Florida Panthers At The 2026 Winter Olympics: Team Latvia

The men’s hockey tournament at the 2026 Winter Olympics begins on Wednesday.

There will be no shortage of Florida Panthers players and staffers participating in the games taking place in Milan.

In fact, no NHL team has more players who will be on the ice during the Olympics than the Panthers, who have 10 players suiting up.

Advertisement

That includes a pair of Panthers who will be representing one of the most hockey-crazed nations in the world: Latvia.

Veteran defenseman Uvis Balinskis and young forward Sandis Vilmanis are the two Florida players who will represent their Latvian homeland.

Additionally, Balinskis was recently named an alternate captain on Team Latvia, along with longtime captain Kaspars Daugavins and fellow alternate Zemgus Girgensons.

Both Balinskis and Vilmanis appear poised to see plenty of ice time with Latvia.

During early practices, Balinskis was seen skating on the top Latvian defensive pairing with Kristians Rubins while Vilmanis was placed on the left side of the top forward line, along with winger Eduards Tralmaks and Girgensons at center.