With the National Hockey League and the Players Association in agreement to return to the Olympics and 2022, and 2026; It is now time for hockey fans to wonder which of their favorite players will be heading over. The Washington Capitals are lucky enough to have many potential olympians on their roster, with Alex Ovechkin, John Carlson, and Nicklas Backstrom poised to be leaders for their respective home countries.
Ovechkin will be in the running to be captain of the Russian Olympic team in what could be one of the last times he laces up for his homeland. Russia will likely be a favorite with Nikita Kucherov, Evgeni Malkin, Artemi Panarin, and the best goalie in the NHL, Andrei Vaselevsky. Washington should have another player joining Ovi in Beijing with Dmitry Orlov helping out their blue line.
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Backstrom could also be looking to lead a stacked team. As one of the most prolific Swedish hockey players in NHL history, many young players will look to Backstrom’s veteren leadership. Erik Karlsson, Mika Zabinajad, William Nylander, and Gabriel Landeskog round out a very strong team looking to win their first gold since the 2006 Olympic Games.
Now for the United States the Caps could add two players to that roster. First John Carlson, who is pretty much a lock, will try to add his veteran presence to a fairly young blue line. Now the real question is will T.J. “Sochi” make a return to the Olympic team after his heroics vs Russian back in 2014. Tony Wolak of thehockeywriters.com predicted the United States’ roster and had T.J. Oshie listed as just missing a roster spot.
The final three players we could potentially see heading to China this winter are Michal Kempny, Vitek Vanecek and Lars Eller. Vanecek will be a possible long shot to make the Czech Republic’s roster while Kempny will be looked too as a defensive leader.
Eller will be competing for Denmark as they just qualified for one of the final three spots in the 2022 Olympics. Being one of the only Dannish players in the NHL will mean Eller should be a lock to be a top 6 forward on that team.
The Caps fans could be looking at as many as 8 different players heading over to Beijing this winter. With Sweden, Russia , and the United States all looking to have the fire power to compete with Canada, we should see some possible important matchups between teammates.