It’s no secret that the Vancouver Canucks have not had a great season — but how would they stack up against the 2026 Winter Olympic men’s hockey teams?
That’s a question that NHL Hall-of-Famer and former first-overall pick Mike Modano answered while on TSN’s OverDrive, claiming that Team Switzerland would beat the Canucks “maybe seven” times in a 10-game series.
“I’ve always thought the Swiss play a real good team game, but that’s the only thing that saves them and keeps these games going, but they don’t really have anybody to break open any games,” he explained on the show. “They always seem to play real tight defensively, and play good, and just kind of wear you down and hope you make a mistake. I don’t know if Vancouver has that type of patience in their game anymore.”
Vancouver, which currently sits at 32nd in the NHL, has seven members of the organization currently at the 2026 Winter Olympics: Elias Pettersson (Sweden), Kevin Lankinen (Finland), Teddy Blueger and Anri Ravinskis (Latvia), Filip Hronek and David Kämpf (Czechia), and Lukas Reichel (Germany). Only five of these players play with their NHL club regularly.
Switzerland’s roster, while only sporting 10 active NHL players, is still filled with high-end talent. Standout players include three New Jersey Devils — captain Nico Hischier, forward Timo Meier, and defenceman Jonas Siegenthaler; Kevin Fiala of the Los Angeles Kings (who suffered an unfortunate injury that will keep him out of the remainder of the Olympics); and former Canucks centre Pius Suter. As well, Nashville Predators star and former James Norris Memorial Trophy winner Roman Josi leads the way from their blueline.
Switzerland, which is in Group A during the 2026 Winter Olympics, faced Hronek and Kämpf in ther matchup with Czechia earlier today, taking a surprising 4–3 win in overtime. Their only loss of the preliminary round came against Canada, which they dropped by a score of 5–1. Switzerland finishes the preliminary round in second place in Group A with a record of 1–1–0–1.
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