easily been the best scorer<\/a> of the group, with the most goals in the fewest games. Scheifele leads the three in total points and Suzuki leads them in assists. Suzuki\u2019s five-on-five defensive numbers have been the best of the three. Horvat has played the most on the penalty kill and done so for an Islanders unit that\u2019s gone from one of the league\u2019s worst to one of the league\u2019s best.<\/p>\nScheifele might draw the short end of the stick among the three, but to get Horvat and Suzuki both on the roster would create another tough decision. Would Canada dare leave off Anthony Cirelli, Brad Marchand or Mark Stone? It\u2019s hard to believe Macklin Celebrini and Tom Wilson haven\u2019t done enough to make it either.\u00a0<\/p>\n
![\"Bo](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/20251128_IslandersFlyers_CS047.jpg\")
Bo Horvat of the New York Islanders moves the puck down ice during the third period at UBS Arena. Corey Sipkin for the NY POST<\/p>\n
This one feels like a pure coin flip, and if Horvat doesn\u2019t make it, he\u2019ll be left wondering what would have happened if he hadn\u2019t gotten hurt and missed the last five Islanders games before the break.<\/p>\n
Emil Heineman (Team Sweden)\u00a0<\/p>\n
Some cautious optimism is in order for Heineman\u2019s chances of joining Tre Kroner in Milan.<\/p>\n
The 24-year-old wing has emerged with the Islanders as a versatile scorer capable of playing anywhere in the lineup. He\u2019s been in the top six for the Islanders, but would likely be in a bottom six and penalty kill role for Sweden, the latter of which he\u2019s excelled in for the Isles.<\/p>\n
The last few spots in Sweden\u2019s forward corps will likely come down to Heineman, William Eklund, William Karlsson, Simon Holmstrom, Rickard Rakell, Elias Lindholm and Marcus Johansson, in some order. Heineman has probably done enough to be on the right side of that equation.<\/p>\n
Simon Holmstrom (Team Sweden)\u00a0<\/p>\n
Coming into the year, Holmstrom looked like he had a decent shot of going to Milan. After a dropoff in scoring and some overall inconsistent play, though, he hasn\u2019t done much to help his case.<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t\t\t\tOn the ice from Long Island\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tSign up for Inside the Islanders by Ethan Sears, a weekly Sports+ exclusive.\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t\t\tThank you\n\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
He\u2019s still a sound defensive presence and an effective penalty-killer, which would be his Olympic ticket. Sweden needs someone to fill those roles, and they could certainly do worse than Holmstrom. Still, it\u2019s an uber-competitive fight to make it, and Holmstrom may be on the wrong side of things.<\/p>\n
David Rittich (Team Czechia)\u00a0<\/p>\n
It\u2019s unlikely Rittich will end up in Milan unless injuries change Czechia\u2019s equation, but given that he\u2019s having a strong year as Ilya Sorokin\u2019s backup, and given that he\u2019s one of just eight netminders from the country in the NHL, you can\u2019t completely count him out.<\/p>\n
That said, Karel Vejmelka, Dan Vladar and Lukas Dostal look like the trio of goaltenders Czechia will bring to Milan.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Islanders\u2019 Olympic hopefuls are, in the very literal sense of the word, hopefuls. It\u2019s entirely possible that…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":369014,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[66],"tags":[75617,38006,394,385,99,58926],"class_list":{"0":"post-369013","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nhl","8":"tag-bo-horvat","9":"tag-matthew-schaefer","10":"tag-new-york-islanders","11":"tag-nhl","12":"tag-sports","13":"tag-winter-olympics"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/369013","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=369013"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/369013\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/369014"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=369013"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=369013"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=369013"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![\"New](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/20251213_IslandersLightning_CS040.jpg\")
New York Islanders left wing Emil Heineman (51) celebrates with New York Islanders defenseman Matthew Schaefer (48) after he scores the game-winning goal during the shootout at UBS Arena on Saturday, Dec. 13, 2025, in Elmont, NY. Corey Sipkin for the NY POST<\/p>\n