The overwhelming majority of the Men’s Olympic teams’ leadership groups have been chosen. Not surprisingly, the medalist favorites consist almost exclusively of NHL players.
Team Canada has as its captain Sidney Crosby, and his alternates will be Cale Makar and Connor McDavid. Crosby is no stranger to wearing the “C” for his team. Crosby has been Pittsburgh’s captain since he was 19 years old, is now a two-time captain of the Canadian Olympic team, and was Team Canada’s captain at last season’s Four Nations Tournament. McDavid and Crosby are expected to center the first and third lines for Team Canada, respectively. Makar will man the first D pairing with Avs’ teammate Devon Toews.
The captain of Team USA will be Toronto’s Auston Matthews, and the alternates are Boston’s Charlie McAvoy and Florida’s Matthew Tkachuk. This is the second go-round for Matthews as captain of Team USA, as he held the same role at last season’s Four Nations Face-off. In fact, this is the same leadership group the Americans had at that tournament. Matthews is expected to be the team’s first-line center, with Minnesota’s Matthew Boldy and Tampa’s Jake Guentzel as his wingers.
For Team Czechia, the “C” will be worn by veteran Roman Cervenka, and his alternates will be Anaheim’s Radko Gudas and Boston’s David Pastrnak. Cervenka currently plays for Dynamo Pardubice in Czechia’s top pro league, and is the sole non-NHL’er among the leadership groups of the medalist favorites. Also, Pastrnak is expected to be on Czechia’s first line with Martin Necas and Tomas Hertl.
Team Finland‘s leadership group consists of Anaheim’s Mikael Granlund, Dallas’ Mikko Rantanen & Carolina’s Sebastian Aho. Granlund & Rantanen will be first-line wingers, with Aho serving as the second-line center.
Captaining Team Sweden will be Colorado’s Gabriel Landeskog, and his alternates will be d-men Victor Hedman of Tampa & Erik Karlsson of Pittsburgh. Landeskog will be the fourth line left-winger, and Hedman & Karlsson will occupy a spot on the second and third D pairings, respectively.