Recap of NHL from Milano, 8 February 2026

* As we look forward to the first games of the Olympic Winter Games Milano Cortina 2026 on Wednesday, the first edition of the NHL Morning Skate from Milan takes a look back at every gold medal winner from Olympic Winter Games featuring NHL players.
* Most of the stats in today’s Morning Skate and many more can be found in a trio of resources released by NHL Stats in the lead up to the games: Records.NHL.com, #NHLStats Pack (updated to reflect two roster changes over the weekend) and the Olympics Interactive Information Guide. In addition, #NHLStats: Live Updates will return for the opening games Wednesday.

* NHL players arrived in Milan over the weekend, with three serving as flag bearers for the 2026 Winter Olympics Opening Ceremony and another four named captain: Penguins forward Sidney Crosby (Team Canada), Maple Leafs forward Auston Matthews (Team USA), Avalanche forward Gabriel Landeskog (Team Sweden) and Ducks forward Mikael Granlund (Team Finland).

NHL PLAYERS HAVE LEFT THEIR MARK ON THE OLYMPICS
With two more sleeps until the men’s tournament starts at the Olympic Winter Games Milano Cortina 2026, a look back at all the gold medal winners in Olympic Winter Games featuring NHL players with research from recently released resources: New Olympic section of Records.NHL.com, #NHLStats Pack: Olympic Winter Games Milano Cortina 2026 and the Olympics Interactive Information Guide.

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Nagano 1998 Winter Olympics – Team Czech Republic 1-0 win over Team Russia

Looking Back:
The Nagano 1998 Winter Olympics were the first to feature NHL players, which was perfect timing for Team Czech Republic (now Team Czechia). Coached by Ivan Hlinka, the Czechs were led by the two greatest players in the nation’s history and a pair of Hall of Famers: Dominik Hasek (Buffalo Sabres) and Jaromir Jagr (Pittsburgh Penguins).

* Hasek, who claimed his second straight Hart Trophy and Vezina Trophy during the 1997-98 NHL season, finished the 1998 Olympic Winter Games as the tournament leader in wins (5), goals against average (0.97), save percentage (.961) and shutouts (2). The Sabres netminder held a Wayne Gretzky-led Team Canada to just one goal in a 2-1 shootout win during the semifinal before posting a shutout against tournament goals leader Pavel Bure in the gold medal game.

Looking Ahead:

Goaltending will be a focal point for Team Czechia once again at the 2026 Olympic Winter Games as Karel Vejmelka (Utah Mammoth), Lukas Dostal (Anaheim Ducks) and Dan Vladar (Philadelphia Flyers) man the crease. Vejmelka (27-14-2) and Dostal (21-13-2) have combined for 48 total wins – tied for the most by any two goaltenders of the same nationality in 2025-26. Vejmelka is also tied with Andrei Vasilevskiy for the League lead in wins among all netminders and is on pace for 38 victories this season. Only two Czech goaltenders in NHL history have posted as many in a campaign: Roman Turek (42 in 1999-00 w/ STL) and Dominik Hasek (41 in 2001-02 & 38 in 2006-07 w/ DET).

Salt Lake City 2002 Winter Olympics – Team Canada 5-2 win over Team USA

Looking Back:
A Team Canada put together by “The Great One” Wayne Gretzky as executive director, with Hall of Fame head coach Pat Quinn behind the bench and one of the top players in NHL history, Mario Lemieux, returning to international competition as the captain succeeded in ending Canada’s gold medal drought by winning the tournament for the first time in 50 years (previous: 1952). They did so by defeating Team USA in the gold medal game on their home turf in Salt Lake City, Utah.

* Canada’s first goal of the game came courtesy of an all-Hall-of-Fame first line featuring Paul Kariya, Lemieux and Steve Yzerman. Kariya’s goal was notable for the fact that Lemieux instinctively allowed the pass from Chris Pronger to go between his legs and find Kariya’s stick.

* Joe Sakic then took charge of the gold medal game, notching points on each of Canada’s next four goals: two assists on goals by Jarome Iginla and two goals of his own. Sakic’s first tally was a tiebreaking goal late in the second period that stood as the gold medal clincher, while his second came with 80 seconds left in regulation – delivering an unforgettable call by play-by-play broadcaster Bob Cole: “Gee-ooo-ooh Sakic! That makes it 5-2 Canada! Surely that’s going to be it!”

Looking Ahead:
Avalanche forward Nathan MacKinnon and Oilers forward Connor McDavid will aim to accomplish a similar feat to Jarome Iginla, who entered the 2002 Olympic Winter Games leading the NHL in goals (35) and points (64) and went on to help Canada earn the gold medal and finish the season as the Art Ross Trophy and Maurice “Rocket” Richard Trophy winner. McDavid will serve as alternate captain alongside MacKinnon’s Avalanche teammate, defenseman Cale Makar.

Turin 2006 Winter Olympics – Team Sweden 3-2 over Team Finland

Looking Back:
Sweden was shut out twice during their five-game round robin en route to a third-place finish in Group B, but a roster that featured a future Hockey Hall of Famer at every position helped the Tre Kronor outscore opponents 13-5 across their quarterfinal and semifinal matchups, while the highest-scoring NHL defenseman in the country’s history notched the tournament-clinching goal against rival Finland.

* Nicklas Lidstrom (Detroit Red Wings) scored the go-ahead, game-winning goal in the third period of the gold medal game – off assists by fellow future Hockey Hall of Famers Mats Sundin (Toronto Maple Leafs) and Peter Forsberg (Philadelphia Flyers) – as Henrik Lundqvist (New York Rangers) stopped all 12 shots he faced in the third period to secure the victory. Lidstrom led all defensemen in scoring during the tournament (2-4—6) and would go on to do the same during the 2005-06 NHL season (16-64—80) en route to earning his fourth James Norris Memorial Trophy.

Looking Ahead:
Lightning defenseman Victor Hedman and Penguins defenseman Erik Karlsson look to follow in Lidstrom’s footsteps as the Norris Trophy-winning stars guide Sweden into a head-to-head meeting against longtime-rival Finland during the round-robin. Karlsson (3x) and Lidstrom (7x) are the only European players to win the Norris Trophy multiple times. Hedman and Karlsson will serve as alternate captains this year.

Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics – Team Canada 3-2 (OT) win over Team USA

Looking Back:
The second Olympic Winter Games in North America featuring NHL players produced another Canada-United States gold medal game. After falling to Team USA during the round robin, Team Canada avenged that loss with a gold-medal performance that saw the Americans overcome a multi-goal deficit to force overtime before Sidney Crosby scored the famed “Golden Goal”.

* Crosby and Drew Doughty are the only two players who were on Team Canada’s 2010 roster that will be competing for the country in 2026 – it marked the first Olympics the duo skated together in and they would team up again to win a gold medal in 2014. Crosby finished tied for second on the team in scoring after posting 3-3—6, while Doughty tallied 0-2—2 (both in 7 GP). The duo factored on one goal together.

Looking Ahead:
Sidney Crosby and Drew Doughty are set to become the only active NHL players who have competed in three Olympic games and will aim to become the first two to win three gold medals at Olympic Winter Games NHL players have participated. Crosby will be the oldest NHL player competing in Milan and will become the third player age 38-plus to skate for Team Canada at Olympics involving NHL players, following Martin St. Louis in 2014 (38 years, 250 days at oldest) and Al MacInnis in 2002 (38 years, 228 days at oldest).

Sochi 2014 Winter Olympics – Team Canada 3-0 over Team Sweden

Looking Back:
Sidney Crosby captained a Canadian squad that returned 11 players from its 2010 gold medal team and featured each of the NHL’s top three scorers from the 2013-14 season entering the event (also Ryan Getzlaf: ANA & John Tavares: NYI), but it was defensemen Drew Doughty (Los Angeles Kings) and Shea Weber (Nashville Predators) that shared Canada’s scoring lead with six points apiece and the goaltending performance of Carey Price (Montréal Canadiens) that powered Canada to their second straight Olympic gold medal and third in five events involving NHL players after shutting out Team Sweden in the tournament finale.

* Price, who watched his teammates outscore the opposition 17-3 across six games, went a perfect 5-0-0 in the tournament and posted back-to-back shutouts to end the event, blanking the United States (31 saves) and Sweden (24 saves) in the semifinals and gold medal game, respectively. It marked the first time in any Olympics that a men’s goaltender earned a shutout in both the semifinals and gold medal game.

Looking Ahead:
Cale Makar is one of six 50-point defensemen at the time the NHL paused for the Olympic break and appeared in his 450th career contest in Colorado’s final outing. Makar (131-354—485), in the midst of his seventh campaign, already has more career goals, assists and points than Weber (123-206—329 in 584 GP) and Doughty (57-157—214 in 423 GP) had entering the 2014 Winter Olympics – their ninth and sixth NHL seasons, respectively.

OLYMPIC TOURNAMENT STARTS WEDNESDAY
The action on the ice begins Wednesday, with the tournament opener pitting two nations that medaled in the 2022 Olympic Winter Games head-to-head when defending gold medalists Team Finland face Team Slovakia, who earned bronze in 2022 which stood as the country’s first medal in men’s hockey at the Olympics. The second game of the day will see host Team Italy contest their first game in men’s Olympic hockey since 2006, when they open their tournament against Team Sweden.