Olympic Primer | 10 TAKEAWAYS

In just 24 days, the NHL will hit pause on the regular season as some of the league’s biggest stars head to Italy for the 2025 Olympic Winter Games. After a 12-year absence, NHL players are finally back on the Olympic stage, and the countdown is officially on.

To help set the stage, I put together a special Olympic edition of 10 Takeaways, presented by Ticketmaster, a primer for what’s coming in February. From international head coaches popping up at NHL rinks, to a full breakdown of the Olympic rosters, to one Devils player with a real shot at joining the Triple Gold Club… we’ve got it all covered.

Consider this your full rundown ahead of puck drop in Italy!

1.

The final round of Olympic scouting is clearly in full swing. On Sunday in Winnipeg, the head coach of the Swiss national team was in the building, along with several members of the Swiss staff, including Lars Weibel, to take in the Jets-Devils matchup. Switzerland will feature three Devils on its Olympic roster, so it was a pretty convenient stop on the calendar.

There was no shortage of Swiss talent to watch, either. Four Swiss Olympians were on the ice between the two teams: Nico Hischier, Timo Meier, and Jonas Siegenthaler for New Jersey, plus Winnipeg’s Nino Niederreiter. If there were any final notes to take or boxes to check, they had plenty of looks to work with.

2.

The Devils are right near the top of the league when it comes to Olympic representation. They currently boast the third-most Olympians on their roster, which says a lot about both the talent and depth of this group.

Tampa Bay leads the way with 10 players headed to the Games, followed by the Florida Panthers with nine. Right behind them sit the Devils alongside the Colorado Avalanche, with both teams sending eight players to the Olympics - elite company and plenty of red and black to keep an eye on in Italy.

3.

On the other end of the spectrum, the New York Islanders will have just one player in Milan, with Bo Horvat named to Team Canada. They’re the lone NHL club sending a single representative to the Games.

Just ahead of them are Columbus and Edmonton, each with two Olympians. In Edmonton’s case, those two are pretty significant pieces: Connor McDavid for Canada and Leon Draisaitl for Germany.

For the Blue Jackets, it’s goaltender Elvis Merzlikins holding things down in net for Latvia, alongside Zach Werenski representing the United States.

4.

Because it’s been 12 years since NHL players last competed at the Olympics, and the NHL is stacked with the best hockey talent in the world, there will be plenty of first‑time Olympians headed to Milan‑Cortina in 2026.

Here’s a breakdown of every team and their first‑time Olympians:

🇨🇦 Canada – 23 first‑time Olympians, with only Sidney Crosby and Drew Doughty bringing previous Olympic experience.

🇺🇸 USA – 23 first-timers as well, with Jake Sanderson and Brock Faber as the only returning Olympians from 2022.

🇫🇮 Finland – Around 20 first-timers, blending NHL newcomers with seasoned international players.

🇸🇪 Sweden – Roughly 20 first-timers as well, anchored by veterans like Erik Karlsson and Gabriel Landeskog.

🇨🇿 Czechia – About 19 first-timers alongside six returning Olympians, including Ondrej Palat, mixing NHL stars with experienced internationals.

🇩🇪 Germany – 15–17 first-timers paired with 8–10 returning veterans, balancing NHL talent with European experience, and of course led by star NHL forward Leon Draisaitl.

🇨🇭 Switzerland – Approximately 22 first-timers, with just three returning Olympians. It will be the first Olympic Games for all three New Jersey Devils Swiss players.

🇱🇻 Latvia – Around 13–14 players will make their debut, with the rest of the roster having played at the 2022 Games.

🇸🇰 Slovakia – Roughly 15–16 first-timers, accompanied by 9-10 returning Olympians, including Devils defenseman Simon Nemec.

🇫🇷 France – They have virtually no returning Olympians; a roster full of debuts is on its way. They'll compete in the hockey tournament at the Games for the first time in 20 years.

🇩🇰 Denmark – About 14–16 first-timers.

🇮🇹 Italy – The host nation will send a full roster of first-time Olympians, with no returning veterans.

5.

The Devils have two players who return to the Olympic stage, and span opposite ends of the career spectrum.

At just 21 years old, Simon Nemec is already set to become a two-time Olympian. Nemec first appeared on the Olympic stage in 2022, representing Slovakia as a teenager and helping the country capture a historic bronze medal. Now, he returns with NHL experience under his belt and an even larger role expected as Slovakia looks to build on that success.

On the other end of the timeline is Ondrej Palat, who first represented Czechia at the Olympic Games in 2014 in Sochi. It's been over a decade since he last appeared at the Games, with 2014 being the last time the NHL players went to the Games.

6.

Speaking of Palat, he has a chance to join some very rare company. If Czechia captures Olympic gold, Palat would become a member of the Triple Gold Club.

The Triple Gold Club is reserved for players who have won an Olympic gold medal, a World Championship, and the Stanley Cup, checking every box at the highest levels of the sport. Palat already has two of the three. He won gold at the World Championship with Czechia in 2024 and is a two-time Stanley Cup champion from his days with the Tampa Bay Lightning.

Only 30 players in hockey history have ever completed the Triple Gold. The list is short and exclusive: eleven Canadians, nine Swedes, seven Russians, two Czechs, and one Finn.

7.

When NHL players are part of the Olympics, it completely changes the feel of the tournament. The talent level jumps immediately, and the games take on a different kind of edge. For the past few Olympic cycles, rosters were built without NHL players, but that’s no longer the case.

With preliminary rosters now released, 126 NHL players are headed overseas to represent their countries. That’s a massive infusion of elite skill, star power, and familiarity, and it sets the stage for what should be the most stacked Olympic hockey tournament we’ve seen in over a decade.

8.

Italy stands alone among the 12 teams as the only roster without a single NHL player. On the opposite end of the spectrum, three powerhouses, Canada, the United States, and Sweden, are rolling into Milan with rosters made up entirely of NHL talent from top to bottom.

Finland falls just short of that distinction. The Finnish roster is nearly all NHL players, with one notable exception. Defenseman Mikko Lehtonen, who currently plays in Zurich in the Swiss league, has been named to Finland’s blue line for the Games. It’s a small wrinkle in an otherwise NHL-heavy group.

9.

The first Devils-on-Devils matchup at the Olympics comes on Valentine’s Day, with Sweden, Jesper Bratt and Jacob Markstrom, squaring off against Simon Nemec and Slovakia.

And yes, those games always carry a little extra juice when you’re lining up against your NHL teammates. When we spoke with Bratt right after he was named to Sweden’s roster, it was one of the first things he brought up - the fact that he’ll be going head-to-head with Nemec in the preliminary round.

Bratt said there’s already been some lighthearted back-and-forth between the two, mostly playful attempts to get into each other’s heads while the Olympics are still on the horizon. For now, the focus is firmly on their NHL team, but Bratt joked that as the Games get closer, the chirping will ramp up. No matter how friendly it is, there’s always a little something extra when you’re competing against your own teammates on the biggest stage in the sport.

10.

When it comes to Devils-on-Devils matchups, there’s only one other one to circle in the preliminary round, and it comes right on the heels of the Bratt-Nemec showdown.

On Feb. 15, Czechia and Switzerland go head-to-head, and that game will feature four Devils. Nico Hischier, Jonas Siegenthaler, and Timo Meier will suit up for Switzerland, while Ondrej Palat represents Czechia on the other side. It’s about as stacked a Devils crossover as you’ll get in the round-robin.

You’ll want to have your coffee ready for this one, too. Puck drop is set for 6:10 a.m. ET, but with that many familiar faces sharing the ice, it’ll be worth the early alarm.