Color of Hockey: Bellemare proud to represent France in 2026 Olympics

William Douglas has been writing The Color of Hockey blog since 2012. Douglas joined NHL.com in 2019 and writes about people of color in the sport. Today, he profiles former NHL forward Pierre-Edouard Bellemare, who will be the captain for Team France at the Olympic Winter Games Milano Cortina 2026.

Pierre-Edouard Bellemare thought his quest to play in the Winter Olympics was over after the French men’s national team didn’t qualify for the 2022 Beijing Olympics.

“At the time I'm 35 maybe, already past my expiration date technically as a hockey player,” he said. “Everybody acted like this was my last one (qualification). I was the one acting like it was my last one, too. I didn’t think that I was going to play at all. I didn’t think I was going to be able to affect the team.”

The 40-year-old former NHL forward is all smiles these days as he prepares to be the captain for Team France at the Olympic Winter Games Milano Cortina 2026, ending a spirit-crushing run of failed qualification attempts. The French men’s hockey team returns to the Winter Games for the first time since the 2002 Salt Lake City Olympics, where they finished last in the 14-nation tournament. France’s women’s national hockey team will make its Olympic debut in Milano Cortina.

“I don’t think I expected me to be able to end up in the Olympics, to be honest,” Bellemare said. “As I’m saying that, I realize actually how really shocked I am.”

Bellemare, the all-time leader in NHL games by a player born and trained in France (700), is one of three players with League experience among the six who were named to Team France’s preliminary roster on June 16. He joins forward Alexandre Texier, who has played 232 games for the Columbus Blue Jackets and St. Louis Blues from 2018-25, and defenseman Yohann Auvitu, who played 58 games with the New Jersey Devils and Edmonton Oilers from 2016-18. Forward Jordann Perret and defensemen Jules Boscq and Hugo Gallet round out the first six players selected by France.

“Us being at the Olympics, men and women, will give a chance to maybe have a kid watching TV and seeing the way I loved hockey as a kid,” Bellemare said. “And maybe you’ll see another French player in the NHL in 20 years from now due to us being in the Olympics.”

Bellemare broke into the NHL as a 29-year-old undrafted rookie with the Philadelphia Flyers in 2014-15 and also played for the Vegas Golden Knights, Colorado Avalanche, Tampa Bay Lightning and Seattle Kraken.

His 138 points (64 goals, 74 assists) are second among players born in France; forward Antoine Roussel had 197 points (85 goals, 112 assists) in 607 games for the Dallas Stars, Vancouver Canucks and Arizona Coyotes from 2012-22.

Bellemare, a native of Le Blanc-Mesnil, France, last played in the NHL in 2023-24, when he had seven points (four goals, three assists) in 40 games for the Kraken.

Last season, he had 28 points (10 goals, 18 assists) in 34 games for HC Ajoie of the National League, the top professional league in Switzerland. He has played in the World Championships 12 times, the Olympic qualifiers six times and won silver with Team Europe at the 2016 World Cup of Hockey.

“He was a big leader and a big role model for France hockey, and getting the opportunity to go to the NHL also helped increase his impact and platform,” France men’s national team coach Yorick Treille said. “He's been a great ambassador and represented for our country. He was only 17 when he played his first games for France. What he always had was the humility and the work ethic.”

For Bellemare, playing in the Olympics will be the fulfillment of a childhood dream that began when he and his brother, Geoffroy-Alexis, first watched the Winter Games on television.

“I'm born in 1985, right?” Bellemare said. “There was no Internet to see the (Nikita) Kucherovs, the (Nathan) MacKinnons and (Connor) McDavids of the time. You would see hockey every four years on TV during the Olympics. That was the only time I could see my sport on TV.

“The Olympics became something, like, ‘Wow, this is so cool, this is where I want to go.’ And as I grew older, this feeling hasn’t changed at all. And it became even stronger and stronger with the understanding of how much work you need to do to reach the Olympics and all of that as an individual athlete or team athlete. It just became a bigger and bigger carrot motivation-wise.”

Another source of motivation for Bellemare is to finally gain some Olympic family bragging rights in his family. His sister, Rose-Eliandre Bellemare, was a gymnast for France at the 2008 Beijing Olympics and his mother-in-law, Ylva Persson, was a swimmer for Sweden at the 1976 Montreal Olympics.

“I self-chirp myself, like, ‘I’m the only loser that hasn’t made it,’” he said.

Bellemare plans on soaking up as much of the Olympic experience as possible. He told Treille that “even if we play an hour after the opening ceremony” that he intends to march in the Parade of Nations.

“Because it’s special,” he said. “I can’t wait to walk in there and to see all of those other athletes who are also a little bit as crazy as I was when they decided to work harder than everybody else. Everyone is going to have their flag on their chest or shoulder or arm and represent it very proudly, and that is beautiful, I think.”

The opening ceremony is on Feb. 6, and Team France plays its first game on Feb. 12 against Switzerland.

Team France faces a tough challenge in Milano Cortina as part of Group A in the hockey tournament with Canada, Switzerland and Czechia. Finland, Sweden, Slovakia and host country Italy are in Group B, and the United States, Germany, Latvia, Denmark comprise Group C.

Group A teams are stacked with NHL talent like McDavid, MacKinnon and Sidney Crosby (Canada), David Pastrnak, Martin Necas and Lukas Dostal (Czechia) and Kevin Fiala, Nico Hischier and Roman Josi (Switzerland).

“This is the thing that’s a little bit daunting at times," Bellemare said, "because our country has no knowledge of our sport and so when (French fans) see a national team they straight compare it to the soccer national team. The Olympics for them is, ‘Oh, wow, can’t wait to see France try to get a gold.’ And you’re, like, ‘Buddy, it doesn’t that doesn’t work like that for us.’

“The goal is to try to win as many games as possible but knowing that we’re going to play nations that are on top of the world and you’re not going to come and do run-and-gun with those nations. It’s going to have to be an ugly game where you kind of show the dog in the French national team. We’ve done it in the past against some of those teams to just literally defend with five men and then when you have a chance to burst it, burst it.”

Bellemare said the Milano Cortina experience should be a springboard for French hockey when the country hosts the 2030 Olympics in the French Alps. And who knows? Maybe Bellemare will play as he approaches his 44th birthday.

“I’ve managed to take care of my body in a cool way, and I probably could do it,” he said. “I don’t know if my wife wants me to do it.”