The 12 countries participating in men’s hockey at the Olympic Winter Games Milano Cortina 2026 are naming the first six players to their preliminary rosters Monday.
The men’s tournament will start with preliminary games Feb. 11, with the gold medal game scheduled for Feb. 22.
The remainder of the rosters will be announced later this year.
This is the first time NHL players will participate in the Olympics since 2014.
Here are the first six players on Team Germany’s preliminary roster (listed in alphabetical order):
The Edmonton Oilers star led the NHL with 52 goals this season, the fourth time he’s scored at least 50 in the NHL, and had 106 points, the sixth time in seven season’s he’s topped 100. Draisaitl, 29, won the Art Ross Trophy (scoring title), Hart Trophy (NHL MVP) and Ted Lindsay Award (most outstanding player as voted by the NHL Players’ Association) in 2019-20. Since 2018-19, he is second in the NHL in points (749) trailing only teammate Connor McDavid (826), and second in goals (324) behind Auston Matthews of the Toronto Maple Leafs (327). The Cologne native has played for Germany at the World Championships five times and won silver with Team Europe at the 2016 World Cup of Hockey.
A Stanley Cup winner with the Washington Capitals in 2018, Grubauer’s 166 wins are first all-time among Germany-born goalies. He was 8-17-1 with a 3.49 goals-against average and an .875 save percentage in 26 games for the Seattle Kraken this season. The 33-year-old from Rosenheim has played for Germany at the Worlds four times, most recently in 2024. He is 166-139-33 with a 2.65 GAA, a .908 save percentage and 22 shutouts 369 games with the Capitals, Colorado Avalanche and the Kraken.
Reichel had a career-high 22 points (eight goals, 14 assists) in 70 games for the Chicago Blackhawks this season, his fourth in the NHL. The 23-year-old from Nuremberg has 54 points (20 goals, 34 assists) in 169 games since being the No. 17 pick by Chicago at the 2020 NHL Draft. Reichel has 18 points (seven goals, 11 assists) in 19 games for Germany in three appearances at the Worlds.
Seider won the Calder Trophy as NHL rookie of the year in 2021-22 when the Zell native had 50 points (seven goals, 43 assists) in 82 games for the Detroit Red Wings. The No. 6 pick by Detroit at the 2019 NHL Draft, he has 180 points (29 goals, 151 assists) in 328 games and has not missed a game in his first four seasons. The 24-year-old has played for Germany five times at the Worlds, including a silver medal in 2023.
Nico Sturm, F
Playing for two teams this season, Sturm had 14 points (seven goals, seven assists) in 62 games for the San Jose Sharks and Florida Panthers. The 30-year-old from Augsburg has 92 points (46 goals, 46 assists) in 331 games and won the Stanley Cup with the Colorado Avalanche in 2022, when he had two assists in 13 playoff games. He had eight points (six goals, two assists) in 10 games at the 2023 for silver-winning Germany at the 2023 Worlds, and he also competed at the tournament the following year.
Tim Stutzle, F
The No. 3 pick by the Ottawa Senators at the 2020 NHL Draft, Stutzle led them this season with 79 points (24 goals, 55 assists) in 82 games and had five points (two goals, three assists) in six playoff games. A Viersen native, he has 326 points (115 goals, 211 assists) in 367 games for Ottawa. The 23-year-old has played in the Worlds and the World Junior Championships twice each, including in 2021 when he had five goals and 10 points in five games.
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