The USA and Canada are expected to stage an epic battle for the gold medal on the Winter Olympics in Milan, Italy next month. While each of those teams are loaded with powerful players and can clearly be contenders, it could be a mistake to overlook Finland.
Finland’s Olympic team is looking mighty strong! 🇫🇮
Read more on Finland’s projected lineup ➡️ https://t.co/zC74CXNvj9 pic.twitter.com/rgEWq4i5Se
— NHL Media (@NHLMedia) January 10, 2026
While Finland may lack a player with the celebrity of Canada’s Connor McDavid or the body-crunching leadership of Matthew Tkachuk of the US, the Finnish team has explosive talent, skating speed, defense and solid goaltending. If the U.S. and Canada are simply concerned with beating one another, Finland and Sweden could have the ability to sneak past them.
It’s going to not be easy for Finland, but Suomi mustn’t be underestimated under any circumstances. The 2 North American teams are sometimes recognized for his or her physical play, speed and the emotional elements they bring about to the competition. Nonetheless, Finland mustn’t be underestimated in any of those areas.
While the general impression is that the Finns are sometimes stoic, they’ll turn up the emotion and rise to the occasion once they must. It could be a mistake if any of the teams within the hockey competition underestimate Finland in any area, including the flexibility to rally from an emotional perspective.
Sweden, Finland’s long-time international rival, knows full well how talented and driven the Finnish team is. The Swedes have full respect for his or her opponent.
Finland is loaded with talent on top line despite Barkov’s absence
While Finland is usually known for the wonderful defensive play and elite goaltending, this team has good enough offensive talent to fill the web regularly. The highest line appears to be Mikko Rantanen and Roope Hintz of the Dallas Stars and Mikael Granlund of the Anaheim Geese.
That line would have included Aleksander Barkov of the Florida Panthers, however the two-time Stanley Cup champion has been out with a serious right knee injury and has not been in a position to play. While he may have the ability to return to the Panthers near the top of the regular season and for the playoffs, he cannot play within the Olympics.
The absence of Barkov is a large loss for the team, but there’s enough talent to push any of the opponents to the limit. Rantanen is certainly one of the highest scorers and big-play performers in the game. The 29-year-old Rantanen has the scale and strength to impose his will on any defenseman attempting to take the puck away from him. He was a dominant performer for the Stars in last yr’s playoffs and he has continued in that role in the course of the regular season.
He has scored 19 goals and added 44 assists for 63 points in his first 48 games this season. Rantanen is a two-time NHL All-Star who scored a profession high 55 goals and added 50 assists for the Colorado Avalanche in 2022-23.
Granlund isn’t an enormous scorer and he has 9 goals and 11 assists in 32 games from his center position, but Hintz has delivered 14 goals and 24 assists for the Stars and he also has a plus-17 rating. He demonstrated that he can rating when his team needs him most as he had 7 game-winning goals last season.
Finland has talent on second line and on defense
The second line features elusive Sebastian Aho and slick Teuvo Teravainen together with Artturi Lehkonen. The third line has a pair of feisty Panthers in Eetu Luostarinen and Anton Lundell, while Montreal Canadiens rookie Oliver Kapanen must be an important fit with the 2 Floridians.
The highest pair on defense feature Miro Heiskanen and Esa Lindell, and people two Dallas Stars recurrently play together. Meaning they shall be very difficult for opposing forwards to beat with any sort of consistency.
Nikko Mikola and Rasmus Ristolainen will form the second pair, and each are tough, physical defensemen who can punish forwards.
The Finns are recurrently known for his or her goaltending and so they shall be depending on Juuse Saros of the Nashville Predators and Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen of the Buffalo Sabres to proceed that trend. Saros got off to a slow start with the Panthers this season but he has come on with a rush. The Sabres have been certainly one of the most popular teams within the NHL since early December and Luukkkonen has played a key role.
Lack of Barkov will prevent Finland from taking gold
The Finns have a solid and competitive team and so they could give any opponent they face a big problem. They shall be competing in Group B, and so they open the competition with a game against Slovakia, February 11. Their other opponents in that group include Sweden and Italy.
It could be a surprise in the event that they don’t advance to the Qualification playoff. Nonetheless, the lack of Barkov will keep them from bringing home the gold or silver medal. A bronze medal wouldn’t be a shocker for the determined Finns.