The 2028 World Cup of Hockey is still a few years away, but it’s already easy to see why Flames fans are looking ahead. Calgary and Edmonton are set to host alongside Prague, Czechia, and with Scotia Place opening in Calgary just one year from now, the local angle is hard to miss.
Unlike the 48-team FIFA World Cup that just wrapped up with Spain on top, hockey’s version will be a tighter event with only eight teams. Canada and Czechia are automatic entries as hosts, with Canada leading the North American pool and Czechia heading the European side. The United States, Sweden and Finland are basically shoo-ins as well, leaving three spots still up for grabs.
Those final places are where things get murky. Russia’s situation remains tied up in the fallout from the invasion of Ukraine.
The IIHF suspended Russia and Belarus in February 2022, later moved away from a blanket year-by-year ban in May, and said eligibility would be reviewed event by event. Even so, the major European hockey federations have made clear they would not take part in events involving Russia unless that position changes or the war ends.
For that reason, Russia is being treated as out for 2028.
That leaves Switzerland, Germany and Slovakia as the three highest-ranked IIHF men’s teams not already locked in, which makes them the most likely candidates to complete the field.
For the Flames, the most obvious name is Mikael Backlund. The Sweden captain will be 39 by the time the tournament arrives, and he’ll be in the second and final year of the extension he signed last September.
Backlund has a deep international résumé, and he was in the conversation for both the 4 Nations Face-Off and the Winter Olympics, even if he didn’t land a spot. If he keeps performing as one of the league’s best two-way players, he should stay in the mix.
The other Flames possibilities are younger, and all of them come with a more direct path through Slovakia or the United States.
Dustin Wolf is the American to watch. After a standout rookie season in 2024-25, his numbers dipped into the middle tier in 2025-26 while Calgary worked through a wave of roster changes. He’s not expected to jump straight into the USA’s starting job, but he’s firmly on USA Hockey’s radar and could work his way into a backup or third-goalie role.
Then there’s the Slovakian trio: Simon Nemec, Martin Pospisil and Sam Honzek. Nemec and Pospisil were both on the Olympic team that finished fourth in February, and Honzek likely would have been there too if not for the season-ending injury he suffered in November.
If the Flames end up well represented at the 2028 World Cup of Hockey, Slovakia is the place to look.
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