With the round robin stage behind us, the Seattle Kraken Olympic representatives now have a clearer view of their path to the gold medal game.
The round robin stage of the 2026 Winter Olympics is finished, and each country has a clearer view of their path to the gold medal game.
The first step is the quarterfinal qualification games, which will be held on Tuesday. Those matchups will see Czechia and Denmark faceoff, Sweden and Latvia, Germany and France, and Switzerland against Italy.
The winner of those games will move on to the quarterfinals to take on the three division winners and the best second-place team.
Canada will face the winner of Czechia and Denmark; Team USA will battle the winner of Sweden and Latvia; Slovakia will challenge the winner of Germany and France; and Finland is set to take on the winner of Switzerland and Italy.
Following the quarterfinals, the winners will reseed for the semifinals.
The Seattle Kraken representatives at the Olympics have made their mark, but now, during the playoff rounds, they’ll need to continue stepping up their games.
Oscar Fisker Molgaard and Denmark are set for a tough matchup against Czechia. Although Czechia hasn’t played as well as many expected, they remain the clear favorites in this matchup and hold multiple advantages over Denmark. Although the Danes won’t shy away, they’ll have full belief that they can pull off an upset. If they do get by Czechia, they’ll have a rested Canadian team that has looked dominant.
Philipp Grubauer and Germany are the clear favorites in their contest, as France has looked very poor in their three games. France was always going to be in a difficult situation with Canada, Switzerland, and Czechia in their group, but they didn’t really show any reason to believe they could pull off an upset.
As long as Grubauer continues his strong play and his German teammates net a few early goals, Germany should find it easy to beat France before taking on a confident, thriving Slovakian team.
Kaapo Kakko and Eeli Tolvanen pummelled Italy in their final group stage game to snatch the best second-place seed. They’ll get a much-needed day’s rest before taking on the winner of Switzerland and Italy.
Switzerland is the clear favorite in this matchup as well, which should set up an enticing quarterfinal showdown between the Swiss and the Finns. Switzerland will be without Kevin Fiala, who was injured against Canada and will miss the rest of the season. Despite that, Switzerland remains a threat to steal a win from Finland.
So far, the Olympics have been everything we could have hoped for, and now with the stakes rising, the level should only increase.
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