the 3-2 win. Right now he is playing for Boston University and has a 12-8-3 record with a 2.48 GAA and a .915 Save Percentage. They also have 2020 5th overall pick, Jake Sanderson (Ottawa Senators). I was lucky to see him play for North Dakota during a game this season, and he is a great player for the Fighting Hawks. He has 24 points in the 21 games that he has played in the NCAA. Finally, they have 2021 2nd overall pick Matty Beniers (Seattle Kraken). Beniers has 36 points in 28 games for the University of Michigan Wolverines. He also got 1 assist in the 1 WJC game that USA played.

This is a good tournament for the US to prove themselves with their prospects. In my opinion, they will have a little trouble, especially in the group stage. But who knows, they may surprise everyone and do really well.

Group A Results:

Canada 2-3 Germany (5-1)

USA 7-0 China (8-0)

Germany 11-0 China (3-2)

Canada 3-1 USA (2-4)

China 0-8 Canada (0-5)

USA 2-5 Germany (3-2)

Team	Record	Points	GD
Germany	3-0-0-0	9	(+1, +11, +3) +15
Canada	2-0-0-1	6	(-1, +2, +8) +9
USA	1-0-0-2	3	(+7, -2, -3) +2
China	0-3-0-0	0	(-7, -11, -8) -26

Actual Standings:

Group B

Czechia

After officially changing their hockey name from Czech Republic to Czechia, Czechia is looking to make an impression here in the Olympics. Last Olympics, Czechia would place 4th, losing to Canada in the Bronze Medal Game. Czechia has a combined 2,749 NHL games played on this roster. The most notable players on this roster would be David Krejci, Michael Frolik, and Lukas Sedlak. All 3 of their goalies are from KHL teams, two of which have a GAA under 2.21. Czechia has a lot of great players on this team, and I expect Krejci to lead. Krejci was a great player in the NHL, gets 730 points over his 15-year career.

Overall, I expect this team do to very well in this tournament, just like the last Olympic Games. They have a solid core that could bring them all the way to the Medal Round.

Denmark

Here we go, the underdogs of the whole tournament. Why are they the underdogs? Well, this is the Danish team’s first ever Olympic Games. Denmark has 1 NHL prospect on their team: Frederik Dichow (Montreal Canadiens). One good thing is that they have a combined 1,983 NHL games under their belt. Bad thing is that 925 of those games are from one guy: Frans Nielsen. Nielsen played a lot of games for the New York Islanders and Detroit Red Wings before he eventually started to play overseas this season. Another bad thing is that Denmark doesn’t have players like Oliver Bjorkstrand, who helped them get into the Olympics in the first place.

But who knows, maybe Denmark will surprise us all and do really well. Since it is their first Olympics, we don’t know how they do in this type of tournament. Even if they don’t have their stars playing, they could do very well with the players that they do have.

Switzerland

The Swiss have 3 NHL prospects, 2 for the Toronto Maple Leafs (Fabrice Herzog and Denis Malgin) and 1 for the Columbus Blue Jackets (Calvin Thürkauf). Every single one of these players play in the National League (NL), the national hockey league of Switzerland. But they also have Yannick Weber who played 499 (of the 1,527 for the Swiss) games in the NHL. It will be a fight to see who the starting goalie for this team will be. The reason for this is that all 3 of their goalies are putting up outstanding numbers in the NL, which will make it hard for opposing teams to put the puck past them.

The Swiss is one of the few teams in this tournament that brough all professional players to these games. And being one of those teams, Switzerland has to use that to their advantage. If they use that to their advantage, then they could do well in these Olympic Games.

Russia (ROC)

The former Gold Medalists are back, not as strong, but still pretty good. Now why do I say that? Well for the first time I looked at the 2018 roster, and man that was a great roster. I’ll leave a link so that you can look at it for yourself. Now this team doesn’t have Pavel Datsyuk, but they do have 6 NHL prospects. This team has a total of 6,197 KHL games played, that probably explains why every single player on this roster plays for a KHL team. Artyom Anisimov, who has played 771 games in the NHL, is projected to be one of the leaders on this team. They also have Mikhail Grigorenko who played for the Columbus Blue Jackets last season. He also got 4 points in 6 games last Olympics. They also have NHL goalie prospect, Ivan Fedotov (Philadelphia Flyers) who is just 1 inch shorter than Zdeno Chara, who I’m guessing will be the starter.

I have high hopes for this Russian team. They have a bunch of talent that will hopefully bring them to at least the medal round.

Group B Results:

Czechia 4-3 Denmark (OT) (1-2)

Russia 5-2 Switzerland (1-0)

Czechia 2-4 Switzerland (2-1 (OT))

Denmark 0-4 Russia (0-2)

Russia 3-1 Czechia (5-6 (OT))

Switzerland 2-1 Denmark (3-5)

​Team	Record	Points	GD
Russia	3-0-0-0	9	​(+3, +4, +2) +9
Switzerland	2-0-0-1	6	​(-3, +2, +1) 0
Czechia	1-1-0-1	5	(+1, -2, -2) -3
Denmark	0-0-1-2	1	​(-1, -4, -1) -5

Actual Standings:

Group C

Finland

Leading the team in NHL games is Valtteri Filppula (530 points in 1,056 games). Filppula played most of his career with the Detroit Red Wings and finished out his NHL career with them. He was a great player in the NHL and is killing it in the NL right now. Right behind him is Leo Komarov (170 points in 491 games). Komarov is most known for his times with the New York Islanders, and actually played 1 game with this this year before going to the KHL. Finland has a combined 2,655 NHL games under their belt and is looking to use it.

Finland has a lot of high hopes for them. I feel that Finland has enough NHL level talent and players that they will do tremendous in this tournament.

Latvia

One of the two teams that made it through qualification in this group. Latvia was able to barely make it into the Olympics with a 2-1 win over France in their final Olympic Qualification game. This is Latvia’s first Olympic Games since 2014 where they had their best result, 8th. Latvia has only 1 NHL prospect on their roster with Martins Dzierkals (Vegas Golden Knights). The good thing is that players like Elvis Merzlikins and Matiss Kivlenieks have really grown the game of hockey in Latvia. But Latvia has one of the lowest number of NHL games in this tournament with 156. And a player hasn’t played in the NHL since 2016.

I don’t have the highest of expectations for this Latvian team, mainly due to lack of experience. But like I said, the game of hockey is still growing in Latvia, and maybe they can pull off a couple upsets like they did to Canada in the World Championships.

Slovakia

The second team in Group C who made it through the Qualification Stage. Slovakia was able to make it through after a 2-1 win to Belarus with an Empty Net goal to win. Slovakia does have 3 NHL prospects on their roster that could help them get a few key wins. Slovakia has 653 NHL games throughout their players, mostly from Martin Marincin, Tomas Jurco, and Marko Dano, all with about 200 games played each. The 3 of them equal to 132 NHL points.

Slovakia might have a tough time for the exact same reason as Latvia, they don’t have a lot of experience. But who knows, they may surprise everyone and do great.

Sweden

The final team on this list has 1 NHL prospect, and that is Pontus Holmberg (Toronto Maple Leafs). With a total of 2,095 NHL games played, Sweden is more than ready for this tournament. The games are spread out through multiple players, none of which I have seen before. They actually have about the same amount of AHL games than NHL games. Most of their players come from the KHL and the SHL, which should get them prepared for this tournament.

I do feel that Sweden will do well, but just not well enough to make it far. Sweden has a lot of NHL games played, but none of those players were breakout players.

Group C Results:

Finland 6-2 Slovakia (6-2)

Sweden 5-1 Latvia (3-2)

Latvia 1-9 Finland (1-3)

Sweden 3-2 Slovakia (OT) (4-1)

Finland 5-2 Sweden (4-3 (OT))

Slovakia 3-1 Latvia (5-2)

​Team	Record	Points	GD
Finland	3-0-0-0	9	(+4, +8, +3) +15
Sweden	1-1-0-1	5	(+4, +1, -3) +2
Slovakia	1-0-1-1	4	​(-4, -1, +2) -3
Latvia	0-3-0-0	0	(-4, -8, -2) -14

Actual Standings:

Overall Standings

Placement	Team	Group	Record	Points	GD
1	Germany	A	3-0-0-0	9	(+1, +11, +3) +15
2	Finland	C	3-0-0-0	9	(+4, +8, +3) +15
3	Russia	B	3-0-0-0	9	(+3, +4, +2) +9
4	Canada	A	2-0-0-1	6	(-1, +2, +8) +9
5	Switzerland	B	2-0-0-1	6	(-3, +2, +1) 0
6	Sweden	C	1-1-0-1	5	(+4, +1, -3) +2
7	Czechia	B	1-1-0-1	5	(+1, -2, -2) -3
8	Slovakia	C	1-0-1-1	4	(-4, -1, +2) -3
9	USA	A	1-0-0-2	3	(+7, -2, -3) +2
10	Denmark	B	0-0-1-2	1	(-1, -4, -1) -5
11	Latvia	C	0-0-0-3	0	(-4, -8, -2) -14
12	China	A	0-0-0-3	0	(-7, -11, -8) -26

Actual Standings:

Bracket:

Final Standings:

Placement	Team	Group
1	Finland	C
2	Germany	A
3	Russia	B
4	Canada	A
5	Switzerland	B
6	Czechia	B
7	USA	A
8	Sweden	C
9	Slovakia	C
10	Denmark	B
11	Latvia	C
12	China	A

Finland beats Germany 5-2 in 2018. Source: fansided.com (Dean Mouhtaropoulos. Getty Images)

Well, there's my bracket. I think that Finland will take the Gold home in these Olympics. Of course this is just what I think and they most likely will not be 100% correct, but I hope it will be close to that.

Stats from:eliteprospects.com