The 2026 Olympic Winter Games in Milan and Cortina d'Ampezzo aren't for almost another two years, but Adam Proteau has his thoughts on the top-3 goaltending groups among the nations.

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.

Tuesday, we began the process by examining the top three teams at forward; Wednesday, we turned our attention to the top three teams on defense; and today, we’re finishing the series by looking at the best three teams in terms of goaltending.

As of now, 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. 

Now, let’s look at the goaltending:

Top Three Teams In Goal

1. United States

The Americans are this writer’s pick to win the next Olympics primarily because their back end is superior to Canada’s and that of other countries, and goaltending is part of that superior package. Indeed, with Dallas’ Jake Oettinger, Winnipeg’s Connor Hellebuyck, Boston’s Jeremy Swayman and Vancouver’s Thatcher Demko, the U.S. goaltending picture is an embarrassment of riches.

You never know what can happen injury-wise between now and 2026, but the States have plenty of netminding insurance, and the goalie who winds up winning the starting job can rest assured knowing he’s going to have an understudy or two fully capable of stepping in and providing stellar performances between the pipes. If Canada had just one of these four goaltenders, we might have made the Canadians our favorites to win the tournament. But Canada’s stockpile of goalies isn’t in the top two, and for that reason, we’re picking the U.S. to emerge as champions in the next best-on-best tournament.

2. Russia

The Russian team is skewing older than its competitors in the Olympics, but the one area in which they’re as good, if not better than their rivals is in net. Russia can turn to any one of Igor Shesterkin, Andrei Vasilevskiy, Ilya Sorokin, Sergei Bobrovsky and Semyon Varlamov and expect they’ll get a chance to win night in and night out. And while Bobrovsky and Varlamov will both be  37 years old when the 2026 Games roll around, Shesterkin, Sorokin and Vasilevskiy will still be in their competitive prime.

Russia’s defense corps isn’t a top-three group in our estimation, so the Russian goalies will have to do more heavy lifting than their counterparts, but in a short tournament like the Olympics, a red-hot netminder can carry a team to glory on the podium, and Russia’s goaltenders have the ability to steal games and put their team on their back in 2026. It’s going to be about who’s in the best shape physically and mentally, but the Russians have excellent options in net, and they could be a medal-winning group primarily because of their goalies.

3. Canada

In our opinion, the third spot in terms of goaltending is going to be hotly contested between the Canadians, with Stuart Skinner and Jordan Binnington as the frontrunners to start in net, and the Swedes, who’ll have veterans Jacob Markstrom, Linus Ullmark and Filip Gustavsson, as well as 21-year-old youngsters Carl Lindbom and Jesper Wallstedt to turn to in the next Games. It’s more or less a toss-up for the third spot in these rankings, but if Binnington can find the form he had when he won a Stanley Cup in St. Louis, the Canadians are going to be tough to beat.

The last time Sweden won gold (2006), superstar Henrik Lundqvist led the way, and while they may not have a similar marquee name to turn to in 2026, the Swedes could have just enough solid netminding to upset other contenders for gold. But on paper, and in terms of the achievements on their resumes, the Canadian netminders are probably just a smidge better than Sweden’s. Canada’s defensemen are also better than the Swedes’ D-men, and that combination gives the Canadians the edge in the goalie department. They’re not as deep or talented at the high end as the Americans and Russians, but Canada’s goalies could have it in them to be difference-makers, and that’s why we’re picking them for the third spot in this category.