Predicting The Olympic Men's Hockey Captains: Should Matthews Lead Team USA?

Leading a national hockey team at the Olympics will be one of the most significant highlights – and responsibilities – of a player's career.

With every men's hockey team but Italy revealing its roster for next month's Olympics, the tournament is beginning to take shape.

For some teams, it's a no-brainer who should be given the 'C' for the international best-on-best competition. But for others, there are a handful of players who could be in the running to be named captain, and the decision may be slightly more complicated for the management group of those nations.

Team Canada has one player that everyone expects will be named captain. Sidney Crosby has worn the 'C' for Canada since the 2014 Olympics in Sochi. 

After those Olympics, he's captained Canada at every international competition that he featured in. That includes the 2025 World Championship, the 4 Nations Face-Off last year and the 2016 World Cup of Hockey.

In addition to his Canadian captaincy, Crosby has been the captain of the Pittsburgh Penguins for 19 straight seasons.

While this year should be an obvious choice, this could be the last time that Crosby captains Canada in a best-on-best tournament. Edmonton Oilers captain Connor McDavid should be next in line for that conversation when it comes up for the 2028 World Cup.

Our prediction: Sidney Crosby

The discussion over who should be named captain of Team USA should be interesting. At the 4 Nations, Toronto Maple Leafs captain Auston Matthews donned the 'C' for the Americans.

However, he hasn't been his best this season in terms of production, even if he's picked up the slack since Christmas. Could his slow start convince USA's management to go with a different leader this time around?

If so, the Americans have several candidates who could be named captain. In fact, Team USA has five players on its roster who are captains at the club level – Matthews, Brady Tkachuk, J.T. Miller, Clayton Keller and Dylan Larkin – and six if you count Quinn Hughes before the Vancouver Canucks traded him.

Matthew and Brady Tkachuk have been the emotional leaders of any team they've played for. It was particularly evident in the Americans' first matchup against Canada at the 4 Nations when they orchestrated the three fights to kick off the contest. 

Either of them would make sense to be named captain, with the tie likely going to older brother Matthew.

Minnesota Wild defenseman Hughes is also a prime candidate. He has experience wearing the 'C' in the NHL, and Team USA GM Bill Guerin is also the Wild's GM.

Other members of the blueline, such as Charlie McAvoy and Zach Werenski, don't captain their clubs but are clear leaders.

Even Larkin, the captain of the Detroit Red Wings, and Vegas Golden Knights superstar Jack Eichel are deserving of their names added in the hat.

Our prediction: Matthew Tkachuk

Team Sweden has a pair of top candidates to be named captain for the Olympics. At last year's 4 Nations, Tampa Bay Lightning defenseman Victor Hedman was the captain.

But there is a new face going to the Olympics who is more than capable of handling the responsibility of being the country's captain. That player is Colorado Avalanche captain Gabriel Landeskog.

Landeskog returned to action in last season's playoffs following about a three-year absence due to a critical right knee injury.

Nonetheless, he's back in full gear and was even named to Sweden's preliminary roster back in the summer. Don't be surprised if he winds up being Sweden's leader in February.

Other options for captaincy that Sweden could fall back on if there's an injury or another absence could be Penguins defensemen Erik Karlsson and Rasmus Dahlin, who is the captain of the Buffalo Sabres.

Our prediction: Gabriel Landeskog

It wasn't just the Florida Panthers who lost their captain in the past off-season, but Team Finland will also have to deal with the loss of Aleksander Barkov. He suffered a torn ACL and MCL during Panthers training camp and has been ruled out for the regular season.

Therefore, the Finns will need to look for another jersey to sew the 'C' on with their 4 Nations captain unavailable.

A trio of options comes from the Dallas Stars in right winger Mikko Rantanen, center Roope Hintz and defenseman Miro Heiskanen. Rantanen and Heiskanen are far more deserving of the captaincy than Hintz, just given their talents, exposure to the spotlight and experience.

The same could be said about Carolina Hurricanes center Sebastian Aho, a former teammate of Rantanen's. 

Rantanen has captained Finland at the 2016 World Junior Championship, but aside from that, none of these star players have captained a team at the top level. But there is a first time for everything.

Our prediction: Mikko Rantanen

While the typical hockey fan would call for Boston Bruins right winger David Pastrnak to captain Czechia at the Olympics, there is another player who likely stands ahead of him.

Roman Cervenka, center for Dynamo Pardubice of the Czech League, has captained Czechia in the last four World Championships and at the 2022 Olympics in Beijing.

All signs point to the 40-year-old wearing the 'C' for his national team once again, possibly for the last time.

If it wasn't Cervenka, the aforementioned Pastrnak, as well as Anaheim Ducks captain Radko Gudas, would be next in line to serve their leadership duties.

Our prediction: Roman Cervenka

Like Sweden, Switzerland really have two main candidates to be named captain for the upcoming Games.

Nashville Predators captain Roman Josi and New Jersey Devils captain Nico Hischier will both be in the running for the captaincy. Outside of those two, there shouldn't be much of a contest.

Between the two stars, Josi seems the sensible option.

For starters, he was the Swiss captain at last year's World Championship. The 35-year-old D-man also has a Norris Trophy win and Stanley Cup final experience. Josi also leads Swiss players on the all-time points list.

That said, he is chasing Winnipeg Jets left winger Nino Niederreiter in games played. Niederreiter captained Switzerland at the 2023 World Championship. Josi led the team at the 2024 Worlds, while Hischier captained the Swiss at the 2025 Worlds.

Our prediction: Roman Josi

There shouldn't be any speculation as to who Germany's captain should be for this tournament. Oilers center Leon Draisaitl has been one of the best players in the NHL for the last few seasons.

With that, he's been to two straight Stanley Cup finals and has a Hart Trophy, among other impressive individual awards.

This will be the first time that Draisaitl has represented Germany since the 2019 World Championship. The Germans were knocked out in the quarterfinals by Czechia in that competition.

Our prediction: Leon Draisaitl

Many years have passed since Slovakian legends, such as Marian Hossa, Zdeno Chara, Peter Bondra and others graced the ice.

However, based on NHL experience, left winger Tomas Tatar would be a great candidate to wear the 'C' for Slovakia. Tatar currently plays in the Swiss National League with Zug, following 927 NHL games and 496 points.

Tatar has captained his country at the 2022 and 2024 World Championships as well.

One teammate who could challenge for the captaincy, however, is 29-year-old center Matus Sukel. He captained Slovakia at the 2025 World Championship and wore the 'C' for the Czech Extraliga's Litvinov over the past four campaigns.

Our prediction: Tomas Tatar

Denmark has only three NHL skaters on its Olympic roster, and it makes the most sense to name one of them captain for the competition. Those three players are Lars Eller, Nikolaj Ehlers, and Oliver Bjorkstrand.

In terms of NHL experience, Ottawa Senators center Eller tops them all. He's played the most NHL games among all Danish players ever, approaching 1,150 appearances.

Aside from the Olympic qualifying campaign that passed, Eller hasn't featured for Denmark since the 2019 World Championship, when he was an alternate captain.

Our prediction: Lars Eller

Another squad that won't have much NHL representation, Latvia will still have a few NHLers at the Olympics.

Zemgus Girgensons leads the way with the most NHL games played among active Latvian players. The Lightning center may be the best option to captain the Latvian's in Milan.

Vancouver's Teddy Blueger is another player who can lead the Latvians. He wore the 'C' during the team's Olympic qualifying campaign in 2022.

Our prediction: Zemgus Girgensons

France's captain should undeniably be center Pierre-Edouard Bellemare. With 700 NHL games in the bank, as well as two Stanley Cup final appearances with the Lightning and Golden Knights, Bellemare is the ideal candidate to lead the French in the Olympics.

He was the captain for France in the 2025 World Championship, and that was actually the first time he captained France at the men's level. The 40-year-old Bellemare now suits up for Ajoie in the Swiss National League.

Before him, it was left winger Sacha Treille, who captained the squad at the 2024 and 2023 worlds.

Our prediction: Pierre-Edouard Bellemare

Finally, the host nation, Italy, has yet to announce their roster for the Olympics. Nonetheless, from their preliminary roster, there seems to be a clear-cut captain nominee.

Defenseman Thomas Larkin is the No. 1 option to wear the 'C' for the hosts in Milan. He was the captain of Italy in the last three World Championship Div. 1-A tournaments. Chances are he'll get the nod again on the Olympic stage.

Our prediction: Thomas Larkin

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