Apparently NHL is willing to allow players Italian descent to represent Italy in the 2026 Olympics, let's make rosters for other countries

[Bjornar Moxnes]

Imagine if Canadians and Americans of German descent, along with actual German born players were allowed to represent Germany:

Germany:
Brandon Hagel-Jack Eichel-Leon Draisaitl
Jake Guentzel-Tim Stützle-Sam Reinhart
JJ Peterka-Dylan Strome-Mitch Marner
Nico Sturm-Casey Mittelstadt-Nick Schmaltz

Devon Toews-Moritz Seider
Travis Sanheim-Brock Faber
Owen Zellweger-Michael Kesselring

Oettinger
Grubauer

Who would you choose for countries like Spain, Norway, France, etc.?

Click to read more...

 

[Nogatco Rd]

“With the recent news about allowing players of Italian descent to represent Italy in the 2026 Olympics”

Can we get some more info on this? What’s the ‘recent news’?

 

[Shark Finn]

Yikes. Wasn't "Team China" the last time stupid enough?

 

[ViD]

All I want is for Barkov to play for Russia

 

[TheNumber4]

Canadians of German Descent are Canadians though.

 

[Bjornar Moxnes]

“With the recent news about allowing players of Italian descent to represent Italy in the 2026 Olympics”

Can we get some more info on this? What’s the ‘recent news’?

Sorry more like the NHL is eager to allow this.

Canadians of German Descent are Canadians though.

Of course, but it's just a fun experiment since the NHL is willing to allow players of Italian descent to play for Italy.

 

[Albatros]

No. Not Italy, not any other team. If the NHL isn't fine with that then just stay away from international hockey for good.

 

[Jumptheshark]

I just need a point of order here.

As a Canadian living in the UK, I was allowed to live in work here because my mother was born here.

I call it the Grandfather clause and I believe that is the term. For those in North America or anywhere outside of Europe and you want to come to live and work in say UK or Europe. If your grandfather/mother was born in Europe/UK. You can get a visa that will allow to return to that country and in 5 years get full citizenship.

France has used this so many times in international hockey it is amusing. SO it is not just Italy that uses this system

 

[Ciao]

This is up to the NHL?

 

[Nogatco Rd]

France has used this so many times in international hockey it is amusing. SO it is not just Italy that uses this system

Despite what the OP says, Italy does not in fact use that system, at least yet.

IIRC, Italy has traditionally had some of the more stringent eligibility criteria for its international teams for the exact reason that there is such a huge Italian-American diaspora in the US, and they don’t want their rosters dominated by Americans who have little to no significant ties to Italy.

 

[JoVel]

This sounds like a rather desperate attempt to make international hockey more relevant.

 

[GrkFlyersFan]

Italy as the hosts have to have a team. This is a way to give them a better chance to compete. That said, the roster Italy put together in Torino did alright. Certainly better than China in 2022, and that was not against NHL players, whereas there were NHL players in Torino.

 

[Nogatco Rd]

This is up to the NHL?

No, the NHL is just trying to encourage it.

If the NHL is going to pause their season for the Olympics, they would love for as many NHL players to go as possible. It’s free advertising for them and helps grow their brand in non-traditional markets overseas.

 

[Kahvi]

And it's not only about nationality, there are also IIHF rules about eligibility to prevent this. So I'm guessing they are considering removing those IIHF rules about 16months living / playing in the other country, not any citizenship rules.

As in, if you can get Italian passport, you can play for Italy without living or playing in Italy for 16months.

 

[ItWasJustified]

All I want is for Barkov to play for Russia

Well, then he wouldn't play international at all in the near future.

 

[Westlander]

Interesting. Italy from what I understand has some of the most ‘generous’ citizenship by descent laws in the EU (and perhaps anywhere). It’s apparently possible to claim through an Italian great-grandparent- different subject but I recently read this in an article about Argentinians of Italian descent being encouraged to emigrate to Italy and repopulate some of the villages that are dying out.

 

[Kuz]

What players have italian ancestry in the NHL? I found these as Canadians with italian ancestry: Celebrini, Bertuzzi, Ceci, Cirelli, Cogliano, Evangelista, Fabbro, Fabbri, Fantilli, Foligno, Mangiapane, Muzzin, Perfetti, Pietrangelo, Toffoli, Tommasino, Veleno and Vilardi.

From USA I found: J. Carlson, Acciari, DeAngelo, B. Carlo, Iaffalo, Milano, Pacioretty, Palmieri, Pesce, Vatrano.

Could ice a pretty good defence with Pietrangelo, Carlson, Pesce, Carlo, Fabbri, Fabbro and DeAngelo in the mix. Some young star power in Fantilli and Celebrini. Then you can round out the offence with a quite decent lineup that would be hard to play against. Didnt find a goalie, but would be a tough opponent for most teams.

 

[JuJu Mobb]

ITALY

Forwards

Anthony Cirelli
Macklin Celebrini
Adam Fantilli
Gabriel Vilardi
Vincent Trocheck
Mats Zuccarello
Ryan Donato
Tyler Toffoli
Shane Pinto
Tyler Bertuzzi
Robby Fabbri
Max Pacioretty
Frank Vatrano
Kyle Palmieri
Cole Perfetti
Anthony Mantha
Andrew Mangiapane
Marcus Foligno
Nick Foligno
Sonny Milano
Noel Acciari
Alex Iafallo
Joe Veleno
Philip Tomasino
Luka Evangelista
Michael Amadio
Nicholas Abruzzese
Dominic Toninato
Anthony Angello
Andrew Agozzino
Amadeus Lombardi
Drake Caggiula
Michael Pezzetta

Defense

Alex Pietrangelo
Brett Pesce
Brendan Carlo
Dylan DeMelo
Tony DeAngelo
Cody Ceci
Mario Ferraro
Dante Fabbro
Kyle Capobianco

Goalies
Sebastian Cossa
Michael Dipietro

 

[Kuz]

Interesting. Italy from what I understand has some of the most ‘generous’ citizenship by descent laws in the EU (and perhaps anywhere). It’s apparently possible to claim through an Italian great-grandparent- different subject but I recently read this in an article about Argentinians of Italian descent being encouraged to emigrate to Italy and repopulate some of the villages that are dying out.

Yeah urbanization makes smaller towns left with empty buildings. You can read about small towns in Italy giving away nice houses as long as people move there.

 

[LeBrun is a Clown]

Celebrini, Martone, Misa, and Fantilli

 

[the big nobody]

Italy has fielded rosters in the Winter Olympics and in the top International Championships before, and without this silliness. Why wouldn't they be able to do that now? Why the need for it?

 

[LeBrun is a Clown]

Italy has fielded rosters in the Winter Olympics and in the top International Championships before, and without this silliness. Why wouldn't they be able to do that now? Why the need for it?

Because it’s fun and players want to