Anaheim Ducks 2026 Olympic Preview

The 2026 Winter Olympic Games are underway in Milano Cortina, Italy, and one of the marquee events is the men’s ice hockey tournament, set to commence on Wednesday and will conclude with the gold medal game on Feb. 22.

This year’s tournament is attracting heightened attention and excitement, as active NHL players will participate in the Olympics for the first time in 12 years, at the 2014 games in Sochi, Russia. NHL players have played in just two “best-on-best” tournaments since 2014: the 2016 World Cup of Hockey and last year’s 4 Nations Faceoff.

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Five members of the Anaheim Ducks organization will be representing their respective nations when the men’s tournament begins, including four of their NHL roster players. Let’s take a look at what to expect from each of them over the next week and a half:

Preliminary Schedule: 2-11-26 12:10 PM PST vs. Sweden, 2-13-26 3:10 AM PST vs. Slovakia, 2-14-26 7:40 AM PST vs. Finland

It’s unclear what role within Italy’s goaltending dynamic Clara (21) will hold. He’s played the 2025-26 season on loan as the starting goaltender for Brynas IF in the SHL. He’s posted a 16-13-0 record, an .888 SV%, and two shutouts.

Italy’s other two goaltenders are Davide Fadani (25), who is the starter for EHC Kloten in the Swiss National League, and Gianluca Vallini (32), who is a backup for HC Bolzano in Italy’s top professional league.

When the Ducks selected Clara (60th overall in 2023), he became the highest-drafted Italian player in NHL history. He has the pedigree advantage over the other two netminders, and he was announced as one of Italy’s first six players on their preliminary Olympic roster.

Italy got an automatic bid to the men’s hockey tournament, as they’re the host nation. They were given a difficult bracket. Sweden will ice an all-NHL roster, Finland is only bringing one player who doesn’t play in the NHL, and Slovakia’s roster includes ten NHL players.

They’ll be lucky to keep any of their first three games close, but this could prove a meaningful test for Clara and an opportunity to make a name for himself on a global scale.

Preliminary Schedule: 2-12-26 7:40 AM PST vs. Canada, 2-13-26 7:40 AM PST vs. France, 2-15-26 3:10 AM PST vs. Switzerland

Dostal (25) comes into this tournament as Czechia’s projected starter and will likely get the call to face the mighty Canadian squad on Thursday. Dostal’s been the Ducks’ heartbeat in a rollercoaster 2025-26 season in Anaheim. He’s started 37 games and appeared in 38 while posting a 21-13-2 record, an .897 SV%, and has saved 3.7 goals above expected.

Dostal has emerged as one of the NHL’s elite goaltenders and is capable of stealing multiple games, which he’ll need to if Czechia has hopes of medaling in this tournament. While he has the ability to dazzle, he’s more reliant on his angles, body control, and puck tracking through and around traffic.

He’ll likely start two of Czechia’s three preliminary games and will share the goaltending room with Dan Vladar (Philadelphia Flyers) and Karel Vejmelka (Utah Mammoth). Dostal’s last endeavor in international play resulted in a gold medal for Czechia in the 2024 World Championships, where he started eight games, posted a 6-2-0 record, a .939 SV%, and three shutouts.

Preliminary Schedule: 2-11-26 7:40 AM PST vs. Slovakia, 2-13-26 3:10 AM PST vs. Sweden, 2-14-26 7:40 AM PST vs. Italy

Finland has a bigger uphill battle than they had expected, as their star center and projected captain, Sasha Barkov, sustained a torn MCL and ACL during the Florida Panthers first training camp practice. Anaheim Ducks versatile forward Mikael Granlund (33) will wear the “C” for Finland at his second Olympics this week.

For the Ducks, Granlund represents general manager Pat Verbeek’s biggest free agency signing to date, as on July 1, 2025, he signed a three-year contract that carries a $7 million AAV. Much like he will for Finland, Granlund has been a stabilizing veteran presence up front, especially of late when the Ducks had been without several talented forwards.

Granlund has tallied 27 points (12-15=27) in his first 38 games with the Ducks in 2025-26, finding ways to impact games with his clever corner work, crafty slip passes, and elite vision with the puck on his stick. He represented Finland at last year’s 4 Nations Faceoff, where he scored four points (3-1=4) in three games.

Including the World Junior Championships, World Championships, 4 Nations, Olympics, and World Cup, this will be Granlund’s 14th time representing Finland on the international stage. Granlund is projected to start on the wing of Roope Hintz and opposite Mikko Rantanen, a line that played over 147 minutes together during the Dallas Stars’ 2025 playoff run to the Western Conference Finals.

Preliminary Schedule: 2-12-26 7:40 AM PST vs. Canada, 2-13-26 7:40 AM PST vs. France, 2-15-26 3:10 AM PST vs. Switzerland

Ducks captain Radko Gudas (35) will wear an “A” for the 2026 Czech squad, hopeful to lead them to a medal in what will likely be his final opportunity to play on the Olympic stage. Gudas is in the final year of a three-year contract he signed with the Ducks in 2023 and was awarded the captaincy before the 2024-25 season.

He’ll look to translate his physical nature to the biggest international stage and ensure that his Anaheim teammate Dostal can see most pucks heading his way when Gudas is on the ice and clear any loose rebounds. He’s had a bounce-back year for the Ducks and is one of their more reliable blueliners with his no-frills brand.

He’s tallied ten points (1-9=10) in 43 games for the Ducks this season. Gudas projects to play second-pair minutes alongside Michal Kempny (35), who played 247 games in the NHL with the Chicago Blackhawks and Washington Capitals, but now plays in the SHL with Damian Clara for Brynas IF.

Gudas last represented Czechia at the 2024 World Championships, where he notched an assist in ten games and won the gold medal playing in front of Dostal.

Preliminary Schedule: 2-12-26 12:10 PM PST vs. Latvia, 2-14-26 12:10 PM PST vs. Denmark, 2-15-26 12:10 PM PST vs. Germany

LaCombe was a late addition to the US roster after Florida Panthers defenseman Seth Jones sustained a broken collarbone during the Jan. 2 NHL Winter Classic. LaCombe was seen as a surprise add, as he was selected to replace a right-shot Jones and selected ahead of a talented offensive blueliner in Lane Hutson.

LaCombe burst on the scene during his breakout 2024-25 campaign, where he solidified himself as the Ducks’ #1 defenseman, the team’s first defenseman over the boards in all situations (even strength, power play, penalty kill). After a relatively slow start to the 2025-26 season, LaCombe has further elevated his game and has tallied 37 points (6-31-37) in 56 games for the Ducks while playing 19:00 TOI at even strength per game, 2:16 shorthanded, and 3:14 on the power play.

He’s been tiptoeing the line of casual vs poised this season, but has erred mostly on the side of “poise” in the last few months for Anaheim. He’s an elite rush defender and breakout specialist with a high success rate on his activations in all three zones. He’s improved his defensive zone coverage habits as the year has progressed.

LaCombe represented the US along with Ducks teammate Cutter Gauthier at the 2025 World Championships, where he scored five points (2-3=5) in ten games en route to the US’s first gold medal at the event in 92 years.

If practice lines and pairs are to hold, LaCombe is the clear eighth defenseman on the American roster. The US has a relatively light schedule, as they will avoid the major hockey powerhouses in the preliminary round, so he may get ice time against Latvia and/or Denmark in their first two games, with further ice time for him up in the air and likely determined by potential injury or insufficient play from others on the blueline.

Note:

Ducks center Leo Carlsson was initially selected to represent Sweden for the Olympic tournament, but underwent a procedure to treat a rare lesion in his thigh. He was given a 3-5 week recovery timetable on Jan. 16, but the seemingly future face of Swedish hockey will be unable to participate in Milan in what would have been his first Olympics. He was replaced on Sweden’s roster by Minnesota Wild forward Marcus Johansson.

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