Ranking every Olympic hockey team’s jerseys for Milan-Cortina 2026

By Sean Gentille, Shayna Goldman, Mark Lazerus, Sean McIndoe and Hailey Salvian

It’s been 12 years since we last saw NHL players at the Winter Olympics, and while there was still men’s hockey in PyeongChang and Beijing, the tournaments undeniably suffered from a lack of star power. (All due apologies to Finland, the defending gold medalists.)

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We’re back to best-on-best in Milan, though, which means higher-caliber hockey, more eyeballs on the games and, yes, more attention paid to the on-ice aesthetics of the 12 participating nations. With that in mind, here are The Athletic’s Olympic hockey jersey rankings.

1. Slovakia

Goldman: Including the Tatra Mountains into the design is such a creative spin, without drastically departing from Slovakia’s usual style or striping pattern. The fact that the mountain range extends to the arms stripes is such a perfect detail and drives the whole look home. You rock, don’t ever change, Slovakia.

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Lazerus: I could do without the bumper sticker on the front of the helmet, but everything below it is exquisite.

McIndoe: It breaks away from the classic hockey style just a bit, but it works.

Salvian: It’s the perfect blend of a classic Slovakia jersey with a new twist to keep things fresh.

Gentille: Most of the time, all I’m looking for is someone to thread the needle between traditionalist and updated looks. The raw material, the colors, the crest are great. The overall concept is great. The details, such as the shading on the mountains, are great. Great.

T2. Germany

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Lazerus: McIndoe really wrecked the curve on this one. The black version brings strong Canucks flying skate vibes, which are the highest jersey vibes known to mankind. Don’t love the yellow one nearly as much.

McIndoe: I don’t understand how Mark could compare a hockey uniform to the flying skate and then not rank it first overall. But yeah, the black version is far superior. What can I say, uniform ranking is a strong link game.

Gentille: Yeah, the red and yellow striping on the black jersey is doing some heavy lifting. Contrast is good.

Goldman: Yep, it’s the contrast that boosts this one — it’s bold, it’s interesting. The yellow “away” look is cool, but the black really sends this up the standings.

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Salvian: It’s the dragon flexing for me.

T2. Sweden

Lazerus: I’m just going to say it: The Swedish jersey is the most overrated jersey in the history of jerseys. (While I’m getting myself excommunicated from the hockey community, let me add that In-N-Out is trash and Dunkin’ is vastly superior to Tim Hortons.) Look, it’s just yellow. That’s all. Yellow. Whoop-dee-doo. There’s way too much dead space. It looks like a rugby sweater someone wears at some posh prep school somewhere. The blue version is better, but still uninspired. It’s the same damn jersey they wear to every single tournament at every age level. Bo-ring. All that said, if Sweden brings back “En För Alla För En” as its goal song, all will be forgiven.

Salvian: There are three crowns (the Tre Kronor) in the middle of the jersey! What more could you want? I appreciate that Sweden isn’t trying to do too much; sometimes, using the same jersey is good!

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Goldman: Listen, the yellow is fun! Color versus color when Sweden wears its away kit is fun! It ensures a bright product on the ice, and who among us doesn’t love that? I wouldn’t mind some stripes across the hem — I’m a stickler for that style to punch up the design. The details within the three crowns, at least, add some dimension. However, what holds this look back from first place is Sweden’s shift toward navy, instead of its classic royal blue. As sharp as the navy is, it’s just really dark. It’s basically midnight blue at this point. If the navy separated Sweden more from the pack, it would be one thing, but France and Finland are both rocking shades of it.

Gentille: I appreciate the modernized font and the beveling on the numbers, but something about the front is overly minimalist. Put me on Team Hem Stripes with Shayna.

McIndoe: Nothing wrong with the classics.

4. United States

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Salvian: The blue jersey is perfect. It’s clean and classic. And as a shoulder yoke hater, I love that it’s all blue. I’ll accept the yoke on the away jersey because of the crest and the collar.

Goldman: So close, USA. So close. I feel like I am being extra harsh on it here, but the overstacked left side is driving me up a wall. The crest should probably go on the shoulder, and the Nike Swoosh should shift right. Instead, it’s too crowded, and that’s officially Problem No. 1 on a jersey with arm stripes that awkwardly stop instead of going all around. Just disappointing!

Lazerus: The U.S. jerseys in Sochi were one of history’s greatest fashion crimes, so I’ll take this simple but classic look (though now that Shayna has pointed out the embroidery Jenga game on the right shoulder, I can’t unsee it).

McIndoe: I’m just not a fan of the lazy “write the team name diagonally and call it day” school of hockey uniform design. I don’t love it when Tampa does it, I don’t love it when the Rangers do it, and I don’t love it when Team USA just steals from the Rangers as it did here. It’s got all the downsides of being a “traditional” uniform (i.e., no creativity) without the upside or even the history. They won gold in 1980 and the World Cup in 1996, wearing better designs!

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Gentille: Something about the shoulder yoke/crest combo on the right doesn’t agree with me, but I’ve never met a 3D drop shadow I didn’t like.

5. Czechia

Lazerus: I’m surprised how much I like the shading on the numbers. Clean look, cool crest. But what the hell kind of font is that letter “N” in?

Gentille: Love the crest and the white look is indeed clean, but something about the yoke detailing doesn’t sit right with me.

Salvian: Love the colors, love the crest. And the shoulders don’t ruin the jersey for me.

Goldman: The crest is the true home run. I think the detailing on the shoulders is important here — it would be too simple without it.

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McIndoe: I love the crest just a little less than everyone else, and the two-color back is a bit weird, but this one is perfectly fine.

T6. Denmark

Lazerus: Something is rotten in the state of Denmark, and it’s this jersey. Would have liked to have seen what they could have done using all three lions from the national crest, instead of just slapping one on a Northwestern stripe (look it up, kids).

Gentille: It’s a Northwestern stripe with a tire track pattern in the middle, excuse you. Did I over-rank this one? Perhaps. I haven’t seen enough Danish international jerseys to get tired of them, though, and that counts for something.

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Salvian: The tire tracks distract from the very cool lion, unfortunately.

McIndoe: Honestly, the tire tracks might be appropriate for how their tournament is likely to go.

Goldman: That lion is cool enough to outweigh the rest, and the tiretracks help make that logo pop. My only critique with this one (and some of the others, cough, Finland) is how empty the bottom of the jersey is. Just a consequence of this kind of design.

T6. Finland

Lazerus: The only way I could like these more is if they said “SUOMI” across the bottom. Y’all are wild for having it so low.

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McIndoe: I originally had this one higher until someone pointed out the lack of symmetry on the main strip design, and that bothers me more than it should.

Salvian: I’ve always loved Finland’s center crest and color combinations. But I cannot support the design on the stripe.

Gentille: Geometry for geometry’s sake.

Goldman: The crest and colors are perfect. I just need more. It’s too simple. At least Denmark had the shoulder element.

8. Switzerland

Lazerus: Honestly, I’m neutral on this one.

Gentille: Looks like my backpack.

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Salvian: This is what a Switzerland jersey typically looks like. It is nice!

McIndoe: Not every design has to be an exercise in reinventing the wheel. This one is a classic, with a nice, simple logo and a great color duo.

Goldman: It’s fine, it exists. But what is going on with the pants?

9. Latvia

Lazerus: To the good people of Latvia, I apologize on behalf of my colleagues, all of whom are terrible people with terrible taste. These are flat-out sick.

Gentille: Disqualifying color combo here. So it goes.

Salvian: To say these are sick but that Sweden is boring is wild!

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McIndoe: Maroon is fine. These are fine. Sick? No. Fine.

Goldman: I won’t stand for maroon erasure. But I need more color-wise; white and grey as the accents? Come on. If you’re going to go for a simpler, two-color approach (hello, Sweden), then you need more contrast or something.

10. Canada

Goldman: I can’t be-leaf what a miss these are. The two-tone red stripes on the white sweater, the stripes that don’t fully wrap around the arm, the insistence of only using two colors per kit … what are we doing here? And don’t get me started on the black alternates; the sheen on that one in particular makes it look so cheap. It’s such a downgrade from, honestly, perfect kits at the 4 Nations Face-Off. Seeing these in all the highlights of Marie-Philip Poulin and Sidney Crosby scoring golden goals is going to aggravate me extra.

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Lazerus: The incomplete arm stripes are unforgivable. Who were the ad wizards who came up with that one? The red on white jersey is fine, other than that, but the black on red is truly ghastly. I wholeheartedly agree with Shayna that Canada’s 4 Nations jerseys were top-notch and that these are … not. Still better than the 2016 World Cup look, though.

Gentille: They’ll look nice with a pop of silver.

Salvian: The Canadian jerseys with the non-shimmery crest and the Canada leaf socks were right there! Also, I’ll remind Sean that last time he bet on a USA gold medal, he had to sing a (very poor) rendition of the Canadian national anthem.

McIndoe: I’m weirdly OK with Canada experimenting a bit with its international look, even though we can all agree that a simpler approach would be better. I like the red and white look here. The darker version doesn’t quite pop, although maybe it will look better on the ice. Keep in mind that Canada has a challenge no other nation has, because it has to ensure that the center of the design contrasts well with a gold medal.

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11. Italy

Editor’s note: Team Italy has not officially unveiled its jerseys for the 2026 Milan-Cortina Olympics. For this exercise, we are ranking the Nike 2026 replica white hockey jersey being sold on official licensed online retailers.

Lazerus: Did the dot-matrix printer they made these on run out of cyan?

Gentille: 🤌🤌🤌

McIndoe: As hockey uniforms go, these are nice soccer uniforms.

Salvian: You can’t imagine how much Italia merch I wore as a child. (I’m talking T-shirts and necklaces here.) I’m not mad, I’m just disappointed.

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Goldman: The sleeves feel so footy-kit coded and I appreciate that. The logo feels like two very different ways of representing Italy slapped together. Just writing “Italia” in green-white-red to represent the flag would do more. Or not having the writing altogether.

12. France

Goldman: Bad, boring, uninspired. I get it, no one expects France to go far here, but at least look cool. Maybe there is an Olympic hangover after hosting the Summer Olympics in 2024, but I expected more, especially since France rocked such a cool ombre look for those games.

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McIndoe: These are bad. Please write that down and then underline it six times for no reason.

Lazerus: “We are so poor (at hockey), we don’t even have a logo. Just these stupid lines!”

Salvian: Listen, I love a notebook. But not on a jersey.

Gentille: I’d wear it if it were a T-shirt. Actually, I have worn it as a T-shirt. It is, regrettably, not a T-shirt.

This article originally appeared in The Athletic.

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