{"id":481164,"date":"2026-01-02T19:44:52","date_gmt":"2026-01-03T00:44:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/?p=481164"},"modified":"2026-01-02T19:44:52","modified_gmt":"2026-01-03T00:44:52","slug":"2026-team-finland-olympic-roster-reveal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/2026\/01\/02\/2026-team-finland-olympic-roster-reveal\/","title":{"rendered":"2026 Team Finland Olympic Roster Reveal"},"content":{"rendered":"<p style=\"text-align: left;\">With the 2026 Winter Olympics in Milano Cortina rapidly approaching and NHL players returning to Olympic ice hockey for the first time since 2014, several nations have now unveiled their squads. The deadline to submit rosters to the IIHF was December 31st. However, teams have been delayed in releasing their rosters to the public. Team <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/2026\/01\/02\/2026-men-team-usa-hockey-winter-olympic-roster-reveal\/\" target=\"_self\">USA<\/a>, Team <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/2025\/12\/31\/2026-team-canada-winter-olympic-roster-news-announcement\/\" target=\"_self\">Canada<\/a>, Team <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/2026\/01\/02\/2026-team-sweden-olympic-roster-reveal\/\" target=\"_self\">Sweden<\/a>, and others have revealed their rosters over the past few days, setting the stage for one of the most competitive tournaments in recent memory. Now, Finland, the reigning Olympic gold medalist from Beijing 2022, has officially announced its men\u2019s hockey roster for the Milano-Cortina Games.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">The roster for Finland at the <a  href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/MilanoCortina2026?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">#MilanoCortina2026<\/a> <a  href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/WinterOlympics?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">#WinterOlympics<\/a> is here! \ud83c\uddeb\ud83c\uddee <a  href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/H6blKyxjGV\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">pic.twitter.com\/H6blKyxjGV<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; NHL (@NHL) <a  href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/NHL\/status\/2007091484487540906?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">January 2, 2026<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2>Finland Olympic Hockey 2026 Roster<\/h2>\n<h3>Forwards<\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li>Sebastian Aho \u2013 Carolina Hurricanes<\/li>\n<li>Joel Armia \u2013 Los Angeles Kings<\/li>\n<li>Mikael Granlund \u2013 Anaheim Ducks<\/li>\n<li>Erik Haula \u2013 Nashville Predators<\/li>\n<li>Roope Hintz \u2013 Dallas Stars<\/li>\n<li>Kaapo Kakko \u2013 Seattle Kraken<\/li>\n<li>Oliver Kapanen \u2013 Montreal Canadiens<\/li>\n<li>Joel Kiviranta \u2013 Colorado Avalanche<\/li>\n<li>Artturi Lehkonen \u2013 Colorado Avalanche<\/li>\n<li>Anton Lundell \u2013 Florida Panthers<\/li>\n<li>Eetu Luostarinen \u2013 Florida Panthers<\/li>\n<li>Mikko Rantanen \u2013 Dallas Stars<\/li>\n<li>Teuvo Teravainen \u2013 Chicago Blackhawks<\/li>\n<li>Eeli Tolvanen \u2013 Seattle Kraken <span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3>Forward Group Notes<\/h3>\n<p>Finland\u2019s forward corps is versatile and deep. They do well at blending top-end scoring stars like Aho, Rantanen, and Hintz with smart playmakers and role players.<\/p>\n<p>Finland\u2019s captain and star centre Aleksander Barkov is not on the roster. That was after suffering a knee injury during the NHL preseason. Needless to say, it is a significant absence, given his leadership and two-way impact.<\/p>\n<p>Without captain Aleksander Barkov, other centres, such as Lundell and Granlund, are expected to shoulder more responsibility. There is going to be plenty of debate over how head coach Antti Pennanen lines up his top six to balance scoring, speed, and defensive responsibility<\/p>\n<h3>Defencemen<\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li>Miro Heiskanen \u2013 Dallas Stars<\/li>\n<li>Henri Jokiharju \u2013 Boston Bruins<\/li>\n<li>Mikko Lehtonen \u2013 ZSC Lions (Europe)<\/li>\n<li>Esa Lindell \u2013 Dallas Stars<\/li>\n<li>Olli Maatta \u2013 Utah Mammoth<\/li>\n<li>Nikolas Matinpalo \u2013 Ottawa Senators<\/li>\n<li>Niko Mikkola \u2013 Florida Panthers<\/li>\n<li>Rasmus Ristolainen \u2013 Philadelphia Flyers <span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3>Defence Group Notes<\/h3>\n<p>Finland\u2019s blueline is headlined by Miro Heiskanen, one of the nation\u2019s premier defencemen and likely the engine of the top pair. Lindell provides reliable two-way play alongside him. Furthermore, veterans like Jokiharju and Mikkola bring physicality and experience.<\/p>\n<p>Lehtonen adds an international flair from the Swiss league, helping to round out a group that projects to be sound defensively, though some question marks remain once you get past the top four.<\/p>\n<h3>Goaltenders<\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li>Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen \u2013 Buffalo Sabres<\/li>\n<li>Kevin Lankinen \u2013 Vancouver Canucks<\/li>\n<li>Juuse Saros \u2013 Nashville Predators <span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h4>Goaltender Group Notes<\/h4>\n<p>Finland\u2019s crease boasts a trio of goalies with NHL experience. Juuse Saros, typically the starter, has shown the ability to steal games. Though numbers as of recently haven\u2019t always matched his reputation.<\/p>\n<p>Lankinen and Luukkonen both offer solid options behind him, giving Finland flexibility in net as they navigate a tournament loaded with elite scoring talent.<\/p>\n<h3>NHL-Heavy Roster<\/h3>\n<p>Finland\u2019s squad features 24 NHL players and one European league player, making it one of the strongest lineups in the tournament.<\/p>\n<h3>Star Power Headliners<\/h3>\n<p>The roster is anchored by elite talents like Sebastian Aho, Mikko Rantanen, Roope Hintz, and Miro Heiskanen, all of whom are expected to play pivotal roles for Finland. Multiple players have extensive international experience, including time with the national team in world championships and other major tournaments.<\/p>\n<h3>What This Means for Finland<\/h3>\n<p>With NHL players back in the Olympics for the first time in over a decade, expectations are high for Finland to be a major contender. Even without Barkov, the roster\u2019s experience and star players make them a serious medal threat. <span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p>Finland enters Milano-Cortina featuring a mix of scoring punch, defensive stability, and reliable goaltending. Their group will face stiff competition in preliminary play, but with depth across all units the Finns are poised to make another deep run on the world stage.<\/p>\n<p>Main Photo: David Kirouac-Imagn Images<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>With the 2026 Winter Olympics in Milano Cortina rapidly approaching and NHL players returning to Olympic ice hockey for the first time since 2014, several nations have now unveiled their squads. The deadline to submit rosters to the IIHF was December 31st. However, teams have been delayed in releasing their rosters to the public. Team [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5725,"featured_media":463752,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[2963,4547,304,34,4548],"tags":[1083,5726],"class_list":["post-481164","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-olympics","category-hockey","category-international-hockey","category-news","category-nhl","tag-aleksander-barkov","tag-team-finland"],"modified_by":"Levi Pike, Editor","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/481164","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5725"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=481164"}],"version-history":[{"count":16,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/481164\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":481191,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/481164\/revisions\/481191"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/463752"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=481164"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=481164"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=481164"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}