Before the start of the Olympic Break, the Florida Panthers suffered a huge 6-1 loss to the Tampa Bay Lightning, leaving them near the bottom of the Atlantic Division standings. With a record of 29-25-3, the Panthers are eight points behind the Boston Bruins for the final wild card spot in the Eastern Conference. The odds of winning three consecutive Stanley Cups are slowly fading, but there is still time to turn things around.
The men’s hockey tournament at the 2026 Winter Olympics begins Wednesday and will mark the first time NHLers have participated since 2014. The Panthers have as many as 10 players in Milan, Italy, ready to compete for their country. If all the Panthers were healthy, they would have had an NHL record 13 invited players. Here’s who to look out for.
Latvia: Uvis Ballinskis and Sandis Vilmanis
Young forward Sandis Vilmanis and two-time cup winner Uvis Balinskis will represent their native Latvia. They became the first pair of Latvian players in NHL history to score points on the same goal earlier this season.
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They open their tournament against the United States on Thursday, February 12, before taking on Germany on Saturday, February 14 and Denmark on Sunday, February 15.
Sweden: Gustav Forsling
Gustav Forsling was instrumental in the Panthers’ back-to-back Stanley Cups. In the 2023-2024 season, he led the NHL with a plus-56 rating. He might be the biggest waiver wire acquisition in Panthers history.
Forsling and his group of Sweden will see preliminary action against hosts Italy on February 11, then against Finland on February 13 and Slovakia on February 14.
Finland: Eetu Luostarinen, Anton Lundell and Niko Mikkola
Finnish trio Eetu Luostarinen, Anton Lundell and Niko Mikkola all attract the lion in Milan. Last season they also played for Finland in the 4 Nations Face-Off. Captain Aleksander Barkov would be in Italy if not for a cruciate ligament injury that has sidelined him for the rest of the season.
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Finland will face Slovakia on Wednesday in the first men’s hockey match of the Olympic Games. They play against Sweden on Friday and Italy on Saturday.
Canada: Sam Bennett, Sam Reinhart and Brad Marchand
Team Canada is perhaps the strongest offensive team in the tournament and features playoff superstars Sam Bennett, Brad Marchand and Sam Reinhart. Last year they helped Team Canada take home the gold in the 4 Nations Face-Off with Bennett scoring the tying goal that forced the gold medal match into extra time.
The trio starts their tournament against the Czech Republic on Thursday, before playing Switzerland on Friday and France on Sunday.
United States: Matthew Tkachuk
The only Panther on Team USA this time is forward Matthew Tkachuk. If not for suffered an injury in the Winter Classic on January 2, defenseman Seth Jones would also be among that group. Tkachuk played for his home country in the 4 Nations Face-Off last season. He is looking for redemption after his team lost to Canada in overtime of that tournament.
Fans can catch up with Tkachuk and his American teammates against Latvia on Thursday, Denmark on Friday and Germany on Saturday before the tournament moves on to the qualifying round on February 17.
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