With the 4 Nations Face-Off marking the return of "best-on-best" hockey for NHL players, the next major tournament looming is the 2026 Winter Olympics in Milano Cortina next February. The recent tournament has re-invigorated interest in the upcoming games, especially after another tense US-Canada final.
2026 marks the first time in 12 years that NHL players have been able to compete. Issues insuring players prevented their participation in the 2018 games in South Korea, while COVID-19 and the schedule adjustment squashed their 2022 involvement in Beijing. Russia, led by Pavel Datsyuk and Kirill Kaprizov won the tournament in 2018, while Finland took home the gold in 2022.
With the NHL finally returning to the Olympics in 2026, it opens the door for some Carolina Hurricanes to represent their countries on one of the largest stages. The Canes sent four players to the Olympics in 2014, each representing different countries. Justin Faulk, Alex Semin, and Andrej Sekera represented the US, Russia, and Slovakia respectively, while Tuomo Ruutu was the lone medalist, earning bronze with Finland.
Several current Hurricanes should be heavily considered to compete in the Olympics next February. Here is my list broken down by their likelihood of being asked to compete. By my estimation, seven players are either locks or stand a great chance to compete, though there's an obvious caveat that could prevent some from doing so.