Winners and Losers Of 1st Games of Men's Hockey Tournament at the 2026 Olympics

After a 12-year wait, NHL players made their return to the Olympics this week, and the first two days of games provided plenty of excitement.

We had our first major upset, Canada, the United States, and Sweden flexed their muscles in lopsided wins, and Germany showed that it has some stars of its own.

With every team having played at least one game so far, let's take a quick look at some of the early winners and losers after the first games of the tournament.

Winner: Jordan Binnington (Canada)

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If Canada had a concern coming into this tournament, it was almost certainly its goaltending. Especially given how much presumed starter Jordan Binnington has struggled this season with the St. Louis Blues.

Those struggles did not sit well with the Hockey Canada management team or the coaching staff, who happily opened the tournament with him as their starting goalie.

He responded with a 26-save shutout against Czechia in the opening game.

There is perhaps no bigger disconnect in these rosters than the one between hockey fans and Canada management regarding Binnington. They clearly love him, they clearly trust him, and they are clearly going to ride with him as their starter.

He has a big-game reputation with a Stanley Cup ring and last year's 4 Nations Face-Off championship, and he got off to a strong start on Thursday.

If he plays like he did on Thursday, this team will be nearly impossible to beat.

Loser: Elvis Merzlikins (Latvia)

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If Latvia is going to have a chance to win many games or make any noise in this tournament, goaltending is going to have to rule the games for them.

The good news: Elvis Merzlikins and Arturs Silovs are capable NHL goalies and could potentially steal a game or two for them.

The bad news: Merzlikins had a miserable debut on Thursday, allowing three goals and getting benched in a 5-1 loss to the United States. It could have honestly been a lot worse, as the United States had two additional goals against him taken away on replay reviews, while there were also several shots that rang off the posts behind him. He was simply not on his game.

Winner: Leon Draisaitl and Frederik Tiffels (Germany)

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Germany might not have the depth of some of the other top teams in the tournament, but they do have a couple of big-time talents in Leon Draisaitl, Tim Stutzle, and Moritz Seider, who can take over games.

Draisaitl and Stutzle contributed most of the offense in their 3-1 win over Denmark.

But there was also Frederik Tiffels, and while that name may not mean much to NHL fans, it certainly means something to Draisaitl. The two players grew up together as childhood friends in Germany and teamed up for one of the team's goals on Thursday.

Draisaitl talked about how they dreamed of moments like that as kids and reenacted them on the street many times, and on Thursday, they made it a reality. That is one of the things that makes the Olympics so great.

Loser: Finland

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While not one of the top-two or three favorites in the tournament, Finland is still a formidable roster that always gives teams fits in these best-on-best tournaments. They have an endless supply of good two-way players, play an extremely structured and disciplined game, and the roster even includes a couple of stars in Mikko Rantanen and Sebastian Aho.

On Wednesday, none of that was present as they lost big to Slovakia, 4-1, in what was the first big upset of the tournament.

Goaltending was a problem; they couldn't finish their chances, and they were mostly outplayed by a team they were expected to beat.

It was a less-than-ideal start for a team that should be hoping to contend for a medal.

Winner: Brock Nelson (USA)

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Team USA had its way with Latvia on Thursday, and a lot of the American star power was on display. But the big offensive hero of the day ended up being Colorado Avalanche forward Brock Nelson with his two goals in the win.

Nelson has been outstanding for the Colorado Avalanche this season, not only playing a big-time shutdown role on defense but also already scoring 29 goals and 49 points in 56 games. He continued his strong play on Thursday by helping pace the offense, finishing with one of five players to record multiple points.

The United States management loves the idea of role players on their roster, and Nelson is about as good as they could possibly hope to find for a bottom-six role. He plays the defense they crave for those spots, but is also talented enough and productive enough to belong at a best-on-best tournament like this.

Loser: France and Italy's Chance to be Competitive

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You do have to give Italy some credit for scoring a couple of goals in its debut game against Sweden, and even taking an early 1-0 lead. But there was nothing about that game that was competitive beyond that, and the 5-2 final score does not do the one-sided nature of it any justice.

It was a similar story for France in its 4-0 loss to Switzerland, where it never really had a chance to compete.

France and Italy are the two teams in this tournament with the fewest NHL players, and it should have been pretty obvious from the beginning that they weren't going to be able to hang with what are essentially a bunch of NHL All-Star teams.

Italy is in the tournament as the host country, while France was included because Russia could not participate. For all intents and purposes, including both teams effectively reduces the 12-team field to a 10-team field for medal contention. These two teams simply do not have the talent.