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Winter Olympics 2018: Men’s hockey power rankings

By Derek Grochowski

This picture taken on February 14, 2017 shows South Korea's ice hockey team player US-born Mike Testwuide (L) during a practice session at a rink in Goyang, northwest of Seoul.South Korea sit 23rd in the world ice hockey rankings and have never qualified for the Winter Olympics' blue riband event. But as the host nation of Pyeongchang 2018 they have an automatic berth and are scrambling to build a competitive roster to avoid embarrassment. / AFP PHOTO / JUNG Yeon-Je / TO GO WITH AFP STORY Oly-2018-ihockey-KOR-CAN-SKorea-social BY HWANG Sung-Hee (Photo credit should read JUNG YEON-JE/AFP/Getty Images)
This picture taken on February 14, 2017 shows South Korea's ice hockey team player US-born Mike Testwuide (L) during a practice session at a rink in Goyang, northwest of Seoul.South Korea sit 23rd in the world ice hockey rankings and have never qualified for the Winter Olympics' blue riband event. But as the host nation of Pyeongchang 2018 they have an automatic berth and are scrambling to build a competitive roster to avoid embarrassment. / AFP PHOTO / JUNG Yeon-Je / TO GO WITH AFP STORY Oly-2018-ihockey-KOR-CAN-SKorea-social BY HWANG Sung-Hee (Photo credit should read JUNG YEON-JE/AFP/Getty Images) /
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Ranking the countries that have a best chance at a medal. No NHL players could give non-traditional countries a chance at an Olympic gold.

When the puck drops later this month in Pyeongchang the tournament will look different from years past. There will be no current NHL players in the tournament this year. There are still plenty of story lines this year of players trying to get back to the NHL and prospects proving they have what it takes. The power rankings have a few surprised mixed in with the United States, Canada, Sweden and Finland losing many of their star players. The rosters for every team can be found here. 

12. South Korea

The host country is ranked 21st in the world by the IIHF. Believe it or not the South Korea team actually has some NHL ties. The South Korean team will be playing with seven naturalized players, meaning they were born in different countries before gaining South Korean citizenship. Some of these players even have NHL experience.

The team coached by Jim Paek who won two Stanley Cups with the Pittsburgh Penguins. South Korea is in a group with the Czech Republic, Switzerland and Canada. It will not be easy for South Korea but maybe they can come up with some Olympic magic

11. Slovenia

Slovenia is now ranked 15th in the world, the second lowest in the tournament. Forward Jan Mursak is the only player on the roster with NHL experience. Most people think of the major teams like the United States and Canada being hurt by not having NHL players allowed to play. Slovenia also loses its best player, Anze Kopitar is a Slovenian legend.

Kopitar has played extremely well for the Los Angeles Kings and put in a strong effort for Slovenia during the 2014 Winter Olympics. Slovenia being in a group with the United States, Slovakia and the Olympic Athletes from Russia will not be an easy schedule for Slovenia. There best chance for a win will come against Slovakia.

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