Seven members of the Vancouver Canucks will be heading to the 2026 Winter Olympics in Italy, with the first day of games beginning on February 11. Despite the NHL being on break during the Olympics, many storylines will follow these players as they prepare to compete on the biggest stage in the world. Here are five Canucks storylines that will take place at the 2026 Winter Olympics. WILL A SOLID SHOWING AT THE OLYMPICS INCREASE TRADE INTEREST IN TEDDY BLUEGER OR DAVID KÄMPF? Two of the Canucks’ pending UFAs will take part in the 2026 Olympics for their respective teams — Teddy Blueger for Latvia and David Kämpf for Czechia. This is especially intriguing as both players will likely be put in more-expanded roles than the ones they currently play in with Vancouver, with Blueger in particular potentially ending up in a more offensively-inclined role. With the NHL Trade Deadline on March 6 looming, there’s no doubt that management teams will be eyeing players at the Olympics as some to target as pick-ups for playoff runs, and Blueger in particular could be a strong piece for contending teams to add. Vancouver is one of those teams that looks like they’ll be making moves up until the deadline; if Blueger or Kämpf put on a show at the Olympics, it wouldn’t be surprising to see one of the league’s top teams make a move to acquire them as a depth piece. COULD A STRONG OLYMPIC CAMPAIGN PLAY LUKAS REICHEL BACK INTO AN NHL ROLE? The Lukas Reichel experiment in Vancouver hasn’t quite gone the way management has planned. Not happy with his defensive play, the organization sent Reichel down to the AHL to play while seeking out trade fits for the young forward. Similar to Blueger and Kämpf’s situations, Reichel will likely end up with a bigger role when skating with Germany at the Olympics — the potential of playing with stars like Leon Draisaitl and Tim Stützle will only add to that. If Reichel can put together a solid Olympic campaign, one that shows he’s paying more attention to the defensive side of the game, he may be able to play himself back into an NHL role. WILL ELIAS PETTERSSON EXPERIENCE AN EXPLOSION IN OFFENSIVE OUTPUT WITH SWEDEN’S ROSTER? Last year, many believed playing with a stacked Team Sweden at the 4 Nations Faceoff would greatly help Elias Pettersson’s offensive efforts. That clearly didn’t happen, as the forward was unable to register a point in Sweden’s three games during the tournament. A similar belief follows Pettersson into the Olympics nearly a year later, especially now that he seems to slowly be making a comeback on the defensive size of the game. While the 2025–26 season still has yet to see Pettersson return to his 100-point form, there have been some small flashes of the creativity he showed in the early years of his NHL career. If he brings out this creativity while skating with some of Sweden’s top talents, Pettersson could find himself enjoying a strong offensive effort during his first career Olympics. Feb 12, 2025; Montreal, Quebec, CAN; [Imagn Images direct customers only] Team Sweden forward Elias Pettersson (40) looks on in warm-up before the game against Team Canada during a 4 Nations Face-Off ice hockey game at Bell Centre. Mandatory Credit: David Kirouac-Imagn Images [https://deweb-519a7.b-cdn.net/post-images/75d106a5-9454-4686-b247-d619a295ff40.jpeg] Feb 12, 2025; Montreal, Quebec, CAN; [Imagn Images direct customers only] Team Sweden forward Elias Pettersson (40) looks on in warm-up before the game against Team Canada during a 4 Nations Face-Off ice hockey game at Bell Centre. Mandatory Credit: David Kirouac-Imagn Images COULD AN EXTENDED ROLE WITH CZECHIA ADD TO SPECULATION ABOUT FILIP HRONEK BECOMING THE CANUCKS’ NEXT CAPTAIN? Since the departure of former Canucks captain Quinn Hughes, Filip Hronek has been the main player many have watched step-up into a leadership role. The defenceman now wears an ‘A’ for Vancouver and has been more present from a more public perspective. Hronek, who is the most-tenured Canuck when it comes to international play, has also taken on leadership roles for Czechia at times, wearing an ‘A’ in two different World Championships. With an extended role likely coming his way throughout Czechia’s Olympic campaign, Hronek’s position as a leader on Team Czechia may cause many to consider whether he could be the Canucks’ next captain or not. WILL FATIGUE PLAY A ROLE IN KEVIN LANKINEN’S OLYMPIC AND POST-OLYMPIC PLAY? Throughout the past two seasons, Kevin Lankinen has played in what feels like the most hockey of his career. Not only did he play in a career-high 51 games in 2024–25, he also took part in two games for Finland at the 4 Nations Faceoff. This season, he’s already up to 32 games played throughout Vancouver’s 57. With Thatcher Demko now shut down for the rest of the 2025–26 season, Lankinen will be taking on even more of a share of goaltending duties on top of what he may end up doing at the Olympics. Lankinen already showed signs of tiredness towards the end of last season; having him play even more in the final few months of the year may result in even more fatigue later on. Make sure you bookmark THN's Vancouver Canucks site and add us to your favourites on Google News [https://news.google.com/publications/CAAqBwgKMK-q0gsw7sXpAw/sections/CAQqEAgAKgcICjCvqtILMO7F6QMwr-DfCA?hl=en-CA&gl=CA&ceid=CA%3Aen] for the latest news, exclusive interviews, breakdowns, and so much more. Also, don't forget to leave a comment at the bottom of the page and engage with other passionate fans through our forum. 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