Olympic Hockey: Which NHL Teams Benefit Most & Least From Break?

The three-week break from NHL betting won't mean that hockey fans will go without their favorite sport. That's because the Winter Olympics are coming and NHL players are going to participate for the first time since 2014.

Which NHL teams might benefit most from the league's stoppage and which ones likely won't? To find out, RotoWire.com came up with a system for figuring it out. Here are the teams, with the explanation below (teams with the fewest points are assumed to get the most rest and thus are at the top of the list). Olympic rosters are from NHL.com as of Jan. 20:

Teams Getting Most And Least Rest During Olympics

Check out RotoWire for the best sportsbook promo codes plus more NHL and Olympics coverage.

Our method for determining total points was as follows: Each NHL player on an Olympic roster for the 2026 Winter Games in Milan, Italy, was worth a point. Then we added one point for each player who is on an expected medal contender (USA, Canada, Sweden, Finland) and half a point for each player on a team that we think might earn a surprise medal with an upset or two (Czechia, Switzerland, Slovakia, Germany). We assigned no extra points for players representing Latvia, Denmark or France. The roster for host Italy, which was released on Jan. 20, has no NHL players.

Who Might Benefit Most From Olympic Break?

The New York Islanders are in the Eastern Conference playoff race. As of Jan. 20, they had 59 points and sat second in the Metropolitan Division. BetMGM Sportsbook has +250 odds on the Isles to reach the playoffs, as opposed to +200 odds that they miss out.

They are only sending one player to the Winter Games, Canadian forward Bo Horvat. The Chicago Blackhawks also only have one Olympic representative, F Teuvo Teravainen of Finland. The team at the top of our rankings, the Calgary Flames, went from two Olympic players to one when they traded Swedish defenseman Rasmus Andersson to the Vegas Golden Knights on Jan. 19. Forward Martin Pospisil of Slovakia is now Calgary's lone Olympic representative.

Two teams have only two players each on Olympic rosters: The two-time defending Western Conference champion Edmonton Oilers (F Connor McDavid, Canada, and F Leon Draisaitl, Germany) and the Columbus Blue Jackets (goaltender Elvis Merzlikins, Latvia, and D Zach Werenski, USA).

Customers using the Caesars Sportsbook promo code can get +600 odds on the Oilers to reach the Stanley Cup final for the third consecutive season.

The Blue Jackets, Blackhawks and Flames are well behind in the playoff chase.

Which Teams Might Expend A Lot Of Energy In Italy?

According to our metrics, there are two teams that won't benefit much from the February stoppage in NHL play. They are the two Sunshine State archrivals who, between them, have earned six East titles and four Stanley Cups over the past six NHL seasons – the two-time defending Cup champion Florida Panthers and the current Atlantic Division leaders, the Tampa Bay Lightning.

Tampa Bay has 10 players, as of Jan. 20, listed on the Olympic rosters at NHL.com, the most of any team. That includes forwards Anthony Cirelli (above), Brandon Hagel and Brayden Point for Canada, F Pontus Holmberg and D Victor Hedman for Sweden and American F Jake Guentzel. Point (leg injury) and Hedman (arm surgery) are both trying to overcome injuries before the Games. Four other Lightning players are headed to Milan: F Oliver Bjorkstrand, Denmark; F Zemgus Girgensons, Latvia; D Erik Cernak, Slovakia; and D J.J. Moser, Switzerland.

They'll be joined by Lightning head coach Jon Cooper, who will occupy the same role for Team Canada during the Olympics. At BetRivers Sportsbook, Tampa Bay is the +275 favorite to win the East.

As for the Panthers, all but one of their players will be with a top Olympic medal contender: Fs Brad Marchand and Sam Reinhart for Canada; Fs Anton Lundell and Eetu Luostarinen plus D Niko Mikkola for Finland; D Gustav Forsling for Sweden; and F Matthew Tkachuk and D Seth Jones for Team USA. Florida D Uvis Balinskis will suit up for Latvia.

The Golden Knights, Colorado Avalanche, and New Jersey Devils have eight players each headed to Italy, but we think the tournament will take more out of the Avs because all but one of their players will be competing for a top medal contender.

The Dallas Stars and Minnesota Wild (seven players each) are in a similar situation.

Team Canada is the gold-medal favorite at DraftKings Sportsbook with +125 odds, followed by Team USA (+200), Sweden (+500) and defending Olympic champ Finland (+900).

A Hidden Factor In Teams Getting Rest

There is one major hockey power missing from this year's Olympics: Russia. Their nation is banned from Olympic competition because of Russia's invasion of Ukraine (so is Belarus for its support of Russia).

Normally, the Lightning would have sent even more players to Italy because two of Tampa Bay's other stars would have been locks for Team Russia had there been one: G Andrei Vasilevskiy and F Nikita Kucherov. Vasilevskiy, 31, is a one-time Vezina Trophy winner and a five-time finalist. Kucherov. 32, has earned the Art Ross Trophy as the league's leading scorer three times, including the past two seasons; he has won one Hart Trophy and finished in the top three of MVP voting two other times.

The Panthers, who are perhaps even more banged-up than their rivals about 250 miles north, will also get to give top forwards Sam Bennett, the reigning Conn Smythe recipient as playoff MVP, and Carter Verhaeghe some time off. Neither made Team Canada's roster.

Stay with RotoWire for the best sports betting apps reviews that you can check before you sign up with an operator.