Leon Draisaitl Will Get His Chance to Shine at the 2026 Winter Olympics – The Hockey Writers Edmonton Oilers Latest News, Analysis & More

Sorry hockey fans — I tend to look at the 4 Nations Face-Off in the same light as the Challenge Cup in 1979. It’s not really best-on-best hockey like the Canada Cup or Olympics, but it’s hockey and that’s all that matters. I remember the three Challenge Cup games well, including the bitter final 6-0 game where the CCCP totally steam rolled the NHL All Stars. It left me feeling shortchanged as a hockey fan.

Related: Guide to the 2025 4 Nations Face-Off

Fast-forward 46 years, and I’m happy to watch the 4 Nations Face-Off, but I know I’m not seeing all the best players in the world competing, including Alex Ovechkin, Andrei Vasilevskiy, and especially Leon Draisaitl. With the season Draisaitl’s currently having in 2024-25, it’s too bad hockey fans will have to wait until the 2026 Olympic Winter Games in Milano Cortina to see Draisaitl represent his home country of Germany. He deserves to have his moment in the spotlight, especially after so many years of riding shotgun for Connor McDavid on the Edmonton Oilers.

The Olympic Games mean a lot to the Draisaitl family. Leon’s Dad, Peter, played hockey for Germany in three Winter Olympics: Calgary in 1988, Albertville in 1992, and in Nagano in 1998. Now a head coach with Krefeld Pinguine of the DEL2, a second-tier hockey league in Germany, I’m wondering if there might be a chance that Peter Draisaitl is somehow involved with what will certainly be the most talented German men’s national team in their history. Led by Leon Draisaitl, the team will also feature NHL players such as Tim Stützle, J.J. Peterka, Lukas Reichel, Nico Sturm, Moritz Seider, and Philipp Grubauer. But this will be Leon’s big moment internationally.

He’s currently at the height of his powers as an NHL player and is well positioned to win the Hart Trophy as NHL MVP for the second time in his career . If everything goes well for the Oilers this spring, he could be hoisting the Stanley Cup. Winning a Stanley Cup would be a career highlight for Draisaitl, however having the chance to represent Germany, like his father did more than 26 years ago, will mean something special to the 29-year-old forward.

Draisaitl Currently Getting Some Well-Deserved Rest

This season has been a whirlwind of sorts for all 32 teams. Teams have been playing a condensed schedule of up to three to four games a week in order to accommodate the two-week break for the 4 Nations Face-Off about to begin. Draisaitl, along with teammates such as Zach Hyman, Evan Bouchard, and Darnell Nurse — who might’ve been considered candidates for Team Canada, — are all able to rest up now and get ready for the run to the playoffs. Only McDavid (representing Canada), and fellow Oilers Mattias Ekholm and Viktor Arvidsson (representing Sweden) will be competing in the 4 Nations Face-Off.

Related: 3 Oilers Who Will Be Competing at the 4 Nations Face-Off

This two-week break will help the Oilers who aren’t playing in the tournament and will especially benefit Draisaitl, who’s been a work horse for the team since the beginning the season.

Get Ready for the Next Winter Olympics, Feb. 6–22, 2026

The 2026 Winter Olympics In Milano Cortina will be the first time NHLers have played in the Olympics in more than a decade. Russia and Belarus are currently banned from participating in all international hockey tournaments until May 2026 and that means all the best players in the world may not be competing. However, Draisaitl will be there representing Germany. It’ll be a great moment for the Oilers forward when he steps out on the Olympic ice for the first time as he will be alone in the spotlight, and maybe more importantly to him, he will be following in his dad’s footsteps.