Why Russia is banned from 2026 Winter Olympic Games: NHL superteam that might have conquered Men's Hockey in Milan

When NHL superstars shine on the ice in Milano Cortina in the 2026 Winter Olympic Games, there is one major hockey power missing in action: Russia. The Russian men’s and women’s teams are not in the Olympic hockey tournament, which has changed the landscape of Olympic hockey—and also prevented some of the NHL’s biggest stars from being part of the global hockey team.
The ban imposed on Russia by the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF), as a penalty for the invasion of Ukraine in 2022, is also in effect for the upcoming 2026 Olympic Games. The Milan championships will thus be significantly changed since Russia will be unable to field a team.

Alex Ovechkin, Nikita Kucherov, Kirill Kaprizov and other names in stacked Russian roster that will never take on Olympics ice

If Russia were included as a competitor, it would probably be considered a favorite for the gold. Supposedly, their roster is full of NHL All-Stars, especially at forward.
The talent level in that top line would be able to be a prime scoring unit by itself, and it would include players like Alex Ovechkin, Evgeni Malkin, and Nikita Kucherov, who have collected numerous MVP trophies, Stanley Cup rings, and scoring titles during their careers. A second line with players like Kirill Kaprizov, Pavel Buchnevich, and Artemi Panarin would be just as threatening, and Andrei Svechnikov, Ivan Barbashev, and Kirill Marchenko provide even more goal-scorers.
Despite that kind of firepower, the center depth might have been an issue beyond Malkin, perhaps necessitating natural wingers to play the middle due to depth considerations.
On the back end, the Russians would have provided size, shutdown ability, and puck skills. The puck skills would have come from the pairing of Mikhail Sergachev and Vladislav Gavrikov on the back end, along with the size and expertise of Nikita Zadorov and Dmitry Orlov.
Overall, Russia would have had, arguably, the best goaltending trio going into this tournament in net. Having Vezina Trophy winners and Stanley Cup champions like Igor Shesterkin, Andrei Vasilevskiy, and Sergei Bobrovsky is an asset to any team.
This ban also applies to individuals. Ovechkin has not competed in the Olympics since 2018. This means that Ovechkin will therefore never compete in the Olympics again since he is currently aged 40 years.
While Canada, the United States, Sweden, and Finland are racing for gold and have complete rosters of participating hockey players, there are still questions about what happened regarding the absence of Russia and how different the race for first place, gold, could have been with one of the best talent pools.


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