On Feb. 5, the final day of NHL competition before the Olympic break, Jesper Bratt and Jacob Markstrom were teammates for the New Jersey Devils, working toward the same goal as they faced the New York Islanders. Just nine days later, they are rivals, as their respective countries face off against each other at the Olympics. They are not the only teammates that will be pitted against each other when nations square of in the upcoming men's hockey tournament at the 2026 Milan Cortina Olympics.

Here is a list of the most notable teammate matchups during the preliminary round of men's hockey at the Milan Cortina Olympics...

Feb. 11

  • Juraj Slafkovský (Slovakia) vs. Oliver Kapanen (Finland), teammates with the Montreal Canadiens — Two rising young Canadiens open the tournament with a point to prove.

Feb. 12

  • Uvis Balinskis (Latvia) vs. Matthew Tkachuk (United States), teammates with the Florida Panthers — The Panthers’ emotional leader faces a club teammate looking to spark an upset in the opener.
  • Martin Nečas (Czechia) vs. Cale Makar (Canada), teammates with the Colorado Avalanche — World-class skating meets elite defense in a marquee Czechia–Canada matchup.
  • Tim Stützle (Germany) vs. Mads Søgaard (Denmark), teammates with the Ottawa Senators — A star center shooting against his NHL goaltender teammate.

Feb. 13

  • Kevin Fiala (Switzerland) vs. Drew Doughty (Canada), teammates with the Los Angeles Kings — An electric left winger going up against an all-time great defenseman.
  • Elias Lindholm (Sweden) vs. Henri Jokiharju (Finland), teammates with the Boston Bruins — Northern European rivals turning from teammates into intense opponents within a week in a heavyweight preliminary-round game.
  • Nino Niederreiter (Switzerland) vs. Josh Morrissey (Canada), teammates with the Winnipeg Jets — A power forward versus a world-class two-way defenseman with major knockout-stage implications.

Feb. 14

  • Jesper Bratt (Sweden) vs. Šimon Nemec (Slovakia), teammates with the New Jersey Devils — Devils speed and structure collide on opposite blue lines.

It will be a fast adjustment for players to make, going from teammates to rivals. They'll face a similarly sudden switch back to teammates on the other end of the Games. The mindset shift is staggering — turning a fierce enemy into a teammate and trusting that player to have your back.

NHL players typically rejoin their club teammates in August and are together through at least April, and potentially into June if they make a deep playoff run. With national teams, players are together only for brief stretches, specifically during tournament bursts, whether it is the IIHF World Championships or the Olympic Games, which last just a few weeks. NHL players did not leave league duty until Feb. 5, only days before the men’s hockey tournament is slated to begin in Italy. That lack of time highlights the challenge of recreating club-level chemistry and translating it to the international stage.

That challenge is amplified by the fact that NHL players did not compete in the past two Olympic Games, and that many NHL players have also missed world championships because they overlapped with the Stanley Cup Playoffs. All of it contributes to how infrequently national teammates play together.

But there are no excuses. The same dynamic appears in other sports. Club teammates Kylian Mbappé and Lionel Messi faced off in the 2022 World Cup Final, each leaving a massive imprint on the match, with Mbappé scoring three goals and Messi scoring two. NBA players dealt with the challenge at the last Olympic Games as well, when teammates became rivals and rivals became teammates.

The turnaround for NHL players is fast. But don't expect any Olympians to take their foot off the gas, even when a fast friend and trusted teammate is lined up opposite at puck drop.