Edmonton Oilers' Leon Draisaitl in contention to be Germany's Olympic flag bearer
When Leon Draisaitl heads to the Milano Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics, he could be leading the German team at the opening ceremony.
Draisaitl has made quite a name for himself in his native Germany. He is the best German-born NHL player of all time and remains the only ice hockey player to be named German Sportsman of the Year back in 2020. As such, he’ll be among the country’s brightest stars when the Olympic Games get underway in Italy next month.
The German Olympic Sports Confederation seems to agree, as they have nominated Draisaitl as a candidate to be one of the country’s flag bearers during the opening ceremony.
Team Germany is expected to have two flag bearers, with one male and one female athlete sharing the honours.
🇩🇪 VOTE FOR LEON 🇩🇪
Team Deutschland has Draisaitl as one of three finalists to be their male flag bearer for the Olympic Winter Games Milano Cortina 2026 & you can vote for our #Oilers superstar!
🗳️➡️ https://t.co/EJNgITsYKH pic.twitter.com/Y7Q3A5AEcw
— Edmonton Oilers (@EdmontonOilers) January 26, 2026
He is up against German skier Johannes Rydzek and German luger Tobias Wendl. Both of Draisaitl’s opponents in this vote are Olympic champions, with Wendl holding a whopping six gold medals to his name, while Rydzek has two gold, one silver, and one bronze. Draisaitl, on the other hand, will be looking for his first medal this winter.
The female vote is between snowboarder Ramona Hofmeister, bobsledder Laura Nolte, and ski jumper Katharina Schmid.
During the Beijing 2022 Games, Germany chose speed skater Claudia Pechstein and bobsledder Francesco Friedrich to carry the flag at the opening ceremony.
Fan voting has opened across the world to select Germany’s flag bearers. On top of being very popular in Germany, there will no doubt be a lot of support for Draisaitl coming out of the Alberta capital as well.
Team Deutschland hasn’t had a hockey player act as their Olympic flag bearer in 94 years, with Martin Schröttle last doing the honours during the 1932 Winter Olympic Games in Lake Placid.
It remains to be seen just how formidable the German Olympic hockey team will be during this year’s tournament. They boast quite a bit of top-end NHL talent, with all of Draisaitl, Tim Stutzle, JJ Peterka, and Moritz Seider leading the way.
Draisaitl will also be joined by Oilers prospect Joshua Samanski on the German roster, who recently made his NHL debut.
It’s bound to be an exciting Olympic Games for Draisaitl, no matter the result of the vote, but you can imagine that being named a flag bearer would add that much more to the experience.