The three-week break from NHL betting won't mean that hockey fans will go without their favorite sport. That's because the Winter Olympics are here and NHL players are participating for the first time since 2014.
Which NHL teams might benefit most from the league's stoppage and which ones likely won't? To find out, RotoWire.com came up with a system for figuring it out. Here are the teams, with the explanation below (teams with the fewest points are assumed to get the most rest and thus are at the top of the list). Olympic rosters are from NHL.com as of Feb. 11:
Teams Getting Most And Least Rest During Olympics
| Team | Athletes | On Favorites | Total Points |
| [LOGO] Calgary Flames | 1 | 0.5 | 1.5 |
| [LOGO] Chicago Blackhawks | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| New York Islanders | 2 | 1 | 2.5 |
| Columbus Blue Jackets | 2 | 1 | 3 |
| Edmonton Oilers | 2 | 1.5 | 3.5 |
| Buffalo Sabres | 2 | 2 | 4 |
| Washington Capitals | 3 | 2.5 | 5.5 |
| Seattle Kraken | 3 | 2.5 | 5.5 |
| Detroit Red Wings | 3 | 2.5 | 5.5 |
| Philadelphia Flyers | 3 | 2.5 | 5.5 |
| Toronto Maple Leafs | 3 | 3 | 6 |
| New York Rangers | 3 | 3 | 6 |
| Montreal Canadiens | 4 | 2.5 | 6.5 |
| Anaheim Ducks | 4 | 3 | 7 |
| Pittsburgh Penguins | 4 | 3 | 7 |
| Utah Mammoth | 4 | 3 | 7 |
| San Jose Sharks | 4 | 3 | 7 |
| Winnipeg Jets | 4 | 3.5 | 7.5 |
| Nashville Predators | 4 | 3.5 | 7.5 |
| Carolina Hurricanes | 5 | 3 | 8 |
| Vancouver Canucks | 5 | 3 | 8 |
| Ottawa Senators | 5 | 3.5 | 8.5 |
| St. Louis Blues | 5 | 4 | 9 |
| Los Angeles Kings | 5 | 4.5 | 9.5 |
| New Jersey Devils | 7 | 4 | 11 |
| Tampa Bay Lightning | 8 | 5 | 13 |
| Dallas Stars | 7 | 6.5 | 13.5 |
| Boston Bruins | 7 | 7 | 14 |
| Vegas Golden Knights | 8 | 7 | 15 |
| Colorado Avalanche | 8 | 7.5 | 15.5 |
| Minnesota Wild | 8 | 7.5 | 15.5 |
| Florida Panthers | 9 | 8 | 17 |
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Our method for determining total points was as follows: Each NHL player on an Olympic roster for the 2026 Winter Games in Milan, Italy, was worth a point. Then we added one point for each player who is on an expected medal contender (USA, Canada, Sweden, Finland) and half a point for each player on a team that we think might earn a surprise medal with an upset or two (Czechia, Switzerland, Slovakia, Germany). We assigned no extra points for players representing Latvia, Denmark or France. The roster for host Italy, which was released on Jan. 20, has no NHL players.
Who Might Benefit Most From Olympic Break?
The 
New York Islanders are in the Eastern Conference playoff race. They have had 69 points at the break and sit third in the Metropolitan Division. BetMGM Sportsbook has -165 odds on the Isles to reach the playoffs, as opposed to +140 odds that they miss out. They only sent two players to the Winter Games, Canadian forward Bo Horvat and recently acquired Ondrej Palat, who will represent Czechia.
The Chicago Blackhawks only have one Olympic representative, F Teuvo Teravainen of Finland. The team at the top of our rankings for getting rest during the NHL break, the Calgary Flames, went from two Olympic players to one when they traded Swedish defenseman Rasmus Andersson to the Vegas Golden Knights on Jan. 19. Forward Martin Pospisil of Slovakia is now Calgary's lone Olympic representative.
Four teams have only two players each on Olympic rosters, including the two-time defending Western Conference champion Edmonton Oilers (F Connor McDavid, Canada, and F Leon Draisaitl, Germany). The Buffalo Sabres went from three representatives to two when it was announced on Feb. 3 that goalie Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen will miss the Games with a lower-body injury.
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Which Teams Might Expend A Lot Of Energy In Italy?
According to our metrics, several teams won't benefit much from the February stoppage in NHL play.
The current Atlantic Division leaders, the 
Tampa Bay Lightning, had a league-high 10 players heading to the Olympics, but that changed with two late injury-related scratches.
Forward Anthony Cirelli had been named to Team Canada, but a lower-body injury will keep him out. He was replaced by F Sam Bennett of the Florida Panthers. Cirelli's Lightning teammate and fellow Canadian forward, Brayden Point, is out as well so Seth Jarvis of the Carolina Hurricanes is taking his place.
Those moves gave the two-time defending Stanley Cup champion 
Florida Panthers the most Olympic representatives, with nine. By our metrics (number of players plus players on contenders), Florida has 17 points, though the Panthers are currently not in a playoff spot.
Florida's players in the Olympics are Bennett, Canadian teammates Brad Marchand and Sam Reinhart at forward; Finnish forwards Anton Lundell and Eetu Luostarinen, D Niko Mikkola of Finland. Latvian D Uvis Balinskis, D Gustav Forsling of Sweden and American F Matthew Tkachuk.
Tampa Bay's players going to the Games to represent anticipated medal contenders are forward Brandon Hagel for Canada, F Pontus Holmberg and D Victor Hedman for Sweden and American F Jake Guentzel (above). Four other Lightning players are headed to Milan: F Oliver Bjorkstrand, Denmark; F Zemgus Girgensons, Latvia; D Erik Cernak, Slovakia; and D J.J. Moser, Switzerland.
They'll be joined by Bolts head coach Jon Cooper, who will occupy the same role for Team Canada during the Olympics. At BetRivers Sportsbook, Tampa Bay is the +200 favorite to win the East.
The Vegas Golden Knights, Colorado Avalanche and Minnesota Wild have eight players each headed to Italy, along with Tampa Bay. In each case, almost all of their players are suiting up for an expected medal contender.
Team Canada is the gold-medal favorite at FanDuel Sportsbook with +100 odds as of Feb. 11, followed by Team USA (+200), Sweden (+600) and defending Olympic champ Finland (+1500).
A Hidden Factor In Teams Getting Rest
There is one major hockey power missing from this year's Olympics: Russia. Their nation is banned from Olympic competition because of Russia's invasion of Ukraine (so is Belarus for its support of Russia).
Normally, the Lightning would have sent even more players to Italy because two of Tampa Bay's other stars would have been locks for Team Russia had there been one: G Andrei Vasilevskiy and F Nikita Kucherov. Vasilevskiy, 31, is a one-time Vezina Trophy winner and a five-time finalist. Kucherov. 32, has earned the Art Ross Trophy as the league's leading scorer three times, including the past two seasons; he has won one Hart Trophy and finished in the top three of MVP voting two other times.
The Panthers, who are perhaps even more banged-up than the Lightning, will also get to give F Carter Verhaeghe some time off. He did not make Team Canada's roster. D Seth Jones was named to the Team USA roster, but he'll miss the Olympics with an injury.
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