Five Maple Leafs Who Are a Lock for Their Olympic Teams

Today the NHL announced that it would be sending players to the Winter Games in Beijing in February 2022. The Olympics are bound to stir some country-on-country enthusiasm; however, there are also internal NHL team rivalries at play as well.

For example, when Team Canada meets Team USA, the Toronto Maple Leafs will send one of the team’s best players against another of the team’s best players when Canada’s Mitch Marner goes line-vs.-line against his Maple Leafs’ US teammate Auston Matthews. That’s exciting.

There are a number of Maple Leafs players, aside from Marner and Matthews who likely will also be on their country’s team. In this post, I want to share five Maple Leafs’ players I believe will be on their country’s respective Olympic teams.

Related: Quickly Gone Maple Leafs Nick Foligno Seemed Like a Plan at the Time

Marner and Matthews Are Locks, But There Are Others

There will be some great teams in the Olympics. Obviously, both Canada and the United States should be in the mix. However, the teams from Russia, Sweden, Finland the Czech Republic, Germany, and Slovakia should win a game or two along the way. And, it’s likely that Team Denmark will be backstopped by former Maple Leafs’ goalie Frederik Andersen as well.

Certain, Marner and Matthews are locks to make the team; however, there are other players who also will likely play on their country’s Olympic team as well. Let’s look at some of these players.

Team Canada

Marner is likely to make the team. However, there are other Maple Leafs’ players who – depending upon need or injury – might also line up for Team Canada. Morgan Rielly and John Tavares are the most likely, but neither is a sure thing. If I were a Team Canada general manager, I’d also look at a couple of defensemen. My first choice would be T.J. Brodie and my second would be Jake Muzzin. Brodie, for me, has the best game for the larger ice surface.

Team USA

Obviously, Matthew is as sure a thing as one can find to make his team. But is there a chance that Jack Campbell – especially if he’s playing well – could make Team USA? That would be sweet for the young goalie who, until last season, was a career backup.

Team Sweden

Team Sweden is interesting because I read that William Nylander was left off the names of players invited to it’s a preliminary camp in Stockholm to choose its team for the 2022 Olympics. There were 27 players invited, but Nylander wasn’t one of those.

The other invitee might be defenseman Rasmus Sandin. Sandin has done will on the international stage, albeit it at the junior level. Still, he’s a player to watch out for.

The Czech Republic

One other certainty for an Olympic team invite would be goalie Petr Mrazek. He’s likely to be called to participate. The other newcomer on the team who might play would be new bottom-six center David Kampf. I’d root for Ondrej Kase as well, but he’s likely to be on LTIR with his concussion issues.

Related: Why the Maple Leafs’ Joey Anderson Might Be Gone Soon?

Team Latvia

Perhaps one of the most fun players to watch would be Maple Leafs’ prospect Kristians Rubins. Rubins is a 23-year-old, 6-foot-5 Latvian left-shot defenseman who’s played the last three seasons with the Toronto Marlies. What a chance for him to get some great playing time in for some learning time.

The Final Call

Those are the five players on the Maple Leafs who I believe are a lock to make their Olympic team’s rosters – Marner for Team Canada, Matthews for Team USA, Mrazek for Team Czech Republic, Nylander for Team Sweden, and Rubins for Team Latvia.

Obviously, we won’t know for a while. There might be more Maple Leafs’ players.

February will be an odd time for the NHL to call a hiatus, but it will be interesting to watch the Olympic final game – especially if it (as expected) pits Team Canada against Team USA.