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2026 Olympic Hockey Odds and Expert Betting Predictions

by Ryan Cobbett - 1/27/2026

Olympic hockey odds and betting predictions Connor McDavid Canada

The 2026 Winter Olympics are set to begin on February 6th with Men’s Hockey slated to begin on the 11th. There is a lot of hype surrounding hockey this time around thanks to the return of NHL players to the Olympics. We got a taste of what this will look like last year with the Four Nations Faceoff. Canada shocked the USA in the finals, taking home the crown. Now with more teams in the mix, Team Canada is once again the favorite to take home gold.

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Below are the three groups that have been set:

Group A- Canada, Switzerland, Czechia, France

Group B- Finland, Sweden, Slovakia, Italy

Group C- USA, Germany, Latvia, Denmark

The top teams in each group, as well as the next best overall team, will receive a bye and be placed in the quarterfinals. The remaining teams will play a qualification round game.

Canada +120

The Canadian roster is once again loaded. It was hard to imagine anyone beating them in the Four Nations Faceoff and the reason why remains intact. Their forward’s group is ridiculously loaded with talent and is perhaps the most exciting position group of any in this Olympics. If you need to know why this is, look at the points leaders this season. Team Canada has three players in the Top Five in points. Connor McDavid leads the league with 90 points, followed by Nathan MacKinnon with 88, and Macklin Celebrini is fourth with 74 points. McDavid and MacKinnon are two of the three NHL players who have already tallied 30 goals on the season. If that wasn’t enough, they have Sidney Crosby (27 goals), Celebrini (26 goals), Sam Reinhart (26 goals), Brad Marchand (25 goals), and Brandon Hagel (25 goals) who have all tallied at least 25 goals. This team also has Cale Makar who leads all blueliners in scoring with 56 points. The goalie room of Jordan Binnington, Darcy Kuemper, and Logan Thompson is the weakest part of their team, but it didn’t hurt them last year. The Canadiens will be hard to beat.

USA +210

There is a lot of excitement around Team USA as well. While they may not have as many scoring options as Team Canada, the Americans will have no issues scoring with the likes of Jack Eichel and Auston Matthews. Eichel leads Team USA with 61 points on 19 goals and 42 assists, while Matthews has 25 goals and 42 points on the year. Team USA also has a weapon that no other country in the world has, the Tkachuks. Matthew Tkachuk and Brady Tkachuk took the world by storm during the Four Nations Faceoff and instantly became the spotlight of American hockey during the tournament. Their physical presence is enough to intimidate any of the other 11 countries in the Olympics. However, both of them have faced

injury issues this year and it remains to be seen how impactful they will be during the Olympics. Another solid piece of the puzzle for Team USA is Connor Hellebuyck who arguably remains as the best goaltender in the NHL. However, he has also suffered an injury that caused him to be out for several games and the injury has also impacted his production. If Team USA can head into the tournament healthy, they have a legitimate shot at redeeming themselves this year and getting gold.

Sweden +600

It is no surprise to see the Swedes coming in at number three on the list of favorites. They were one overtime win away, against Finland, from facing Canada in the finals of the Four Nations Faceoff. Unfortunately, they overlooked their Scandinavian counterparts and lost to Finland. The Swedish roster has some upside offensively. Leo Carlsson is going to be the biggest X-Factor here. The young Swede has 44 points in 44 games, with 18 goals, and he will be heavily relied on. Lucas Raymond (58 points) is the biggest offensive weapon for Sweden, and he has some solid support around him in William Nylander (48 points, 17 goals), Filip Forsberg (40 points, 19 goals), Mika Zibanejad (48 points, 21 goals), and Jesper Bratt (37 points). Their group of defensemen is also flying way under the radar ahead of the Olympics. Their blueline core includes Rasmus Andersson, Rasmus Dahlin, Victor Hedman, and Erik Karlsson. Their goaltending can also be an extreme X-Factor here with a solid trio of options. Filip Gustavsson is slated to be the starter as he has allowed just 2.62 GA/G, with his Minnesota backup Jesper Wallstedt (2.71 GA/G) and Jacob Markstrom backing him up. This group will be highly motivated as they fly under the radar here. Don’t sleep on the Swedes.

Finland +1100
The Fins are another team that has some upside and can go out and compete with any worldly roster. Though they do not have the depth that the other three teams have, their roster is still full of stars. Literally, (Dallas) Stars. The headliner for Finland is Mikko Rantanen who ranks eighth in the league in points (19 goals, 44 assists). He will be joined by fellow Stars players in Roope Hintz (40 points), Miro Heiskanen (40 points), and Esa Lindell (21 points). The roster also includes top names like Sebastian Aho (52 points), Artturi Lehkonen (38 points), and Anton Lundell (36 points). Their goaltending group is also strong. Juuse Saros is likely going to be the starting netminder, and he has allowed 3.04 GA/G in 40 appearances this season. However, he knows what it takes to win big games. If he struggles, they have Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen who has allowed just 2.66 GA/G this season. They took down Sweden in the Four Nations Faceoff, and they are going to have a chance at grabbing a medal here in the Olympics.

Gold Medal Prediction: Team Canada vs Team USA

Despite there being more teams represented in this year’s world hockey competition, it is incredibly likely that we will play the whole tournament and end up with the same two teams in the Gold Medal game as we did in the Four Nations Faceoff Finals last year. Team Canada will be putting on an offensive showing night in and night out, while the US will be shutting out opponents and bullying them on their way to the gold medal game. The only resistance these two countries will face is from Sweden, Finland, and Czechia, with Sweden being the only team that has a legitimate chance at upending either titan. Yes, we still have to play the games, and anything can happen. However, all odds point to us getting the ever-chaotic rematch between Team Canada and Team USA.

Team USA style will be to play physical while relying on Hellebuyck to shut down the elite Canadian scoring attack. However, with the Americans reeling and not at full strength ahead of these Olympics, Canada will continuously put the pressure on and explode to a big lead late in the game. They have scorers and champions up and down this roster. Canada will win on the big stage for the second year in a row, but they won’t be taking Lord Stanley over country lines any time soon.

Winner: Team Canada (+120)

The rest of the list:

Czechia +1600

Key Players- Martin Necas (62 points, 22 goals), David Pastrnak (64 points, 21 goals), Tomas Hertl (45 points, 21 goals)

Starting Goaltender- Lukas Dostal (3.00 GA/G)

Switzerland +3300

Key Players- Nico Hischier (39 points), Kevin Fiala (36 points), Roman Josi (30 points), Timo Meier (27 points), Nido Niederreiter (18 points), JJ Moser (16 points), Philipp Kurashev (15 points), Pius Suter (14 points)

Starting Goaltender- Akira Schmid (2.52 GA/G)

Germany +5500

Key Players- Leon Draisaitl (70 points, 25 goals), Tim Stutzle (53 points, 23 goals), JJ Peterka (34 points)

Starting Goaltender- Philipp Grubauer (2.41 GA/G)

Slovakia +6500

Key Players- Juraj Slafkovsky (41 points, 19 goals), Simon Nemec (20 points), Martin Fehervary (19 points), Dalibor Dvorsky (13 points), Pavol Regenda (nine points)

Starting Goaltender- Adam Gajan (University of Minnesota-Duluth)

Latvia +12500

Key Players- Zemgus Girgensons (11 points), Teddy Blueger (three points), Arturs Silovs (G), Elvis Merzlikins (G, 3.81 GA/G)

Starting Goaltender- Arturs Silovs (3.00 GA/G)

Denmark +12500

Key Players- Nikolaj Ehlers (40 points), Oliver Bjorkstrand (23 points)

Starting Goaltender- Frederik Andersen (3.23 GA/G)

Italy +25000

Key Players- No active NHL players.

Starting Goaltender- Damian Clara (Brynas IF)

France +25000

Key Players- Alexandre Texier (17 points)

Starting Goaltender- Antoine Keller (HC Ajoie)

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