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Snapshots: Benák, Dornbach, Finland

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Wild fourth-rounder Adam Benák is headed to the CHL for his post-draft season. The OHL’s Brantford Bulldogs announced they’ve signed him to a development deal after selecting him second overall in this year’s CHL Import Draft.

While Benák has always displayed a high-ceiling offensive game, his 5’8″, 163-lb frame meant he was never going to challenge for a premier draft slot. Instead, the Czech pivot fell to Minnesota at No. 102 overall following a strong year with the USHL’s Youngstown Phantoms. The speedy two-way center led the team in scoring with 59 points (17 G, 42 A) in 56 games in his first season in North America, earning USHL All-Rookie Team and Second All-Star Team honors.

Benák has excelled in international play. He’s had 21 points in just 10 games for Czechia’s under-18 team at the last two Hlinka Gretzky Cups, winning a pair of silver medals, and also had seven points in four games at this year’s under-18 World Championship. He’ll almost surely land a spot on the country’s World Juniors team this winter.

Elsewhere from around the hockey world:

  • After mixed results in North America, former Wild minor-leaguer Casey Dornbach has signed in Austria with Pioneers Vorarlberg of the ICEHL. Undrafted, Dornbach garnered some NHL interest as a college free agent in 2023 but ended up settling for a deal with AHL Iowa. He managed just two points in 13 games for the club, instead spending most of his time in the ECHL before leaving for a role with Finland’s Jukurit midway through last season. The former ECAC Rookie of the Year had 40 goals and 124 points in 138 NCAA games with Harvard and Denver.
  • To the surprise of no one, Finland will continue with its defense-first mentality as it builds out its roster for the 2026 Olympics, head coach Antti Pennanen and GM Jere Lehtinen told NHL.com’s Varpu Sihvonen. They’re looking to defend their gold medal from the 2022 edition, this time with NHLers in tow. Sebastian Aho, Aleksander Barkov, Miro Heiskanen, Esa Lindell, Mikko Rantanen, and Juuse Saros have already been named to their roster. Interestingly enough, their head coach from the 2022 win, Jukka Jalonen, will now be behind the bench for host country Italy, who are groupmates with Finland.

Hockey Canada Announces Preliminary Roster For 2026 Olympics

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Hockey Canada will host an orientation camp from Aug. 26 to 28 in Calgary in preparation for its men’s, women’s, and para hockey teams as they begin to formulate their rosters for the 2026 Winter Olympics in Italy, the governing body announced Friday.

That number includes 42 NHL players, locking in a list of potential names for the final rosters, which can be a maximum of 25 players (22 skaters, three goalies). The IIHF had previously announced Sidney Crosby, Nathan MacKinnon, Cale Makar, Connor McDavid, Brayden Point, and Sam Reinhart as the country’s first six players back in June.

One position that appears set for the Canadians is goaltending. Only three netminders are on their orientation camp roster: Jordan Binnington, Adin Hill, and Sam Montembeault. That’s the same trio that backstopped Canada to a win in February’s 4 Nations Face-Off.

Here’s the full initial talent pool that Canada’s braintrust will be choosing from, with an asterisk by each of the six players already locked into the roster:

Forwards

Connor Bedard (Blackhawks)
Sam Bennett (Panthers)
Quinton Byfield (Kings)
Macklin Celebrini (Sharks)
Anthony Cirelli (Lightning)
Sidney Crosby (Penguins)*
Brandon Hagel (Lightning)
Bo Horvat (Islanders)
Zach Hyman (Oilers)
Seth Jarvis (Hurricanes)
Wyatt Johnston (Stars)
Travis Konecny (Flyers)
Nathan MacKinnon (Avalanche)*
Brad Marchand (Panthers)
Mitch Marner (Golden Knights)
Connor McDavid (Oilers)*
Ryan Nugent-Hopkins (Oilers)
Brayden Point (Lightning)*
Sam Reinhart (Panthers)*
Mark Scheifele (Jets)
Mark Stone (Golden Knights)
Nick Suzuki (Canadiens)
John Tavares (Maple Leafs)
Robert Thomas (Blues)
Carter Verhaeghe (Panthers)
Tom Wilson (Capitals)

Defensemen

Evan Bouchard (Oilers)
Noah Dobson (Canadiens)
Drew Doughty (Kings)
Aaron Ekblad (Panthers)
Thomas Harley (Stars)
Cale Makar (Avalanche)*
Brandon Montour (Kraken)
Josh Morrissey (Jets)
Colton Parayko (Blues)
Travis Sanheim (Flyers)
Shea Theodore (Golden Knights)
Devon Toews (Avalanche)
MacKenzie Weegar (Flames)

Goaltenders

Jordan Binnington (Blues)
Adin Hill (Golden Knights)
Sam Montembeault (Canadiens)

Hockey Canada has already announced its front office, led by Blues GM Doug Armstrong with Lightning GM Julien BriseBois, Stars GM Jim Nill, and Bruins GM Don Sweeney as his assistants. Penguins GM Kyle Dubas is Canada’s director of player personnel and also had input in orientation camp selection, per the release, along with head coach Jon Cooper and former Ducks captain Ryan Getzlaf, who’s with the team as a player relations advisor.

Slovakia Names Vladimir Orszagh Head Coach For 2026 Olympics

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Former NHLer Vladimir Orszagh will be behind the bench for Slovakia at next year’s Winter Olympics, according to an NHL.com release today.

For Orszagh, it’s essentially a removal of an interim tag. He took over midway through last year’s international cycle after Craig Ramsay, who had been at the head of the Slovak program since the 2017-18 season, contracted pneumonia.

Ramsay had coached Slovakia to a bronze medal at the 2022 Winter Olympics with no NHL involvement, so Orszagh has some significant shoes to fill. The 48-year-old was a fifth-round pick of the Islanders back in 1995 and ended up recording 54 goals and 119 points in 289 career NHL games with them, the Predators, and the Blues between 1997 and 2006.

He played sparingly after leaving St. Louis, but did log a few appearances for Slovak club HC Banska Bystrica. He finally hung up his skates in 2010, following his second comeback attempt. Orszagh immediately began building his coaching resume, serving as an assistant for Banska Bystrica for two years before taking over as their head coach for the 2012-13 season.

He departed in 2014-15 to serve as an assistant for the short-lived KHL club HC Slovan Bratislava but returned to Banska Bystrica after one year, leading them to back-to-back Slovak Extraliga titles in 2017 and 2018. He also won back-to-back Czech Extraliga titles as an assistant for HC Ocelari Trinec in 2023 and 2024 before returning to Banska Bystrica, where he’s now in his third stint as the club’s head coach.

Orszagh was not on Ramsay’s staff for the 2022 medal, but he did serve as an assistant coach on their 2014 and 2018 Olympic teams. At this year’s World Championship, Slovakia, under Orszagh, finished sixth in Group A with a 2-4-1 record and did not advance to the playoffs.

Slovakia named five NHLers – Erik Cernak, Martin Fehervary, Simon Nemec, Martin Pospisil, and Juraj Slafkovsky – to its preliminary roster in June, along with longtime NHLer Tomas Tatar, who will play this season in Switzerland’s National League. They’ll likely be accompanied by some high-profile youngsters like recent first-round picks Dalibor Dvorsky (Blues) and Samuel Honzek (Flames) when the final rosters are released.

Hockey Canada Announces Coaching Staff For 2026 Winter Olympics

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Unsurprisingly, there will be no changes coming to Team Canada’s bench for the 2026 Winter Olympics in Milan. According to a public announcement, Team Canada will have an identical coaching staff to that of the 4 Nations Face-Off this past February, sharing that Bruce Cassidy (Vegas Golden Knights), Peter DeBoer, Rick Tocchet (Philadelphia Flyers), and Misha Donskov will be assistant coaches for Team Canada behind head coach Jon Cooper (Tampa Bay Lightning).

The 4 Nations Face-Off proved to be a positive litmus test for Team Canada, as the United States has become a more potent competitor in recent years. Still, despite suffering a Round Robin loss to Team USA, Canada won the tournament, defeating their North American counterpart in overtime of the championship on a goal from Connor McDavid. There could be some mild changes coming to the roster for the upcoming Olympic tournament, but Canada will likely have the fewest tweaks.

Like their eventual roster, Canada has a star-studded coaching staff. Even without factoring in the playing careers of those who played in the NHL, Team Canada’s coaching staff has six Stanley Cups, three IIHF World Championship gold medals, and two Jack Adams awards.

All four assistant coaches have extensive international hockey experience, including their work in the NHL and the 4 Nations Face-Off tournament, although none have previously coached in the Olympic Games. Cassidy and Tocchet are more recognized for their international ice hockey careers, while DeBoer and Donskov, former coaches of the Dallas Stars, have achieved significant success in the World Junior Championships.

Teams Announce Preliminary Six Players For 2026 Olympics

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12:00 p.m.: Updated to include the United States’ roster.
11:01 a.m.: Updated to include Canada’s roster.
10:32 a.m.: Updated to reflect France’s roster.
9:18 a.m.: Updated to reflect Denmark’s roster.
8:23 a.m.: Updated to reflect Slovakia’s roster.

7:49 a.m.: Throughout Monday, the IIHF is announcing teams’ preliminary rosters for the 2026 Winter Olympics in Milan-Cortina, Italy. It’s the tournament’s first edition with NHL participation since 2014 in Sochi, Russia. Like the NHL did with the 4 Nations Face-Off, teams must lock in six players to their final roster well in advance. Of course, the field is now set after the IIHF confirmed a few weeks ago that Russia would not participate in the event, even under a Russian Olympic Committee banner as they did in 2018 and 2022, due to the country’s military aggression in Ukraine.

European teams’ preliminary six players were announced early in the morning, while those looking for North American teams must wait until later Monday. Here’s each team’s initial roster for the tournament, which will run from Feb. 5 to Feb. 22, 2026:

Group A

(1) Canada

F Sidney Crosby (Penguins)
F Nathan MacKinnon (Avalanche)
F Connor McDavid (Oilers)
F Brayden Point (Lightning)
F Sam Reinhart (Panthers)
D Cale Makar (Avalanche)

(2) Czechia

F Martin Nečas (Avalanche)
F Ondřej Palát (Devils)
F David Pastrňák (Bruins)
F Pavel Zacha (Bruins)
D Radko Gudas (Ducks)
G Lukáš Dostál (Ducks)

(3) Switzerland

F Kevin Fiala (Kings)
F Nico Hischier (Devils)
F Timo Meier (Devils)
F Nino Niederreiter (Jets)
D Roman Josi (Predators)
D Jonas Siegenthaler (Devils)

(4) France

F Pierre-Édouard Bellemare (Ajoie/NL)
F Jordann Perret (Mountfield/Czechia)
F Alexandre Texier (Blues)
D Yohann Auvitu (Vítkovice/Czechia)
D Jules Boscq (HPK/Liiga)
D Hugo Gallet (Tappara/Liiga)

Group B

(1) Finland

F Sebastian Aho (Hurricanes)
F Aleksander Barkov (Panthers)
F Mikko Rantanen (Stars)
D Miro Heiskanen (Stars)
D Esa Lindell (Stars)
G Juuse Saros (Predators)

(2) Sweden

F Adrian Kempe (Kings)
F Gabriel Landeskog (Avalanche)
F William Nylander (Maple Leafs)
F Lucas Raymond (Red Wings)
D Rasmus Dahlin (Sabres)
D Victor Hedman (Lightning)

(3) Slovakia

F Martin Pospisil (Flames)
F Juraj Slafkovsky (Canadiens)
F Tomáš Tatar (Zug/NL)
D Erik Černák (Lightning)
D Martin Fehérváry (Capitals)
D Simon Nemec (Devils)

(4) Italy

F Diego Kostner (Ambrì-Piotta/NL)
F Daniel Mantenuto (Bolzano/ICEHL)
F Tommy Purdeller (Pustertal/ICEHL)
D Thomas Larkin (Schwenninger/DEL)
D Luca Zanatta (Pustertal/ICEHL)
G Damian Clara (Ducks)

Group C

(1) United States

F Jack Eichel (Golden Knights)
F Auston Matthews (Maple Leafs)
F Brady Tkachuk (Senators)
F Matthew Tkachuk (Panthers)
D Quinn Hughes (Canucks)
D Charlie McAvoy (Bruins)

(2) Germany

F Leon Draisaitl (Oilers)
F Lukas Reichel (Blackhawks)
F Nico Sturm (Panthers)
F Tim Stützle (Senators)
D Moritz Seider (Red Wings)
G Philipp Grubauer (Kraken)

(3) Latvia

F Rodrigo Abols (Flyers)
F Teddy Blueger (Canucks)
F Zemgus Girgensons (Lightning)
D Uvis Balinskis (Panthers)
G Elvis Merzļikins (Blue Jackets)
G Arturs Silovs (Canucks)

(4) Denmark

F Oliver Bjorkstrand (Lightning)
F Nikolaj Ehlers (Jets)
F Lars Eller (Capitals)
F Jonas Røndbjerg (Golden Knights)
D Jesper Jensen Aabo (EC-KAC/ICEHL)
G Frederik Andersen (Hurricanes)

Bettman/Daly Notes: CBA, Olympics, AHL

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NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman and Deputy Commissioner Bill Daly held a joint press conference ahead of the first game of the 2025 Stanley Cup Finals. They touched on a variety of league topics, most notably sharing that the league continues to progress well towards a new collective bargaining agreement (CBA) with the NHL Players’ Association. The pair shared that CBA negotiations are in “good shape” per Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman. Pierre LeBrun of The Athletic adds that they weren’t yet ready to call the deal close to final.

The NHL is a year out from needing to finalize a new CBA. Early momentum could point towards minimal changes in the next agreement, though the league did comment on a few potential changes. Daly and Bettman said they weren’t concerned about tax differential influencing player’s signing decisions. Later, NHLPA Assistant Executive Ron Hainsey shared that the league could reform the long-term injured reserve to avoid late-season manipulation. Both topics have grown to a roar over recent years, in light of repeated success for the Vegas Golden Knights and the pair of Florida-based teams.

Other notes from Bettman and Daly’s presser:

  • Daly confirmed that the league isn’t expecting Russia to participate in the 2026 Winter Olympics. The country was previously barred from participation at the 2024 Summer Olympics, though athletes were still able to participate under the category of “individual neutral athletes”. Russia’s Men’s Hockey team took home silver at the 2022 Winter Olympics, and gold in 2018, though the NHL did not send players to either competition. With this news, fans will have to wait even longer to see Russian stars take on Olympic competitors. The last time that superstars like Alex Ovechkin and Evgeni Malkin appeared at the Olympics was in 2014. Russia achieved a fifth-place finish that year.
  • Daly also shared that the league is considering opening AHL eligibility to teenagers in the next CBA, per Ryan Kennedy of The Hockey News. The Deputy Commissioner added that the NHL is discussing the change with the NHLPA, and has given advance notice to the CHL – though the dialogue is ongoing. Junior hockey is presently under a monumental shift after the NCAA expanded collegiate eligibility to CHL athletes. Early winds from the decision appear to be pushing major juniors to a younger demographic – momentum that would only seem to grow should the NHL and AHL give players even more options after their draft years.

Russia To Be Barred From 2026 Winter Olympics

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Sammi Silber of The Hockey News relays that the International Olympic Committee will officially bar the Russian Federation from participating in the 2026 Winter Olympics. It’ll mark the second consecutive Winter Olympic Games that Russia has been barred from due to the ongoing war in Ukraine.

Silber included a few quotes from IIHF President Luc Tardif regarding the decision. Tardif said, “The IOC is the organizer – we only deal with the competition (the hockey tournaments) itself. We have been pressuring them to make a decision, one way or another, because we’re getting closer to the Olympics and we need to know. Recently, they asked us to send them a schedule without Russia, so that’s where we are. The official statement is pending but the IOC has told us that they are informing the Russian Olympic Committee that they are not participating in the Olympics.”

It will be interesting to see how concrete the announcement will be and whether the United States and European Union’s ongoing peace efforts will impact Russia’s participation. There has been plenty of conjecture from all parties involved about the peace efforts, and there doesn’t seem to be an agreement on the horizon. Still, that could change before the Olympic torch is lit in Milan.

The news impacts the NHL and its players quite heavily. The 2026 Olympic Games were likely the last time NHL legends such as Alex Ovechkin and Evgeni Malkin would have participated as active players.

Each player’s last time participating in the illustrious international competition came more than a decade ago, in their home country. Still, Russia didn’t make it past the quarterfinals of the playoff round, losing to Team Finland. Ovechkin scored one goal and one assists in five games, while Malkin scored one goal and two assists in five games.

There’s a small chance that each player could still participate in the 2030 Winter Olympics after their NHL careers have concluded. Regardless, two of the game’s best players of all-time won’t participate in the next one.

NHL Announces 2028 World Cup Of Hockey

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With the start of the 4 Nations Face-Off just hours away, it seems the NHL is already establishing plans to deepen its international footprint. NHL commissioner Gary Bettman and NHLPA Executive Director Marty Walsh have plans to announce the 2028 World Cup of Hockey tournament that’d split games between North America and Europe, per Pierre LeBrun of The Athletic. The World Cup will be a mid-season tournament scheduled over the usual All-Star Break, like the 4 Nations Face-Off. LeBrun adds that this news sets up international, best-on-best hockey every two years until 2036 – with hope for a timeline that includes the Winter Olympics in 2026, 2030, and 2034 and the World Cup in 2028, 2032, and 2036.

Perhaps more exciting is the return to the name ’World Cup,’ suggesting that more countries will be involved than the four represented at the 4 Nations tournament. This would inevitably require the involvement of professional leagues around the world, as neither Czechia nor Slovakia have enough NHL players to staff an NHL-exclusive roster.

The naming of a worldwide tournament will also lead to the eventual question of Russia’s involvement. The country has been expelled from international play since the 2021 World Championship, where they fell to Team Canada in the quarterfinals. The IIHF recently reviewed Russia and Belarus’ eligibility for international competition but chose to maintain the expulsion through the 2025-26 season due to the ongoing conflict between Russia and Ukraine. Hall-of-Famer Pavel Bure was chosen to represent Russia in recent conversations with the IIHF and, citing concerns over player safety, shared that Russia would be willing to finance additional security if it meant allowing “fans across the planet to watch one of the world’s best teams in action again.”

The IIHF’s decision will only apply to events they sanction – that decision only applies to IIHF-sanctioned events, and both the NHL and International Olympic Committee will still need to make their own decisions on whether Russia should play in their events. The NHL moving towards potentially biannual meetings between national clubs sets up an inevitable, and potentially precarious decision on Russia’s eligibility.

Snapshots: Swayman, Benn, Gelinas, Olympics

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Earlier today, Bruins president Cam Neely implied that the team had made a $64MM offer to restricted free agent goaltender Jeremy Swayman in an effort to get a deal done.  It would appear that this is the first that Swayman’s camp has heard of it.  SPM Sports released the following statement from Swayman’s agent Lewis Gross via various social media platforms:

Normally, I do not release statements or discuss negotiations through the media.  However, in this case, I feel I need to defend my client. At today’s press conference, $64 million was referenced. This was the first time that number was discussed in our negotiations. Prior to the press conference, no offer was made reaching that level.

We are extremely disappointed. This was not fair to Jeremy. We will take a few days to discuss where we go from here.

Earlier today, it was revealed that newly-acquired backup Joonas Korpisalo would be their opening-night starter.  Between that and now Swayman’s camp saying that they’ll take a few days to discuss next steps, it’s fair to say that this contract isn’t getting resolved for a little while longer.

Elsewhere around the hockey world:

  • The Stars won’t discuss a new contract in-season with captain Jamie Benn, relays Lia Assimakopoulos of the Dallas Morning News. Don’t interpret that as a sign that one of the sides doesn’t want to do something as GM Jim Nill indicated he approached Benn to see what he wanted to do while making it clear that he sees a spot for the veteran as long as he’s in charge.  However, Benn decided he wants to wait until after the season for any discussions.  The 35-year-old has spent his entire 15-year career in Dallas, amassing over 900 points including 60 in 82 games last season.
  • Veteran defenseman Eric Gelinas has decided to try to give it another go in North America. The AHL’s Laval Rocket announced (Twitter link) that they have invited the 33-year-old to their training camp.  Gelinas has 189 career NHL appearances under his belt, the last of which came in 2016-17.  He spent the following year in Laval before bouncing around, seeing time in Slovakia, Sweden, Switzerland, and nine games with AHL Chicago over the last six seasons.
  • The IIHF announced that they hope to add a three-on-three ice hockey tournament to the 2030 Olympics for both men’s and women’s hockey. These events would not replace the existing tournaments but would merely add to the sport’s representation, similar to three-on-three basketball at the recently-ended Summer Games.  A decision on whether those events will be added is expected in March.

Slovakia, Denmark, And Latvia Qualify For 2026 Winter Olympics

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The 12-team tournament in men’s ice hockey for the 2026 Winter Olympics has been set as Team Slovakia, Team Denmark, and Team Latvia all came away with wins earlier today. Slovakia and Latvia will join the United States and Russia in Group C of the round-robin action while Denmark will slot into Group B with Finland, Germany, and Czechia. France could still qualify for the 2026 Winter Olympics if the Olympic Committee decides to bar Russia from the tournament since they finished as the next highest seed in the standings. This would allow France to play in back-to-back Winter Olympics as they will be the host country in 2030.

The Slovakian team is headlined by notable NHL talents such as Simon Nemec, Tomas Tatar, and Martin Pospisil. They have a legitimate shot to make it to the playoff round if Russia is barred from the tournament. Team Slovakia will be looking for their second medal in team history after earning the bronze medal in the 2022 Winter Olympics after defeating Team Sweden.

The Danes brought one of the more experienced rosters to the qualifier tournament with Winnipeg Jets’ Nikolaj Ehlers and Carolina Hurricanes’ Frederik Andersen striking as the most noteworthy NHL talents. Denmark does not have a lengthy history in men’s ice hockey in the Olympics as the team debuted two years ago in Beijing. The team surprised many by knocking off Latvia in their opening game of the knockout round before losing to the ’Olympic Athletes from Russia’ in a tightly fought battle.

Latvia has skated in five Olympic tournaments since the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991 but has failed to make much headway against larger nations. The only notable NHL player on the roster is Uvis Balinskis for the Florida Panthers who recorded one goal and four points in three qualifying events. Latvia is not expected to finish much higher than in previous attempts even though they are in one of the tournament’s weaker divisions.

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