Vive la Bellemare

The feelgood story to keep an eye on is Team France captain Pierre-Edouard Bellemare.

Bellemare, the former NHL forward, is the oldest player in the tournament at 40 years and 342 days as of Wednesday, when the games begin.

He is competing in his first Olympic Games after failing to help France qualify five times.

It’s the first time since 2002 that France has qualified for the Olympics in men’s hockey.

Bellemare is one of the most decorated France-born players in history with 700 NHL games on his resume. He had 138 points in his career, second among France-born players behind Antoine Roussel’s 197 points.

Bellemare, who played in the NHL from 2014-24, has represented France 12 times in the IIHF World Championship, the Olympic qualifiers six times, and played for Team Europe at the 2016 World Cup of Hockey.

He expects this will be his last time representing his country as a player on the international stage.

King who?

Henrik Lundqvist wore the crown for Sweden the last three times NHL players competed at the Olympics. The Hall of Fame goalie helped his country win gold in 2006 and take home silver in 2014.

Lundqvist, well known by his nickname, “The King,” will be in Milan for these Games too, only this time he will be working as an analyst for Swedish TV, watching and hoping that one of Sweden’s three goalies can find a way to wear the crown as proudly as he once did.

Filip Gustavsson figures to get first crack at it. The Minnesota Wild goalie is 20-9-6 with 2.64 GAA, .907 save and three shutouts in 36 games this season.

Gustavsson will get pushed by his Wild teammate, Jesper Wallstedt, who has been one of the top rookie goalies this season with a 14-5-4 record, 2.72 GAA, .914 save percentage and four shutouts.

Jacob Markstrom will be in the mix too, though he’s not having near the type of season for the New Jersey Devils as Gustavsson and Wallstedt are for the Wild. Markstrom is 15-13-1 with a 3.20 GAA and .882 save percentage.

Teen spirit

Macklin Celebrini will make history as the first teenager to play for Canada at an Olympics involving NHL players. The 19-year-old San Jose Sharks center is fourth in the NHL with 81 points (28 goals, 53 assists).

But Celebrini is not the only teenager in the tournament. He’s not even the youngest player in the tournament.

Team Latvia defenseman Alberts Smits is 18 years old and the only 2026 draft eligible player at the Olympics.

Smits is No. 2 on NHL Central Scouting’s midterm ranking of International skaters for the 2026 draft. He plays for Jukurit in Liiga, Finland’s top professional men’s league.

Smits also played for Latvia at the 2026 IIHF World Junior Championship, where he had five points (one goal, four assists) in five games.

Smits has a chance to become the highest-selected Latvian player in NHL draft history.

Latvian teammate Zemgus Girgensons has that honor now; he was selected with the No. 14 pick of the 2014 draft by the Buffalo Sabres.

He will become the second 18-year-old to play at an Olympics involving NHL players; Aleksander Barkov (2014, Team Finland), Olli Maatta (2014, Finland), Christian Ehrhoff (2002, Germany) and Marco Sturm (1998, Germany) each was 19 when he played in the Olympics.