Next week, NHL players will take the ice at the Winter Olympics for the first time since 2014. As much has changed in the 12 years since, the medal odds have remained the same. This year\u2019s tournament is expected to be \u2013 above all else \u2013 a showdown between Team Canada and Team USA rosters stocked to the brim with NHL stars of past and present. Sweden and Finland fall in naturally behind the North American countries, rounding out the usual four-headed fight to leave with a medal. But thanks to some injuries to the top dogs, one underdog seems to stand out from the rest of the pack.<\/p>\n
No \u2013 it\u2019s not Czechia, which won the 2024 World Championship on the backs of the same players who will anchor their Olympic roster. Lukas Dostal<\/a>, David Pastrnak<\/a>, Martin Necas<\/a>, and Tomas Hertl<\/a> will pose major threats on Olympic ice \u2013 but injuries to Pavel Zacha<\/a> and Filip Chytil<\/a> may have irreparably damaged their depth chart. Instead, this year\u2019s underdogs could be the Swiss, who have honed a roster of veterans into the perfect mix of reliability and explosivity.<\/p>\n Switzerland is led by one-time Norris Trophy winner Roman Josi<\/a>, who continues to bring a dominant impact to both ends of the ice, even after losing 29 games of last season to injury. Josi poise, control, and perspective needed to lead a surging lineup. In speaking about Switzerland\u2019s approach with NHL.com\u2019s Dan Rosen, Josi said<\/a>:<\/p>\n We know the teams that are coming here, the players that are here, but I think we can have a lot of confidence in our game. Obviously, this is a different beast than World Championships, but we\u2019ve played some really good World Championship tournaments and got some momentum.<\/p>\n Josi added that this is the first time that Switzerland\u2019s stars have had a chance to play at full strength. This is only the second time in the last five years that Switzerland has had each of Roman Josi, Nico Hischier<\/a>, Kevin Fiala<\/a>, and budding top-defender J.J. Moser<\/a> on an international lineup. The other instance was at the 2024 World Championship, where the Swiss went on a mad dash to the Gold medal game, only to lose to the aforementioned Czechia. While Josi didn\u2019t return for the 2025 tournament, Switzerland still managed to repeat as Silver medalists, this time losing to Team USA in their first World Championship win of the 2000s.<\/p>\n Back-to-back silver medal wins brought Switzerland up to four second-place finishes across the last 13 years. Before then, the Swiss hadn\u2019t medaled in 14 years, not since their trifecta of medals won between 1994 and 1997.<\/p>\n Now, Switzerland faces the ultimate test. They have never medaled at an Olympic game with NHL talent \u2013 but this year offer an interesting mix of talent. Josi and Hischier offer stalwart reliability at both positions, capable as both playmakers and defenders. They\u2019re complimented by Kevin Fiala, an electric scorer who seems to bring a bit extra to international competition. Fiala has led Switzerland\u2019s last three World Championship rosters in points-per-game scoring and should continue to pop next to stars.<\/p>\n More than their top-end, Switzerland is bringing the fifth-most NHL talent in the tournament \u2013 the most outside the typical big-four. That standing has been propped up by injuries to other clubs but Switzerland\u2019s flanks bring a lot of heft. Moser looks capable of standing up to the ever-important #2 role, while Jonas Siegenthaler<\/a>\u2018s upside as a shutdown defender should hedge the team\u2019s second pair. They\u2019ll get similar support from Timo Meier<\/a> and Nino Niederreiter<\/a> on offense. Meier has 28 points in 52 NHL games and Niederreiter has 19 points in 55 games, down years for both players though they\u2019ve also shown some extra spark in past international games.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n The Nati will be rounded out with some shreds of upside. Philipp Kurashev<\/a> was having a career-year before running into injury at the end of 2025. He has totaled 17 points and a plus-three in 34 games \u2013 notably his first NHL season with a positive plus-minus. Former Colorado Avalanche winger Sven Andrighetto<\/a> has stepped up as a star scorer in Switzerland\u2019s top pro league in his post-NHL days. He is one of five players scoring at a point-per-game pace in that league, with 35 points in as many games. Also on that list is former Florida Panthers and Toronto Maple Leafs forward Denis Malgin<\/a>, who has 41 points in 41 games. That duo will stand as potential X-factors who can score important goals ,even if their point totals don\u2019t pop.<\/p>\n These strengths are built on what is, still, a lineup far away from the strength of the top-four. Switzerland is rolling out Akira Schmid<\/a> as their starting goaltender. He has played a career-high 29 NHL games this season and has 16 wins and a .895 save percentage to show for it \u2013 stout marks behind a strong Vegas Golden Knights club. But goaltending will still be Switzerland\u2019s biggest weaknesses, not supported by a similarly shaky defense behind their three NHL talents.<\/p>\n Sweden is missing<\/a> Lucas Carlsson<\/a> and Jonas Brodin<\/a>, two hard-hitters who would have filled important roles this tournament. Finland is missing<\/a> star center Aleksander Barkov<\/a>. Could those absences leave enough room for Switzerland to push into medal contention? If they bring the might they\u2019ve shown at the World Championships, it could be. Even if the Swiss don\u2019t medal, a standout tournament could put them at the level of, or even above, fellow up-and-comers like Czechia and Slovakia.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Next week, NHL players will take the ice at the Winter Olympics for the first time since 2014.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":468452,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[556],"tags":[64,63,575,10018,7820,11477,85,183394],"class_list":["post-468451","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nhl","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-nhl","tag-olympics","tag-players","tag-pro-hockey-rumors-originals","tag-sports","tag-team-switzerland"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/468451","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=468451"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/468451\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/468452"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=468451"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=468451"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=468451"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}