{"id":183870,"date":"2026-02-19T02:08:26","date_gmt":"2026-02-19T02:08:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/183870\/"},"modified":"2026-02-19T02:08:26","modified_gmt":"2026-02-19T02:08:26","slug":"finlands-lundell-granlund-expected-to-return-before-olympic-quarterfinals","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/183870\/","title":{"rendered":"Finland&#8217;s Lundell, Granlund Expected to Return Before Olympic Quarterfinals"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Published on Feb. 17, 2026<\/p>\n<p class=\"submission-link-wrapper\"><a href=\"https:\/\/forms.nationaltoday.com\/news?location=Anaheim%2C+CA&amp;city=Anaheim&amp;type=Update+Existing+Story&amp;headline=Finland%27s+Lundell%2C+Granlund+Expected+to+Return+Before+Olympic+Quarterfinals&amp;page=https%3A%2F%2Fnationaltoday.com%2Fus%2Fca%2Fanaheim%2Fnews%2F2026%2F02%2F17%2Ffinlands-lundell-granlund-expected-to-return-before-olympic-quarterfinals%2F\" class=\"submission-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Got story updates? Submit your updates here. \u203a<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Anton Lundell and Mikael Granlund, key forwards for the Finnish men&#8217;s ice hockey team, did not practice with the team on Monday but are expected to rejoin them on Tuesday in preparation for the quarterfinals of the Olympic tournament. Finland earned a bye to the quarterfinals and will face the winner of the Switzerland vs. Italy qualifying playoff game.<\/p>\n<p>      Why it matters<\/p>\n<p>Lundell and Granlund are important players for Finland, with Lundell centering a top line and playing on the penalty kill, while Granlund is the team captain and plays on the top power play unit. Their return is crucial for Finland&#8217;s chances of advancing deep in the tournament.<\/p>\n<p>            The details<\/p>\n<p>Coach Antti Pennanen did not provide a reason for Lundell and Granlund&#8217;s absence from practice on Monday, saying it was a confidential internal matter. Lundell sat out Finland&#8217;s final preliminary round game against Italy due to illness after scoring the winning goal against Sweden, while Granlund has three points in three games so far.<\/p>\n<p>      Finland earned a bye to the quarterfinals on Wednesday (12:10 p.m. ET).Finland will face the winner of the Switzerland vs. Italy qualifying playoff game on Tuesday (6:10 a.m. ET).<br \/>\n        The players<\/p>\n<p>        Anton Lundell<\/p>\n<p>A forward for Finland&#8217;s men&#8217;s ice hockey team who has one goal in two games at the Olympics. He is a Stanley Cup winner with the Florida Panthers the past two seasons and has 40 points in 54 games with the Panthers this season.<\/p>\n<p>Mikael Granlund<\/p>\n<p>The captain of Finland&#8217;s men&#8217;s ice hockey team, who has three points in three games at the Olympics including two goals. He has 27 points in 38 games with the Anaheim Ducks this season.<\/p>\n<p>Antti Pennanen<\/p>\n<p>The head coach of Finland&#8217;s men&#8217;s ice hockey team.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/forms.nationaltoday.com\/news?location=Anaheim%2C+CA&amp;city=Anaheim&amp;type=Upload+Story+Photos&amp;headline=Finland%27s+Lundell%2C+Granlund+Expected+to+Return+Before+Olympic+Quarterfinals&amp;page=https%3A%2F%2Fnationaltoday.com%2Fus%2Fca%2Fanaheim%2Fnews%2F2026%2F02%2F17%2Ffinlands-lundell-granlund-expected-to-return-before-olympic-quarterfinals%2F\" class=\"submission-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Got photos? Submit your photos here. \u203a<\/a><br \/>\n            What they\u2019re saying<\/p>\n<p class=\"news-quote-quote\">\u201cThat&#8217;s confidential. I can&#8217;t say.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"news-quote-cite\">\u2014 Antti Pennanen, Head Coach, Finland Men&#8217;s Ice Hockey Team (nhl.com)<\/p>\n<p class=\"news-quote-quote\">\u201cI don&#8217;t comment on internal matters like that.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"news-quote-cite\">\u2014 Antti Pennanen, Head Coach, Finland Men&#8217;s Ice Hockey Team (nhl.com)<\/p>\n<p>            What\u2019s next<\/p>\n<p>The judge in the case will decide on Tuesday whether or not to allow Walker Reed Quinn out on bail.<\/p>\n<p>        The takeaway<\/p>\n<p>The return of key forwards Anton Lundell and Mikael Granlund will be crucial for Finland&#8217;s chances of advancing deep in the Olympic men&#8217;s ice hockey tournament. Their absences from practice on Monday due to undisclosed reasons raised some concerns, but the team expects them to rejoin the squad ahead of the quarterfinals.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Published on Feb. 17, 2026 Got story updates? Submit your updates here. \u203a Anton Lundell and Mikael Granlund,&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":183871,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[36],"tags":[163,165,164],"class_list":{"0":"post-183870","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-anaheim","8":"tag-anaheim","9":"tag-anaheim-headlines","10":"tag-anaheim-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/183870","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=183870"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/183870\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/183871"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=183870"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=183870"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=183870"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}