Team Sweden will have the most Pittsburgh Penguin input at the 2026 Olympics with two players on the roster. Both Rickard Rakell and Erik Karlsson were named to the roster released today.
Karlsson made waves when he was one of the first six players named ahead of the rest of the roster for last years’ 4 Nations Face-off but was NOT one of the early named players to the Olympics. That slight was something he referenced as giving fuel to his season, and he’s responded really well with probably his strongest season in the three years he has been with the Penguins where he’s produced 30 points in 39 games.
The Rakell inclusion is a little unexpected, based off recent play at least. Rakell broke his hand and only has four goals in 19 games so far. He performed really well last season with 35 goals. Rakell was a member of Sweden’s 4 Nations club, but only played two games, he might be back in a depth role.
Pittsburgh won’t have any representatives on the Finland or United States team, not to be unexpected. There could have been a minor push for Bryan Rust, but for a team that couldn’t find room for Jason Robertson, Cole Caufield, Alex Tuch or Cutter Gauthier, it can’t be too surprising that Rust wasn’t a very serious candidate there. The US will have a few Pittsburgh-adjacent ties with Bill Guerin and Mike Sullivan as key figures and Western PA natives J.T. Miller and Vincent Trocheck making the team and former Penguin Jake Guentzel also a part of the roster.
As already announced, Sidney Crosby will lead the star-studded Canadian roster as their captain once again.
Haven’t seen a release yet for Latvia just yet, but it stands to figure that Arturs Silovs will be involved as a key member since he is one of only two Latvian goalies currently in the NHL (along with Elvis Merzlikins of Columbus).
The Pens will play their last game before the break on February 5th, Olympic action kicks off on the 11th and runs through the gold medal game on the 22nd. Pittsburgh’s NHL schedule picks back up on Feb. 26th.
