The fastest skater, the strongest, more: The best of the Olympics in every skill

The rosters have been set, and the rink at Milan Cortina looks like it will be — technically speaking — ready to host the tournament. The first Olympic Games featuring NHL players since Sochi in 2014 are almost here, and there will be plenty of star power on hand.

To help curate the best players taking the ice in Italy in various aspects of the game — as we did before last year’s 4 Nations Face-Off — we’re once again turning to the NHL’s EDGE tracking data and other advanced metrics. Specifically, we wanted to highlight the Olympic-bound NHL players who have excelled over the past season and a half in four different measurable categories: Swing speed, shot power, offensive creation (between shooting and passing) and scoring (turning both harder shots).

The Olympic tournament will feature a deeper field of teams than the 4-nation event — 12 teams instead of four — meaning an even greater difference in playing styles and skill levels. And while the big names are sure to draw attention (and mostly dominate the data), we’ll also highlight the lesser-known players in each category whose contributions are easy to miss until you know where to look.

Here are the NHL’s Olympic players who stand out in the metrics that define modern hockey dominance heading to Milano Cortina:

Note: All figures and rates are as of Jan. 9, 2026.

Optional metrics: Maximum speed and burst of speed (with more weight to higher MPH) per game at equal power.

Click here to check out the full interactive chart.

Last year at the 4 Nations Face-Off, McDavid was ranked the fastest along with Team USA’s Jack Hughes. But while Hughes has returned to the American lineup, his velocity metrics have dipped slightly (from a whopping 23.3 MPH to 22.5, with a few more quick bursts) this season, while McDavid has only increased his speed.

He was joined in the top category of swimmers by Canada’s Nathan MacKinnon and Brayden Point, Czechia’s Martin Necas, US’s Jack Eichel, Finland’s Roope Hintz and Germany’s Tim Stutzle. Necas in particular has a very high gear that has rivaled McDavid’s in the past, and all of these skaters can beat past defenders in just a few steps.

Note: As we’ve noted before when discussing these speed stats, defensemen get fewer opportunities to show off their wheels than forwards, with one exception (cough, Cale Makar). So charts like the one above end up with fewer high speed cells and relatively little “burst”.

So enjoy the chances you get to see Quinn Hughes and Jaccob Slavin hit that 24-plus mph mark. And here’s another blueliner whose speed we probably don’t talk about enough: Team USA’s Jake Sanderson, who had a faster mph-per-mph than Hughes and a 60-speed burst faster than any other defender on the Olympic roster.

Optional metrics: Strongest shooting speed and high velocity shots (with more weight to higher mph) per game at equal power.

Click here to check out the full interactive chart.

Last year’s 4 Nations heavyweight champion, Sweden’s Victor Hedman, has company at the Olympics. That’s because Thompson was named to the American team this time around, giving Team USA the biggest bump in the game it has. At 6-foot-6, Thompson gets his full frame on a shot that topped 106 mph last season, and while he hasn’t topped 98 mph this season, he’s still the only player at Milan Cortina who can match Hedman’s level of hard shots.

While these two are in a league of their own, the next tier is led by Sweden’s Gustav Forsling in terms of superior power, and Swiss D-man Roman Josi’s pure output of shots per game that strikes fear into the hearts of opposing goalies.

Note: Thompson is an amazing player against the trend, but EDGE’s shooting speed stats have the opposite trend of skating speed: They favor defenders, who shoot perimeter slappers over other types of shots — which not only increases their average shooting speed but also causes them to generate more difficult shots per game than forwards.

So if a wing player like Sweden’s Adrian Kempe can take more than 1.5 shots in the 80-90 mph range per game this season, he’s one to watch out for.

Best offensive creator:
David Pastrnak, RW, Czechia

Optional metrics: Goals Created as a shooter (including actual and expected goals) and passer per 60 minutes at 5-on-5.

Click here to check out the full interactive chart.

It’s hard to believe that anyone can register more production than MacKinnon or McDavid, who gives Team Canada an offensive tandem that may not have been seen since Wayne Gretzky and Mario Lemieux in the 1987 Canada Cup.

But when it comes to scoring goals for himself and others every minute, the Czech star, David Pastrnak, has won more than any Canadian icon. His play can’t be compared to the Olympians, with a league-best 1.33 assists per 60 minutes over the past season and a half, while holding his own in the scoring department (real or expected) with MacKinnon and McDavid – or inferior to pure scorers like Thompson and Auston Matthews there.

Yes, the competition is still fierce on the right side of that chart. In addition to Canada’s top two players, we also see Necas, Germany’s Leon Draisaitl, Canada’s seemingly ageless Sidney Crosby, Team USA’s Matthew Tkachuk and another Canadian one-two punch — Brandon Hagel as a scorer and Mitch Marner as a setup man — sitting near the top.

Note: Amidst all that blinding star power, it might be easy to lose track of Canada’s youngest NHL player ever to make the Olympic team — if it weren’t for the fact that Macklin Celebrini demands attention every time he steps on the ice.

Celebrini’s development this season has been astounding, and his performance is pulling San Jose into a playoff bid and earning him MVP honors in what would be the third-youngest season in Hart Trophy history if it happens. As part of that, he has goal levels and created assistants who live in the same place as the other names above, which is an absurd fact for a 19-year-old.

Optional metrics: Goals Saved Above Average (GSAA) per 60 minutes at 5-on-5 at high risk and all other opportunities.

Click here to check out the full, interactive chart.

The latest example of our slight changing of the guard since last year’s 4 Nations tournament is between the pipes, where reigning league MVP Connor Hellebuyck of Team USA has been outdone in the goaltending department — in both high-danger and routine opportunities — by young Swedish netminder Wallstedt, who was not on the country’s roster last year.

It was Wallstedt who led all NHL forwards in goals in addition to substitutions this season, minding the net for Minnesota, and his blocking of dangerous shots in particular surpassed that of any other backstop in the Olympics. Hellebuyck’s multi-year numbers are still among the best, of course, sitting alongside Canadian Darcy Kuemper and Logan Thompson and Swede Filip Gustavsson in the division below Wallstedt.

Be careful: In addition to the above group, there is only one goalie on the Olympic field who performed above average in both dangerous and normal shots last season and change: Flyer Dan Vladar, who represented Czechia in Milano Cortina. Vladar is not a clear-cut starter for the Czechs, as Lukas Dostal and Karel Vejmelka both offer first-team experience, but his name could be an interesting name to watch if he gets a chance in Italy.