With medals and experience under their belts, Habs stars return from Winter Olympics

After competing at the Winter Olympics, four Montreal Canadiens players returned to practice in Brossard, still feeling the sting of their medal-round losses.

Some are now Olympic medallists, others are not. But regardless of their respective teams’ results at the Milan-Cortina Games, the four Canadiens Olympians returned to Montreal with a wealth of experience under their belts, according to head coach Martin St-Louis.

Nick Suzuki (Canada), Juraj Slafkovsky (Slovakia), Alexandre Texier (France) and Oliver Kapanen (Finland) were all back in Quebec on Tuesday after experiencing very different outcomes at the Games.

Suzuki and Slafkovsky, who saw plenty of action in Italy, were the only two players absent from practice.

“They’re coming back from a six-hour time difference,” St-Louis pointed out. “The pressure, the stress and everything, the ice time... I expect to have everyone on the ice tomorrow. I don’t think it was necessary to have Slaf and Suzuki skate (on Tuesday). We want to be calculated.”

While the Olympic tournaments for Suzuki (silver), Slafkovsky (fourth place) and Texier (11th) all ended in defeat, Kapanen’s ended with a victory in the bronze medal match against Slovakia.

It was the first game in which the Finn saw action, and he wasn’t limited to a supporting role, as he replaced star player Mikko Rantanen on the Scandinavian team.

He spent 16:23 on the ice.

“It was great. I would have liked to play more, but that’s the way it is. In terms of experience and everything else, I learned a lot and saw what top-level hockey is all about. It was definitely a good experience,” said Kapanen, adding that he was surprised by the sudden change in his role during the medal round.

“It didn’t bother me,” he said. “I played my game and I thought I played very well. I tried to gain confidence.”

Kapanen thus contributed to Finland’s third consecutive bronze medal at the Games when NHL players participated.

The result is somewhat of a consolation for Finnish hockey after disappointing results at last year’s 4 Nations Tournament.

“Things were improving for us as the tournament went on, “Kapanen said, adding that Finnish hockey is doing well. “(This medal) is huge for our country. We suffered a tough loss to Canada in the semi-finals, but I think we regrouped pretty quickly.”

Kapanen had previously laced up his skates for the preliminary round game against Sweden and the semi-final against Canada, but didn’t see any ice time.

The experience was nonetheless rewarding, according to St. Louis.

“I thought that in the last game, when he played, he really stood out. He was very good,” he said. “They probably regretted not using him more after seeing that.”

But as a player, you have to be ready, and Kapy was.

“There’s so much you can absorb just by being there and watching,” St-Louis said. “It depends on whether you see the glass as half full or half empty. If the glass is half full, you’re going to come back with something. Whether you play 20 minutes or two minutes per game, there’s something there to help you grow.”

Since he wasn’t selected to represent Czechia, goalkeeper Jakub Dobes took advantage of a few days off during the break. However, he kept an eye on the Olympic tournament and had nothing but praise for Slafkovsky.

The 21-year-old left winger had four goals and eight points in six games, exceeding 20 minutes of ice time three times. He was named to the tournament’s all-star team, which otherwise consisted solely of Canadian and American players.

“Slaf was very impressive,” Dobes said. “He was very good for us too. He got off to a slow start but found his rhythm. He carried that over to his national team, and it was the best performance I’ve seen from a Slovak player in a while. We hope he’ll be the same player for us, and I’m pretty sure he will be.”

Now, the dust is slowly settling. St. Louis didn’t want to use the expression “the morning after” to describe this return to normalcy, although routine was slowly resuming for the Olympians on Tuesday in Brossard.

They will have to quickly find their bearings, as the playoff race resumes on Thursday for the Habs, when the New York Islanders visit the Bell Centre.

“I’m pretty fresh. The season is coming to an end, so we have to be ready when it resumes,” said Kapanen.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published in French on Feb. 24, 2026.