Olympic Flame is Stoking

Today, January 29th, 2026, we are officially one week away from the Olympic trade freeze, where teams across the NHL will be forced to hold all transactions until the countries of the world have finished the fight for gold.

The games will begin on February 11th in Milan, Italy, where 12 teams have been split into three groups of four, organized as follows:

Group A: Canada, Czech Republic, Switzerland, & France

Group B: Finland, Sweden, Slovakia, & Italy

Group C: United States, Germany, Latvia, & Denmark

Now, obviously Team USA and Team Canada are favorites for this tournament, with extra sauce being brought in from the Four Nations Faceoff, which just stirred the pot of hatred between these powerhouses. (For anyone interested in the climax of this rivalry at the tournament, this video speaks for itself.)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pUa6c7DNmQY

Four Nations Faceoff: 3 Fights in 9 Seconds

American and Canadian players have dominated the professional world of hockey for a long time now, with between 70% and 90% of players consistently being born in North America. There is one small asterisk to that ratio. In 1980, only ~12% of those players were from the States, while in the 2024–25 season, that number has reached ~42%. This has led to some of the most stacked rosters in hockey history, such as the team that Canada brought to Chamonix, France, in 1924, where they outscored their opponents by a combined score of 132–3 in their six games.

That ratio beginning to level out has made Team USA more and more competitive in this rivalry, leading sportsbooks to give them the best statistical chance to take home gold in American Olympic history.

This will be a matchup of the ages, and while I’m hoping to see an amazing showcase of hockey on the world stage, I’m all in on TEAM USA and pushing for Auston Matthews to bring the gold back to the United States for the first time since the Miracle on Ice.

U S A, U S A, U S A, U S A