New York Rangers: Future Olympians abound
By Steve Paulus
Canada
It’s telling that there are no sure fire candidates for Team Canada on the current Rangers roster. The Rangers have a history of not drafting Canadian players and it shows in their Olympics participation. Considering the strength of the Canadian roster, there is no Blueshirt who could qualify.
In 2026, the Rangers could have some potential participants in defense prospect Matthew Robertson and forward Morgan Barron. Of course, if the Rangers win the NHL Draft Lottery and get Alexis Lafreniere, that changes everything.
2014 (Gold Medal): Rick Nash
2002 (Gold Medal): Theo Fleury, Eric Lindros
1998: Wayne Gretzky
Russia
Two current Rangers could play a big role with the Russian Olympics squad. Artemi Panarin is a lock to make the team and their top line left winger. Igor Shesterkin could be the number one goalie at the games, but will have stiff competition from Andrei Vasilevskiy and Ilya Samsonov.
Upfront, Pavel Buchnevich could be an Olympian and if Vitali Kravtsov shows the skill that made him the ninth overall draft pick in 2018, he has an outside shot, but he only has a season and a half to prove it. Don’t count Alexandar Georgiev out either, he’s shown the ability to rise to the occasion.
All five of the these players are contenders for the 2026 Games along with defenseman Yegor Rykov.
2006: Fedor Tyutin, Darius Kasparaitis
2002 (Bronze Medal): Vladimir Malakhov
Sweden
Henrik Lundqvist has been a fixture on Team Sweden since 2006, but it’s questionable if he will be Ranger in 2022 and if he would even make the team. Mika Zibanejad will be a sure fire leader of the Swedish team and considering how well he is doing in the Swedish Hockey League, we may see Nils Lundkvist on the squad even if he hasn’t gotten to the NHL by that time. Lias Andersson? Hmm.
In 2026 look for Zibanejad and Lundkvist with an outside possibility of 2019 second round pick Karl Henriksson.
2014 (Silver Medal): Carl Hagelin, Henrik Lundqvist
2010: Henrik Lundqvist
2006 (Gold Medal): Henrik Lundqvist
1998: Ulf Samuelsson, Niklas Sundstrom
Finland
Kaapo Kakko is the Ranger’s candidate to make the Finnish national team in 2022. He’s a veteran of international competition and won a gold medal at the World Championships in 2019. He should be back in 2026 and may be joined by forward prospect Lauri Pajuniemi who blossomed in Liiga this season.
2010 (Bronze Medal): Olli Jokinen
2006: Ville Nieminen
Czech Republic
By 2022, Filip Chytil will have almost three seasons of NHL experience and should be ready for a leadership role on the Czech national team. He would be only the second player from the Rangers to play for the Czech Republic at the Olympic Games.
2002: Radek Dvorak
Other Rangers at the Olympics
It looks like as many as 11 current New York Rangers could represent their nations at the 2022 Olympics. If so, that would be the most in team history. The prior record was set in 2002 with eight Rangers played at the Olympic Games. 2014 there were seven Rangers at the Games. In 1998, the first year of NHL participation, six Rangers were there. Only five Rangers were at the Olympics in 2006 and 2010.
Here are some other Ranger Olympians:
2014: Mats Zuccarello (Norway)
2010: Marian Gaborik (Slovakia)
2006: Marcel Hossa (Slovakia)
2002: Peter Smrek (Slovakia)
The number of potential Olympians is a great indication of the talent pool belonging to the New York Rangers. Being chosen for an Olympics team means a player is elite and in 2022 the team could have the most Olympians in 20 years. That’s good news for all fans of the New York Rangers and will make watching hockey at the Olympics even more entertaining.