The 2026 Winter Olympics are in full swing in beautiful Italy with athletes from across the globe converging for the Milano Cortina festivities. In Milan, the men’s and women’s hockey tournaments have provided plenty of memorable moments with NHL and PWHL stars aplenty. While the women’s tournament wraps up later this week on Thursday, the men’s bracket is just getting started as the elimination stage begins on Tuesday morning stateside with the playoff qualifiers.
Four teams have a bye and all 12 nations will be in action with everything on the line. Before the playoff begins, we’re taking another look at the updated odds and best bets to win the gold medal on DraftKings Sportsbook.
Updated men’s hockey odds, best bets for 2026 Winter Olympics
With the Group Stage out of the way, we now have an even firmer picture of who’s who in this tournament. Teams like Canada, the United States, Sweden and Finland entered as the clear top-four sides heading into the 2026 Winter Games, but there’s been a little bit of movement heading into the playoff. How do these sides shake out with three games under each of their belts?
Unsurprisingly, Canada remains atop the odds leaderboard to win the gold medal. A first line that includes Connor McDavid and Macklin Celebrini has shredded opposing defenses, and Nathan MacKinnon coming off the second line is just plain unfair. The Canadians opened the Winter Olympics with +115 odds to win gold, but have now shifted to -140 with the numbers leveraged even more in their favor. After all, scoring 20 goals while allowing only three on the other end will do that. Factor in that they won the 4 Nations Face-Off in 2025 and it’s easy to do the math on this equation.
However, the United States are also still close behind as the next-best favorite to win it all. The Americans entered at +175 odds and have just barely shifted to +200, which isn’t a surprise at all. They went a perfect 3-0 in group play, have scored 16 goals (second-most) and allowed only five themselves (also second-fewest). Jack Eichel, Matthew Tkachuk and Auston Matthews look awesome as they tend to do in international competition, as does Connor Hellebuyck with a .952 SV% at the top of the tourney. Still, questions about keeping Jason Robertson and Cole Caufield stateside are still valid, especially with offense needed to compete with Canada. It’s easy to see why the USA sits second, though.
Prior to the Group Stage, Sweden sat third with +650 odds to win gold while Finland was fourth at +1100. Both teams won two games in regulation with one regulation loss, but the Finns beat the Swedes 4-1 in Group B play, also taking the advantage in goal differential. There’s plenty of NHL star power on both sides between Rasmus Dahlin, Raymond Lucas, Adrian Kempe and more having excellent runs for Sweden; with Artturi Lehkonen, Mikko Rantanen, Sebastian Aho and Mikael Granlund doing the same for Finland.
Now, the two nations have switched places on DraftKings Sportsbook’s leaderboard — Finland holds the third-best odds at +1000 while Sweden is fourth at +1300, a pretty significant tumble from their pre-tournament place. The odds swap makes sense, especially with additional context of the bracket. A potential path to gold will include a second-round matchup for the Swedes if they advance, while Finland has a qualifier bye and sees an easier fixture against either Switzerland or Italy in the Quarterfinals.
Bettors can’t really go wrong with any squad in the top four. Really, the pick to win gold just depends on your tolerance for risk and whether you prefer to take a favorite. There’s not a ton of value with Canada, so the USA offers the most compelling blend of payoff and risk management in this scenario and earns the billing of best bet to win the tournament. Yes, Sweden is intriguing (especially after dropping in odds) with a high-volume attack that leads the field in shot attempts by a wide margin, but the team hasn’t been efficient at putting them in the net and will get that rough matchup with the Americans in the second round.
No other team outside of the top four winning the final feels realistic. In order, the next nations on the leaderboard are Switzerland (+2500), Slovakia (+1300), Germany (+5000) and Slovakia (+3500).
We can also look at odds to win bronze, though, and there’s value there as well. Teams in the running outside of Canada and the USA are Finland (-155), Sweden (+200), Switzerland (+350) and Slovakia (+370). The Finns are obviously the safe pick, and given their potential path, they’re still worth considering since they’re a virtual lock to make the semifinal and earn a spot in the bronze medal game.
However, either of Switzerland or Slovakia brings some intrigue here. There’s no telling how the rest of the bracket plays out after the Quarterfinals, but Slovakia in particular does have a bye to start off and will draw one of Germany or France. One can practically pencil in the German squad there, which is beatable to reach the Semifinal at the very least. The Slovaks have with 10 goals for and eight goals allowed — with Juaj Slafkovsky dominating and up to six points, a pair of other four-point skaters and standout play from the netminders with a .923 SV% as a team, there’s a lot going right for this group. The +370 odds make Slovakia a nice choice as a pick to win bronze.
Visit DraftKings Sportsbook to take your pick on men’s ice hockey along with the rest of the 2026 Winter Olympics!
