Four Nashville Predators competed at the 2026 Winter Olympics in Italy: Juuse Saros (Finland), Filip Forsberg (Sweden), Roman Josi (Switzerland) and Erik Haula (Finland). Although they all had strong teams, only two won a medal, bronze for Team Finland.
Team USA won gold against Team Canada in a gold medal showdown for the ages that ended in overtime. However, the Predators had great performances throughout the tournament. Here’s our ranking of how they played.
No. 4: Filip Forsberg
Through no fault of his own, Filip Forsberg is at the bottom of this list. There was a lot of controversy surrounding Team Sweden’s decision to use Forsberg as an extra attacker and not play him on one of the top four lines. With 24 goals this season, it was surprising that he didn’t fit into any of head coach Sam Hallam’s lines.
Forsberg scored just one goal, an assist, and earned a plus-2 rating. His only goal came in a 5–2 win against Italy in the preliminary rounds. Sweden then fell to Team USA in the quarterfinals, a brutal 2-1 overtime defeat that sent them home and earned them a seventh-place finish. They should have used Forsberg more, but Predators fans are probably excited that he’s well rested for the final stretch.
No. 3: Roman Josi
Roman Josi, arguably the best defenseman in franchise history, nearly led Team Switzerland to new heights. Switzerland hasn’t won a medal since 1948 and has never finished higher than 8th since 1952, but this year they did have a chance to earn a medal.
A lot of that had to do with Josi, who had two goals, two assists and a draw in five games. Switzerland fell just short of a medal, losing to Finland in the quarter-finals thanks to Artturi Lehkonen’s goal in extra time. Switzerland finished fifth in the tournament, while Josi will likely return to Nashville with more confidence after an impressive tournament.
No. 2: Erik Haula
Nashville’s bottom-six center Erik Haula had the best Olympic performance of all the Predators who competed, including their biggest stars. As a defender, Team Finland had high expectations for this tournament Gold medal 2022 champions in Beijing, China.
But with NHL players participating in the tournament for the first time since 2014, Team USA and Canada had the top talent, and that wasn’t the intention. However, Haula did his part for Team Finland, scoring three goals, three assists and a plus-4 rating. He was one of the biggest surprises of the tournament and helped Finland secured the bronze medal with two goals in a 6-1 win over Slovakia. Nashville hopes he can carry some of that momentum into the final stretch.
No. 1: Juuse Saros
Although Haula played very well, Juuse Saros wins the gold medal for the best Predators performance at the Olympics. Saros was sensational, allowing just 10 goals on 167 shots and ranking second among all goaltenders in the tournament (Samuel Hlavaj of Slovakia in first place). That equated to a save percentage of 0.941 (SV%) and a goals-against average (GAA) of 1.66.
Saros lived up to his ‘No Goals’ commercial during the tournament. He even gave Finland a fighting chance against Canada in the semi-finals, but they lost thanks to a Nathan MacKinnon power play goal with just 36 seconds left, ending their gold medal hopes.
Related: Ranking NHL teams by goaltenders
After a collision with Florida Panthers center Sam Bennett, who was called for goaltender interference at 16:52 of the first period, Saros accused Bennett of doing so intentionally. “He does that all the time, so it’s part of his game,” Saros said. “I think you know if it’s on purpose.” Despite the disappointing loss to Team Canada, Saros recovered to give Finland the bronze medal, saving 30 of 31 shots and beating Slovakia 6–1.
The Predators upcoming schedule
The Predators continue their season on Thursday, February 26 with a home game against the Chicago Blackhawks. They close out the month with a road game against the Dallas Stars on Saturday, February 28, and return home to take on the Detroit Red Wings on March 2.
They have a road game against the Columbus Blue Jackets on March 6 and another home game against the Boston Bruins on March 5 before the trade deadline on March 6. The team could look very different at the deadline, with a new general manager on the way (earlier this month, Barry Trotz announced his retirement at the end of the season) and a mediocre record.
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