Ehlers & company trying pushing Denmark towards Olympics Birth

Ehlers will also be joined by fellow NHL countrymen, Frederik Andersen, Mads Sogaard, Jonas Rondbjerg, Lars Eller, and Oliver Bjorkstrand. The Danish team will face off against Great Britain, Japan, and Norway to clinch a spot in the Olympics.

Ehlers has participated in the Olympic Game Qualifying tournament twice before, including in 2021-22 when he led the entire qualification round in scoring with nine points in three games. Ehlers has never represented Denmark at the Olympics but had helped his team get there in Beijing in 2022. Now that the NHL will be represented in the Olympics once again, he will be a lock for the Danish team if they qualify.

There were to be three qualification rounds for the 2026 Winter Olympics starting in 2023. The first round was ultimately cancelled. The following two rounds featured twelve national teams, split up into three groups of four. The winners of each group move on to the next round. The rest were done. Of those countries, the next eight - minus Belarus - in the World Rankings would participate in the final qualification round. They will play those who have survived the other rounds to get this far. This is what will be played from August 29 through September 1.

Group D held in Bratislava, Slovakia: Slovakia (#9 in 2023's ranking), Kazakhstan (#15), Austria (#16), Hungary (#18, best 2nd place team in the third round)

Group E held in Riga, Latvia: Latvia (#10), France (#13), Slovenia (#17), Ukraine (#26, won a third round group)

Group F held in Aalborg, Denmark: Denmark (#11), Norway (#12), Great Britain (#19, won a third round group), Japan (#24, won a third round group)

Japan, Ukraine, and Great Britain can all say they earned this opportunity given their previous qualification play earlier this year. Hungary wouldn't normally be in this round given that they didn't win their group last round. They are here because Belarus wasn't allowed to play in 2024-25. So they have an additional shot at the Olympics.

This group format is particularly cutthroat. Only the winners of each group are guaranteed to move on. One bad night and that could be it.