At long last, NHL talent is returning to the Winter Olympics, and the Tampa Bay Lightning have their strong share of representation on a few top teams. Among the rosters that have been announced so far, six players are on three national teams.
Some key national teams have released their rosters so far: USA, Canada, Sweden and Finland. We’re looking at Lightning players specifically on those national teams, plus some players who were preliminary selections last June. At the end, we’ll look at who could potentially be on other rosters based on nationality.
Team USA
Lightning Rep: Jake Guentzel
This isn’t much of a surprise. Guenztel was part of the US team during the 4 Nations Face-Off last year. His strong performance this season only further solidified his place as an Olympian.
Through 40 games, he’s tallied 18 goals and 23 assists for 41 points. He’s not the biggest name on Team USA, but he’s expected to be a key piece of the team.
Team Canada
Canada Reps: Anthony Cirelli, Brandon Hagel, Brayden Point
Hagel and Point are relatively obvious names to have on Team Canada. Hagel has been strong since the first handful of games of the season and is at a point per game this season.
Even with Point’s lackluster season, it was hard to imagine that head coach Jon Cooper was going to leave him off the Olympic roster. For what it’s worth, he’s been playing better as of late. In his last 11 games, he has six goals and seven assists for 13 points. He has been back to his normal production over the past few weeks. It’s becoming a safe assumption that he’ll be an effective piece of an already powerful Canadian offense in Milan.
Cirelli might be a surprise to some, but he was part of the 4 Nations Face-Off roster last year. Cooper knows what he has with him, and he gets to come back. In 36 games played, Cirelli has 11 goals and 13 assists for 24 points.
Sweden
Sweden Reps: Victor Hedman, Pontus Holmberg
One of these players was a lock. The other was a total surprise. Hedman is expected to be healthy for the Olympics. If he’s healthy, he’s on the team. It’s hard to say what they’ll get from him when he gets back. In 18 games he’s seen action in, he has 12 points, all of which are assists.
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Hedman struggled to be effective, but it was clear he wasn’t playing at 100%. Perhaps that changes when he is healthy, but we’ll only know for sure when he is actually back and playing.
The selection of Holmberg was a surprise. By his standards, he has had a good season, but he lacks the scoring of other Swedish players who didn’t make the cut. However, a major argument for his addition is how scrappy he is. Sweden’s head coach, Sam Hallam, has previously coached him. It’s a similar argument to why certain players on the Lightning are on Team Canada. Cooper knows his guys, and so does Hallam.
Denmark
Denmark Rep: Oliver Bjorkstrand
For those who have been following the team, this might look odd at first glance. Bjorkstrand has picked it up lately, but he only has 18 points this season. However, something else needs to be taken into account.
He’s an NHL-caliber player who was an obvious pick to represent his country. Only one Danish player, Nikolaj Ehlers, has more points in the league than him this season. Bjorkstand was a no-brainer preliminary selection back in June.
Latvia
Latvia Rep: Zemgus Girgensons
Here is a fun fact: Girgensons is one of the Latvian leading scorers in the NHL this season. He’s in a three-way tie for points and is the goals leader by a mile.
He’s arguably the top player from his country in the NHL. Latvia is in the Olympics, so naturally, he was a preliminary selection.
The stats typically associated with Olympians might not be there. However, he is more than qualified to lead his country.
Status of Other Players
Naturally, there are other Olympic-worthy players on the team. However, due to Russia’s war with Ukraine, their players won’t be participating. Nikita Kucherov and Andrei Vasilevskiy won’t be suiting up in Milan.
Other rosters haven’t been announced yet, so there are some more players who could get the call. Erik Cernak is probably going to get selected to play for Czechia, and JJ Moser should be representing Switzerland.
While not every star on the team will get to go to Milan, there is a solid chance that this list will grow even larger. Lightning fans should have no issue finding a reason to be happy for a national team in the Olympics.
