Hurricanes stars Aho, Slavin, Ehlers, and Andersen excited as they prepare to compete at the highest international level for their countries.
The full rosters for the 12 nations participating at the 2026 Winter Olympics in Italy were released earlier this month and four Carolina Hurricanes were amongst those selected.
Sebastian Aho, Jaccob Slavin, Nikolaj Ehlers and Frederik Andersen were all chosen to represent their countries in February.
Here's what the four had to say about their selections and their thoughts on the upcoming event.
Sebastian Aho - Team Finland
On the Olympics: The Olympics has been a dream of mine for a long time. That's obviously something I'm really looking forward to. I haven't had the chance to play in any of those events. That's been a big, big dream of mine growing up and watching the Finnish National Team playing. That was kind of my ultimate goal: winning Olympic gold. Obviously now, winning a Stanley Cup is my biggest dream, but having an Olympic gold would still be something. Having the chance to compete there, best-on-best, we haven't seen that for many years in hockey, so I think it's very exciting for the fans too.
On seeing the full roster: It's awesome. It's a milestone that means we're getting closer. Very excited about that. Obviously I saw their Finns last night [interview conducted the same day Carolina took on the Dallas Stars] and we talked about it and everyone seems to really be on the same page and really pumped to have this opportunity. Can't wait.
On the team needing to overcome the injury to Finnish captain Aleksander Barkov: Obviously one of the better players if not the best in the country and obviously he was our captain, so obviously it's a huge loss. But it is what it is. You can't do anything about it. We just have to move on. Obviously it's hard to fill a guy like him with one guy, so somebody is going to have more opportunity, but also, I do think it has to be more throughout the lineup and team with losing a guy like him. Definitely sucks for him and our team, but that's hockey. It is what it is.
On the next man up mentality: We're definitely not the biggest country even though we have some good players. We're gonna have a good team no matter what, but we definitely were missing out on some good D-men at 4 Nations and now Barkov, it doesn't make it any easier, for sure. But it's next man up and we'll need to play the best we can to win the tournament. Like I said, we're gonna have a good team no matter what.
Jaccob Slavin - Team USA
On getting the phone call from Team USA GM Bill Guerin: I was excited. Obviously with the way the year has gone, you just never know. To be able to represent the country is awesome. For myself, all glory goes to God. It's a tremendous honor to do it and to be able to represent him on a world stage. Looking forward to it. It's going to be awesome.
On the selection: It's going to be awesome. Obviously it's an honor to put on that jersey any time you get. It's something I'm excited about, the family's excited about, so it's just going to be a super fun experience to get to be able to glorify God on a world stage.
On if he's going to bring any of his family: Wife and kids are going, some of my siblings are going, parents. It's going to be a lot of fun.
On if he has any concerns with the facilities and ice: I haven't looked into that too much. I can't control any of that so there's no point in worrying about it.
Nikolaj Ehlers - Team Denmark
On seeing the full roster: It's obviously very exciting. With all the other rosters that came out, you were just waiting for ours to come out. Seeing the guys, I know every single one of them, so it'll be pretty special.
On having a teammate to share in the experience with: I've never had a Danish teammate over here, so that's been really nice and really fun. Especially with me coming to a new place. We've tried to get to the Olympics for over 10 years now, him and I, and now it finally worked. So that's going to be pretty special as well.
On being one of a select few players who have ever had the chance to represent Denmark in Olympic ice hockey: That's a proud moment. A lot of guys that have tried to make it were able to go at the last Olympics, the COVID Olympics. Frans Nielsen, Peter Regin, Mikkel Boedker, guys that have been huge in Danish hockey. So it was special to see them be able to go and experience that before they retired and now it's our turn. It's going to be a lot of fun.
Frederik Andersen - Team Denmark
On seeing the full roster: It's cool to see who made it. Obviously a lot of guys that I know in Denmark who've been part of the national team for years. So it's exciting to see who was going to be able to go and experience this with us.
On having a teammate who will be alongside him on Team Denmark: There's not a lot of us over here obviously, so it's cool to be able to share that experience.
On being one of only a few players who have had the chance to represent Denmark: Obviously it's been a longer road for Denmark to be a part of it. Obviously we had to qualify and then the NHL had to figure out if they wanted to go or not. But it's huge and we're cherishing the opportunity. Like, literally a once in a lifetime kind of thing, probably for me, I think, unless I play until I'm 40, but we'll see on that part. But yeah, again, a lot of things had to go right for us to be able to represent our country and obviously it's a huge honor.
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