The 2026 Winter Olympics are in full swing in beautiful Italy with athletes from across the globe converging for the Milano Cortina festivities. The ice events are taking place in Milan, where the stage is set for puck drop when the men’s hockey tournament begins on February 11 stateside. There’s an added twist to the event in this edition of the Games, though, with players from the National Hockey League allowed on national rosters for the first time since the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi.
With the talent pool chock-full of stars between the 12 teams set to compete, we’re taking a look at the overall field and breaking down the odds to win the gold medal on DraftKings Sportsbook.
Men’s hockey odds, field for 2026 Winter Olympics
The development allowing NHL players back into the competition this year is sure to excite fans across the world. For those unfamiliar, the pro league opted to hold a round-robin tournament called the 4 Nations Face-Off in lieu of an All-Star Game last year. The event was met with much acclaim for a litany of reasons — namely the high-level hockey between the sport’s top talents, but also the added stakes of international bragging rights and some underlying storylines created by bubbling political tensions between the United States and Canada at the time. Overall, the 4 Nations tournament created a boom of interest in hockey as the championship game was watched by 16.1 million viewers in North America alone, making it the second-most watched hockey game of the last decade.
Now, the Winter Olympics give those same teams — 4 Nations winner Canada, runner-up United States, plus Finland and Sweden — the opportunity to compete on an even bigger international stage with the stakes elevated in comparison to the last meetings between these sides. There are a total of 12 teams in the tournament, which also includes the Czech Republic, Denmark, France, Germany, the host nation Italy, Latvia, Slovakia, and Switzerland.
Over the last two editions of the Winter Games, Finnish and Russian contingents both won gold medals while Germany, Slovakia and Canada all earned spots on the podium with silvers and bronzes. However, the best in the world are now in the mix and the reintroduction of NHL players into the equation admittedly does have a massive impact on the tournament odds.
Canada — represented by the two best players on Earth between Connor McDavid and Nathan MacKinnon in addition to living legend Sidney Crosby and young star Macklin Celebrini — sits atop the leaderboard on DraftKings Sportsbook. With +115 odds to win the tournament, the Canadians are one of the two clear favorites to take home the gold medal. Of course, Canada did win the 4 Nations Face-Off in a 3-2 overtime victory to take the championship game of that tournament. Now, the team once again deploys a stellar blend of skill and speed that most other nations may struggle to match.
At second on the leaderboard is the United States, which finished second in the 4 Nations tourney after falling short in the final. Much controversy has surrounded the roster after two of the NHL’s leading American goalscorers were left off the national team, keeping Jason Robertson and Cole Caufield stateside at the mercy of GM Bill Guerin and his desire for a more physical, grittier selection of players. However, the U.S. is repped by captain Auston Matthews, Jack Eichel and the Tkachuk brothers, Matthew and Brady. The United States’ odds to win the Winter Olympics are listed at +175.
There is a sizable gap between the two favorites and the rest of the pack. Sweden sits third in odds at +650 with a collection of NHL names like William Nylander, Rasmus Dahlin, Filip Forsberg and Filip Gustavsson headlining the roster. Fourth in odds is Finland at +1100, bringing talent such as Mikko Rantanen, Sebastian Aho, Miro Heiskanen and Mikael Granland.
Following the top four in order are Switzerland (+2500) and the Czech Republic (+2500), Germany (+5000), Slovakia (+6500), Denmark (+25000), Latvia (+50000), France (+80000) and Italy (+100000).
Visit DraftKings Sportsbook to take your pick on men’s ice hockey along with the rest of the 2026 Winter Olympics!
