2026 IIHF Ice Hockey World Championship: Predictions and betting odds

By Deniss Novickis| Published: May 13, 2026, 12:00

The 2026 Ice Hockey World Championship starts on Friday in Switzerland, as the United States will try to defend the title they claimed a year ago in Sweden. Curiously, the defending champions are only fifth in the list of the favourites, according to the bookmakers. The bookies believe that nobody will stop Canada from winning gold medals for the 29th time and improve the all-time record.

In this article, we’ll analyse the betting lines, assess the leading contenders, and talk about the biggest NHL stars who’ve arrived in Switzerland to play for their national teams. MightyTips will try to predict how the battle will unfold in each group before proposing a few long-term value bets for the tournament in Zürich and Fribourg.

Canada are the favourites for a reason - their squad is made of NHL players only and includes John Tavares, Mark Scheifele, Ryan O'Reilly, and one of the brightest young talents, Macklin Celebrini. On Tuesday, Sidney Crosby announced he is coming to Switzerland as well, trying to claim his second World Championship gold after Canada’s triumph in 2015.

The 2026 IIHF World Championship roster is here 🇨🇦🔥

Sidney Crosby has been added to Team Canada’s updated lineup. Crosby and Macklin Celebrini reunite on the ice once again. https://t.co/wjk4wAD59E

— Team Canada (@TeamCanada) May 12, 2026

The United States are not far behind, as their roster features Justin Faulk, Joseph Woll, Ryan Leonard, and Matthew Tkachuk. The latter is the only American player in the current team who won gold at the 2026 Winter Olympics. After two silver medals in a row, Switzerland are eager to finally become champions on home ice. Their squad includes Roman Josi, Nico Hischier and Timo Meier.

Finland will have Aleksander Barkov and Anton Lundell, two-time Stanley Cup champions with the Florida Panthers. Sweden’s squad is very strong too, featuring top offensive player Lucas Raymond, as well as elite defencemen Oliver Ekman-Larsson and Mattias Ekholm. Finally, Filip Hronek is the best NHL representative for Czechia.

On the other hand, Austria, Great Britain, Hungary, Italy, Norway, and Slovenia don’t have a single NHL player on their rosters. The Hungarians have three players from the Romanian league, though, all from Gyergyói HK.

Canada are the red-hot favourites at 1.75 thanks to a number of great NHL players in their squad. Finland and Switzerland are next, sitting at 6.50 and 7.50, respectively, followed by Sweden (9.00) and the United States (10.00).

Group A

It’s between Finland, Switzerland and the United States to win this group, according to the bookies, with Finland being the favourites at 2.60. Germany, who won silver medals in 2023, sit at 1.50 to qualify for the play-offs, while Latvia’s odds are as high as 2.80. The other three teams will battle to avoid relegation, although it will likely be decided in the match between Hungary and Great Britain.

The USA are the defending champions, but their squad features quite a lot of young and inexperienced prospects. Besides, the bigger ice rink in Zürich will give an advantage to all European teams. While the Americans shouldn’t have many problems finishing in the top four, we believe they won’t take first place.

Finland, who claimed gold in 2022, lost in the quarter-finals for three years in a row. It’s very hard to bet them finishing first, especially as the favourites. Switzerland are in much better shape recently, and they finished first in the group last year ahead of the USA and Czechia. The home advantage is a huge boost, so the Swiss should be on top, ahead of Finland, the USA and Germany.

Group B

The picture is much clearer in group B, as it will be between Canada and Sweden only. Canada are huge favourites to finish first at 1.28, and the teams will meet on Friday in the opening match of the tournament. Obviously, there’s no value in betting at such low odds, and Sweden at 5.00 looks much better from a wagering perspective. However, it’s hard to see Canada not finishing first over seven group stage games.

These teams should occupy the top two places, while Czechia, whose roster is significantly weaker, will be third. The final play-off spot will be decided between Slovakia and Denmark, but Norway might want to say something about that. The Slovaks are favourites to go through at 1.50, and Denmark can be had at 2.50. Yet let’s not forget the amazing run to the semi-finals by the Danes in 2025, when Slovakia finished sixth in the group.

Italy are the favourites to be relegated, at 1.75, sitting just ahead of Slovenia (2.25). This is a decent long-term bet, as the Slovenians have much more experience and a better roster. They were promoted last year, yet lost to Ukraine and were demolished 5-1 by Great Britain. Even without Anže Kopitar, Slovenia should be better in this duel for survival.

Adding to the long-term bets mentioned above, we really like Denmark to qualify for the play-offs at 2.50. Once again, it’s them against Slovakia for fourth place in the group, and these teams are pretty equal, as their past H2H meetings suggest. Each team has three victories in the last six matches, and at plus money, this bet definitely has value.

Last but not least, we just have to bet on the winner. There’s no point whatsoever in betting Canada at 1.75. Once again, the bigger ice-rinks will play to their disadvantage, and the last World Championship proved that any star squad can lose to Denmark on a given day.

DENMARK STUNS CANADA pic.twitter.com/TokRDoaXMa

— World Hockey Report (@worldhockeyrpt) May 22, 2025

We’ll go with Switzerland at 7.50 instead. Back-to-back silver medals, home-ice advantage, always well-organised, decent squad - there are many things to like here. A reliable goalkeeper is a key thing in ice hockey play-offs, and the Swiss have vastly experienced Leonardo Genoni, last year’s MVP. It’s time for Switzerland to claim their maiden world title.

* Teams shown in italics no longer participate in the World Championships
** Russia have been banned from IIHF events in 2022

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