The Jets played their final game before the Olympic break back on Wednesday, falling 5-1 to the Montreal Canadiens at Canada Life Centre. After 56 games played, the Jets sit 28th overall in the NHL league standings, well back of a playoff spot and currently 8.5% chance at winning the 1st overall pick at the 2026 NHL draft. They’ll be plenty of time to discuss what has gone wrong this season, but right now the focus is on the 2026 Winter Olympics. The 2025-26 NHL season is now “paused” until February 24th for the Winter Olympics, as hockey fans will get to see NHL players play in the Olympics for the first time since 2014.

Jets fans will have three different countries to watch for during the Men’s Olympic hockey tournament, with four players now in Italy preparing for their first games. The Winnipeg Jets representing their countries at the 2026 Winter Olympics are Nino Niederreiter (Switzerland), Josh Morrissey (Canada), Kyle Connor (USA) and Connor Hellebuyck (USA). Canada is in Group A with Switzerland, Czechia and France, while USA is in Group C alongside Germany, Latvia and Denmark. The host Italians are in a tough group B with Finland, Sweden and Slovakia.

A strong candidate to be selected as one of the Swiss captains (likely alternate), Niederreiter is back representing Switzerland at the world stage. Niederreiter was named one of the flag bearers for Switzerland for the opening ceremony, and had the great honour of leading athletes from his country at this grand event on Friday. Niederreiter will be playing in his 2nd Olympics (1st time in 2014) and he’s represented Switzerland at the World Championships six times previously. You might also remember Niederreiter on “Team Europe” during the World Cup of Hockey in 2016. Switzerland will have a tough set of group games, but their core group of talented NHLers, including Niederreiter, could be a fun team to watch this tournament.

Most recently playing for Canada at the Four Nations Face-Off Tournament, Morrissey is back in Canadian colours. Team Canada hit the ice in Italy for their first practice today, and it appears that Morrissey could be on Canada’s 2nd defence pairing with St. Louis Blues defenceman Colton Parayko. Canada is the favourite to win Gold with a stacked roster, and although Morrissey might go “unnoticed” amongst all the star players on Canada, you can still bet that he’ll make an impact on this team. Morrissey could see some powerplay time on the 2nd unit, and Canada will likely roll out Morrissey in a variety of situations throughout the three group stage games.

Both Connor and Hellebuyck are important members of Team USA, who are looking to win their first Olympic Gold Medal since the “miracle on ice” in 1980. Hellebuyck is expected to be the starting goalie for USA, who have three terrific goalies, as Jake Oettinger and Jeremy Swayman may also get some playing time during the group stage games. USA didn’t select some elite goal scorers to their team such as Cole Caufield and Jason Robertson, which means that Kyle Connor will be one of the players that could play a big goal scoring roll. Connor didn’t have the best tournament at the 4 Nations Face-Off, eventually leading to very limited ice time, but I expect him be much better this time around.

The Men’s ice hockey tournament begins on February 11th, but the first chance to see these Jets players in action will be on February 12th. Nino Niederreiter and Switzerland open their tournament against France at 5:10 am CST. Later that morning, at 9:40 am CST, Josh Morrissey and Canada will battle Czechia. In the afternoon, at 2:10 pm CST, Kyle Connor, Connor Hellebuyck and the Americans will face off against Latvia to conclude a busy second day of the tournament. The championship Gold Medal game doesn’t go down until February 22nd at 7:10 am CST, so get ready to buckle in for an exciting two weeks of Olympic hockey featuring four Winnipeg Jets players.