Penguins' Players Part Ways To Enjoy Olympic Break

As you've surely heard by this point, there are four Pittsburgh Penguins who travelled 4,293 miles from the City of Steel to Milan, Italy, to represent their respective countries in the 2026 Winter Olympic Games in Milano-Cortina.

But, for those not named Sidney Crosby, Erik Karlsson, Rickard Rakell, or Arturs Silovs, the near-three-week break in NHL action figures to look quite a bit different.

For a lot of players, the Olympic break represents a few different opportunities. Some choose to travel, some choose to stay put, and some simply choose rest and a reset. And the case is no different for Penguins' players, who will spread out during the Olympic break to do different things. 

Well, at least, some of them will.

I spoke with some of the Penguins' players about their plans for the break and how they will choose to allocate their time off from hockey.

Noel Acciari: We're gonna go to Florida. Try to get some warm weather. But, with having the three kids, maybe we'll do Disney a couple days. We usually do it once a year, and the kids love it, and it's a lot of fun. Nothing set in stone, but it's Florida, and the Naples area... just want to get some warm weather.

Do the kids have a favorite Disney park? It's new for them in the sense of, like, every year they get bigger, so it's new rides. But Magic Kingdom is the big one because there's a lot for them to do. My daughter loves the princesses, so we wait in lines, which is good for me because I never waited for the princesses, but it's fun to see it in their eyes. And my son, he likes the roller coasters. My daughter, too, loves roller coasters. But the older they get, the more they can go on, so they look forward to it, and every once in a while, they're like, "Can you measure it? I want to see how tall I am!" We look up the rides and see the height requirements. So, if we could sneak that in, it'd be awesome. 

I went there this year, and they brought back Fantasmic. It's Hollywood Studios's nighttime show. So, highly recommend. Hollywood Studios, I think, is a little underrated. We went to that Mickey One where the old movie ride used to be, which, they like that. Then, you also have, Epcot's a big one. There's a lot there for them.

Connor Clifton: I'm headed down to Florida. Clearwater Beach. So, we'll spend a couple of days there. Actually, my buddy's wedding, too, in Jersey, the day after the Buffalo game. So, I'm going to fly home, go to his wedding, then go to Florida. Then, we're finishing the trip going to Disney World for a couple of days. 

You might see Noel there. Yeah I know, I heard. Kuly [Brett Kulak] might, too. He's down in Fort Lauderdale, so I don't know how far that is. But, we might be seeing each other there. He said he might drive in.

Ryan Shea: I am going to Anguilla with a couple of the guys. Hayesy (Kevin Hayes), Dewey (Connor Dewar), Spoons {Parker Wotherspoon), and then [Matt] Grzelcyk from last year. But, should be good. Never been there. I'm excited for it.

Tommy Novak: I'll be somewhere warm. Get some Vitamin D in me, hopefully, and get rejuvenated for the rest of the season. I think Bahamas is what we're doing. That'll be good. Hopefully, that will be good.

Justin Brazeau: I think, right now, with the baby, we're trying to feel it out. I'm sure we'll probably do a couple things, but not a lot. And then, we might just kind of explore the city. But, we might... I heard there's something, like two hours away... there's a little hotel that we might head up to. Little spa, something like that. But I think we're probably just looking forward to a couple of days at home.

Egor Chinakhov: We probably, my wife and I, will stay here. My wife is pregnant. It's almost the last couple of weeks, so she can't fly. So, we'll stay here.

Ben Kindel: I might go on vacation. We'll see.

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