The rosters are finally set, and the rink in Milan Cortina looks like it will — technically speaking — be ready to host the tournament. The first Olympic Games with NHL players since Sochi in 2014 have nearly arrived, and there will be a lot of star power on hand.
To help sort out the best players taking the ice in Italy at various facets of the game — as we did before last year’s 4 Nations Face-Off — we’re once again turning to the NHL’s EDGE tracking data and other advanced metrics. Specifically, we wanted to highlight the Olympic-bound NHL players who have been the best over the past season-and-a-half in four different measurable categories: Skating speed, shot power, offensive creation (between shooting and passing) and goaltending (turning away both the harder and the easier shots).
The Olympic tournament will bring together a deeper field of teams than the 4 Nations event did — 12 squads instead of four — which means even more contrasts in playing styles and skill levels. And while the biggest names will inevitably draw the spotlight (and mostly dominate the data), we’ll also be highlighting less-heralded players in each category whose contributions are easy to miss until you know where to look.
Here are the NHL’s Olympic players who stand out most in the metrics that define modern hockey dominance heading into Milano Cortina:
Note: All stats and rankings are as of Jan. 9, 2026.
Metrics of choice: Top speed and speed bursts (with extra weight to higher MPH) per game at even strength.
Click here to explore the full interactive chart.
Last year at the 4 Nations Face-Off, McDavid merely ranked as co-fastest alongside Jack Hughes of Team USA. But while Hughes is back in the lineup for the Americans, his speed metrics are a bit down (from a max MPH of 23.3 to 22.5, with fewer super-fast bursts) this season, while McDavid has only increased his speed.
He’s joined in the top tier of the burners by Canada’s Nathan MacKinnon and Brayden Point, Martin Necas of Czechia, Jack Eichel of the U.S., Finland’s Roope Hintz and Germany’s Tim Stutzle. Necas in particular has a highest gear that has rivaled McDavid’s in the past, and all of these skaters can blow past defenders with just a few strides.
Watch out for: As we’ve noted before when discussing these speed stats, defensemen get fewer opportunities to show off their wheels than forwards, with some exceptions (cough, Cale Makar). So charts like the one above end up with a few outliers of high top-speeds and comparatively less “burst.”
So relish the chances you get to see Quinn Hughes and Jaccob Slavin reach that 24-plus mph level. And here’s one more blueliner whose speed we may not talk about quite enough: Team USA’s Jake Sanderson, who had a higher max mph than Hughes and more high-speed bursts per 60 than any other defenseman on an Olympic roster.
Metrics of choice: Hardest shot speed and high-speed shots (with extra weight to higher mph) per game at even strength.
Click here to explore the full interactive chart.
Last year’s 4 Nations hardest-shot king, Victor Hedman of Sweden, has company at the Olympics. That’s because Thompson was selected to the American squad this time around, giving Team USA the biggest blaster in the game at its disposal. At 6-foot-6, Thompson gets all of his frame into a shot that topped out at an even 106 mph last season, and although he hasn’t gone over 98 mph this season, he is still the only player at Milan Cortina who can contend with Hedman’s rate of super-hard shots.
While those two are in a league of their own, the next tier is led by Sweden’s Gustav Forsling in terms of peak power, and Swiss D-man Roman Josi in pure output of shots per game that strike fear into opposing goalies’ hearts.
Watch out for: Thompson is a remarkable outlier against this trend, but EDGE shot-speed stats have the opposite tendency of skating speed: They favor defensemen, who fire off more perimeter slappers than other shot types — which not only boosts their average shot speed but also tends them to produce more hard shots per game than forwards.
So when a winger like Sweden’s Adrian Kempe can put up more than 1.5 shots in the 80-90 mph range per game this season, he’s definitely one to monitor.
Best offensive creator:
David Pastrnak, RW, Czechia
Metrics of choice: Goals Created as a shooter (including actual and expected goals) and passer per 60 minutes at 5-on-5.
Click here to explore the full interactive chart.
It’s hard to believe anybody can register more production than MacKinnon or McDavid, who give Team Canada an offensive tandem the likes of which may not have been seen since Wayne Gretzky and Mario Lemieux at the 1987 Canada Cup.
But in terms of creating goals for himself and others on a per-minute basis, it’s Czechia’s star, David Pastrnak, who has dominated more than either Canadian icon. His playmaking is unparalleled among Olympians, with a league-best rate of 1.33 primary assists per 60 minutes over the past season and a half, while he also holds his own in the goals (actual or expected) department with MacKinnon and McDavid — even if he’s a notch below pure goal scorers like Thompson and Auston Matthews there.
Of course, the competition is still fierce on the righ- hand side of that chart. In addition to Canada’s lead duo, we also see Necas, Germany’s Leon Draisaitl, Canada’s seemingly ageless Sidney Crosby, Team USA’s Matthew Tkachuk and another Canadian one-two punch — Brandon Hagel as a scorer and Mitch Marner as a setup man — sitting near the top spot.
Watch out for: Amid all of that blinding star power, it might be easy to lose track of the youngest-ever Canadian NHL player to make the Olympic team — if it weren’t for the fact that Macklin Celebrini demands attention whenever he steps on the ice.
Celebrini’s development this season has been nothing short of startling, and his performance is both dragging San Jose toward a playoff bid and earning him surprising MVP buzz in what would be history’s third-youngest Hart Trophy season if it happens. As part of that, he has rates of goals and assists created that sit squarely in the same mix as those other names above, a ridiculous fact for a 19-year-old.
Metrics of choice: Goals Saved Above Average (GSAA) per 60 minutes at 5-on-5 for high-danger and all other chances.
Click here to explore the full, interactive chart.
The final example of our slight changing-of-the-guard since last year’s 4 Nations tournament is between the pipes, where reigning league MVP Connor Hellebuyck of Team USA has been surpassed in the goals-saved department — on both high-danger and regular chances — by young Swedish netminder Wallstedt, who wasn’t even on his country’s roster this time a year ago.
It’s been Wallstedt who leads all NHL goaltenders in goals above replacement this season, minding the net for Minnesota, and his puck-stopping on high-danger shots in particular is well beyond that of any other backstop at the Olympics. Hellebuyck’s multiyear numbers are still among the best, of course, sitting next to Canada’s Darcy Kuemper and Logan Thompson and Swede Filip Gustavsson in the tier below Wallstedt.
Watch out for: In addition to that group above, there is only one other goalie in the Olympic field who has been above-average on both high-danger and regular shots against over the past season and change: Flyers netminder Dan Vladar, representing Czechia at Milano Cortina. Vladar is not the clear-cut starter for the Czechs, as Lukas Dostal and Karel Vejmelka both offer starting experience as well, but his could be an intriguing name to watch if he does get the opportunity in Italy.
