International Hockey Roundtable
Predicting Italy's 2026 Olympic roster
Derek O'Brien - Predicting Italy's 2026 Olympic rosterItaly is the 20th-ranked men’s ice hockey team in the world, but is one of the 12 teams that will participate in the men’s tournament at the 2026 Winter Olympics because it is being held in Milan.
According to IIHF.com, Italy will play in an extremely difficult group against Canada, Sweden and Switzerland. It should be noted, however, that the forecast groups include a Russian team, which in all likelihood will not participate, and it’s not clear if there would be a reseeding in that case. The shown groups also don’t consider the possibility of a team ranked lower than Italy qualifying – which would only happen in the unlikely event of Ukraine or Japan winning its final qualifying group.
Italy doesn’t have any players in the NHL or anybody even close, although goaltender Damian Clara – an Anaheim Ducks prospect – could conceivably be in the AHL by the time of the Olympics. The 19-year-old, who plays for Färjestad in Sweden, has already established himself as Italy’s starting netminder, which makes him the easiest pick on this roster.
As for the rest of the roster, the 20 forwards and defenseman who helped Italy to a third-place finish on home ice in Bolzano – behind Hungary and Slovenia – at the 2024 IIHF World Championship Division I Group A is probably close to the best lineup the team can build right now – it includes almost all eligible players who currently play in what can be considered a top-tier European pro league – although a couple of the forwards are getting up there in age.
Dustin Gazely and Marco Insam are both 35 and will be 37 and 36, respectively, when the Games roll around. Gazely is still a relatively productive player in the ICEHL but Insam, once one of Italy’s top offensive players, h and is without a contract for the coming season. His days might be numbered.
The oldest defenseman is currently 33-year-old British-born Thomas Larkin. But Larkin, who currently plays for Schwenningen in the DEL, is still the team’s best defenseman and its captain, so there is almost certainly still a spot for him on the Olympic team at 35.
The youngest players on the team are 19-year-old Tommaso de Luca, who plays in Switzerland for Lugano, and 20-year-old Tommy Purdeller, who has played the past two seasons for the OHL’s Peterborough Petes and has signed to play in Italy this season for the ICEHL’s Pusteral.
The only player with NHL experience on last year’s roster was 31-year-old Daniel Catenacci, who played 11 games for the Buffalo Sabres and one for the New York Rangers between 2015 and 2018. Catenacci has played in Italy ever since and became a naturalized citizen in time to make his national team debut last season.
Which leads to the question of how close some others are to becoming naturalized Italians and joining the team. There are a few possible candidates, but forwards Mike Halmo and Jason Akeson might qualify.
One important consideration is new coach Jukka Jalonen, who will no-doubt try to mold what talent he has at his disposal into his familiar defense-first system. When coaching Finland, Jalonen was known to often pass over higher talent for players he knew could work well in his system, so there’s a good chance he finds pieces in the Alps Liga that he feels he can work with. That’s almost impossible to predict, however, so I won’t even try.
Goaltenders: Damian Clara, Andreas Bernard, Davide Fadani.
Defensemen: Peter Spornberger, Thomas Larkin, Alex Trivellato, Phil Pietroniro, Daniel Glira, Gregorio Gios, Kris Pietroniro, Jason Seed.
Forwards: Tommaso de Luca, Tommy Purdeller, Diego Kostner, Anthony Salinitri, Daniel Frank, Luca Frigo, Michele Marchietti, Daniel Mantenutto, Daniel Catenacci, Giovanni Morini, Alex Petan, Ivan Deluca, Dustin Gazely, Mike Halmo.
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