NHL No. 1 overall picks dominated Olympics round robin in Milan

Feb 16, 2026 - 03:30
NHL No. 1 overall picks dominated Olympics round robin in Milan

The men’s hockey round robin at the 2026 Olympics is over, with Team Canada and Team USA taking over the top two spots. Slovakia pulled off one of the biggest upsets of the tournament, beating Finland on the first day of competition. Now, there are just days until a Gold Medal is awarded. Macklin Celebrini and Auston Matthews were among the NHL Number 1 overall picks who led the round robin in scoring.

Six of the top seven scorers in the Olympics so far are former number one overall picks in the NHL. Edmonton Oilers captain and 2015 top pick Connor McDavid unsurprisingly leads the way with nine points. Seven of those are assists, far and away the highest mark of the tournament. He has a three-point lead on Macklin Celebrini, Sidney Crosby, and Juraj Slafkovsky.

Canada coach Jon Cooper threw his lines in a blender during the round robin, putting McDavid with Celebrini and Nathan MacKinnon. Those three players were all taken first in their respective NHL Drafts, and they all have six points. After playing with the 19-year-old Celebrini for the first time, MacKinnon said that he may be the best player in the world already.

In the middle of it all is Slovakia’s Slafkovsky, who was the Montreal Canadiens’ first pick in 2022. He scored a massive goal to secure a goal differential tiebreaker for the Slovaks and was key to their win against Finland. Slafkovsky has not been an NHL star yet. But Habs fans must be thrilled with his Olympic performance.

Auston Matthews is the captain of the Toronto Maple Leafs, who took him first in 2016, and the captain of Team USA. He scored twice in Sunday’s win over Germany, helping unlock the offense after a sluggish start.

In the middle of it all is 38-year-old Sidney Crosby, who was the first-overall pick in 2005, before Celebrini was born. When 87 puts on the Maple Leaf, he becomes unstoppable. He proved it in 2010, scoring the overtime Gold Medal winner, proved it again as the captain in 2014, and has a World Cup and 4 Nations championship since.

The post NHL No. 1 overall picks dominated Olympics round robin in Milan appeared first on ClutchPoints.

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