Olympic Week: Top-3 Forward Groups Going into the 2026 Winter Games

The 2026 Olympic Winter games in Milan and Cortina d'Ampezzo are less than two years away, and while many talented forwards will represent their countries in men's ice hockey, writer Adam Proteau has his top-3 in mind.

As part of THN.com’s Olympic Week, we’re breaking down the best projected teams that will be part of the 2026 Games, ranking the three best teams at forward, defense and in goal. 

In today’s first list, we’re looking at the top three teams at forward, and for the record, we’re anticipating that the Russian team will be allowed to participate, so they’re in the mix in every category. For roster composition, we’re going with the lineups we projected for the 2025 4 Nations Face-Off. Those projected lineups were for the USA, Finland, Canada, Sweden and Russia. Let’s get to it:

The margin of difference between Canada and the United States at forward is razor-thin, but we’re going with the Canadians in this category because they have the most dynamic group up front. The forward squad is led by the evergreen talents of Sidney Crosby, as well as the world’s best player in Connor McDavid and this past season’s Hart Trophy winner in Nathan MacKinnon. Canada also will have young phenom Connor Bedard on board, plus Mitch Marner, Brayden Point and Jordan Kyrou to boot. They also won't be lacking in toughness with veterans Brad Marchand and Zach Hyman in the lineup.

Of course, things can always change, either in terms of injuries or effectiveness of veteran players, but Canada’s incredible depth, especially down the middle, is what sets them apart and gives them the advantage at forward. They’ve got gold-medal experience in Crosby, dynamic force in McDavid and MacKinnon, and tremendous playmakers (and play-finishers) in Bedard and Steven Stamkos. They’re going to head into the Olympics as one of the odds-on favorites to win it all, and the primary reason why they’re ranked so highly by so many is their effectiveness at forward.

The Americans have never had the type of depth and high-end talent that they do now up front, with Auston Matthews, Jack Hughes, Jake Guentzel, Jason Robertson and Clayton Keller all providing excellent skill. The U.S. also has grit and determination in Matthew and Brady Tkachuk, size in Tage Thompson and championship pedigree in Jack Eichel. Their biggest primary strength is on defense (and we’ll discuss that element in tomorrow’s list), but they’ve got the talent and stockpile of key contributors to run-and-gun with any opponent, and along with Canada, they’re going to be one of the favorites to win gold.

The Americans also have a wealth of depth and elite performers in net, and that may ultimately be the factor that wins it all in 2026, but if we’re only talking about forwards, the Americans have to take a slight back seat to Canada. As noted, things can change in a heartbeat, but at the moment, it’s clear the U.S. has more than enough veteran know how and a terrifically-balanced lineup to put them at the top of the Olympic podium. They just don’t have the cream-of-the-crop at the high end of the competitiveness scale, and that’s why they’re behind Canada on this list.

It was a close call for third place in these rankings, with Russia having star competitors in Evgeni Malkin, Nikita Kucherov, Kirill Kaprizov, Artemi Panarin and Alexander Ovechkin leading the way. However, we gave the nod to the Swedes because they’ve got more top-end depth and more youth than the aging Russians, making them No. 3 on this list.

Indeed, with William Nylander, Elias Pettersson, Filip Forsberg, Jesper Bratt, Leo Carlsson and Adrian Kempe, Sweden has a slew of competitors who can generate offense. They’ve also got some sandpaper in Viktor Arvidsson, some excellent two-way play in Joel Eriksson Ek, and if he’s healthy, a championship performer in Gabriel Landeskog. That combination feels more complete than Russia’s group of forwards, so Sweden is the choice for third place on this list. 

The Swedes took home gold in the 2006 Games that had NHL participation, and while we don’t think it’s likely they’re going to win in 2026, it can’t be denied that they have world-class talent and should give their opponents a run for their money.