Six million people. About 6,110 registered hockey players. Twenty-nine indoor rinks nationwide. By the raw numbers, Denmark has no business supplying starters to the NFL and NHL and yet here we are, with Hjalte Froholdt anchoring the Arizona Cardinals’ offensive line and a Danish trio of Nikolaj Ehlers, Oliver Bjorkstrand and Lars Eller carrying the national presence through the North American hockey season.
Milano Cortina 2026 just gave that pipeline its loudest moment yet: Denmark’s second ever Olympic men’s hockey appearance, and the first with NHL talent on the ice. The author Michael Vestersen takes a closer look at these four careers and how a small Scandinavian country continues to produce athletes competing at the highest level of North American sports.
Hjalte Froholdt lines up every Sunday as the starting center for the Arizona Cardinals, which still reads as an unlikely sentence when you trace the backstory. Born in Svendborg in August 1996, he came to the US as a foreign exchange student during his sophomore year of high school, landing in Warren, Ohio. That was where he first played American football – the sport didn’t exist in his life until then. He stuck with it well enough to earn a scholarship to the University of Arkansas, spending his college career on the Razorbacks’ offensive line.
New England took him in the fourth round of the 2019 NFL Draft, #118 overall. After stops with the Patriots and the Cleveland Browns, he signed with Arizona as a free agent in 2023 and hasn’t missed a start since 51 straight regular-season appearances heading into 2026. The Cardinals named him a team captain in 2025 and locked him in that August on a two-year, $20 million extension running through the 2028 season. He is the exception on the football side. The real Danish professional depth sits on the ice.
As Kyler Murray, the Arizona Cardinals’ quarterback, said about Froholdt: “He’s one of my favorite players I’ve ever had the chance to play with.”
Nikolaj Ehlers signed with the Carolina Hurricanes last summer after a decade in Winnipeg. The Aalborg native went ninth overall to the Jets in the 2014 draft and has turned that selection into one of the quietly productive careers in the league: 225 goals and 295 assists for 520 points across 674 NHL games, with 20-goal seasons in eight of his ten years. He now carries the bulk of Denmark’s offensive load in international play.
Oliver Bjorkstrand plays for the Tampa Bay Lightning, having come up through Columbus with three straight 20-goal seasons at his peak as a Blue Jacket. The Seattle Kraken moved him to Tampa just ahead of the 2024–25 trade deadline, and at thirty years old he is deep into his tenth NHL season. He’s the complementary scoring piece in the Danish setup.
Lars Eller rounds out the group with the Ottawa Senators, and he is the only Danish-born player ever to cross 1,000 NHL games: 1,159 and counting. The Rødovre native went 13th overall to St. Louis in 2007, won the Stanley Cup with Washington in 2018, and captained Denmark through the Milano Cortina qualifying tournament. Add goaltender Frederik Andersen in Carolina, and that’s the full Danish NHL footprint for this season.
Danish fans watch most of this on tape delay. Viaplay and TV 2 Sport anchor the US-league coverage, with late-night and early-morning windows for NHL and NFL slates, and Ehlers’ Carolina move quietly shifted which games Danish broadcasters now prioritize.
Hockey Denmark also pulled a strong home audience through the Milano Cortina qualifier in Aalborg last year, where the national team put Norway away 4–1 to punch its ticket. The sport has a real following here now, not just a diaspora of expats checking box scores.
Denmark’s growing presence in North American hockey has strengthened the connection between local fans and international sports entertainment. NHL broadcasts, live statistics, fantasy competitions, and online communities allow Danish audiences to follow their favourite players throughout the season. This digital engagement extends into related entertainment sectors, including sports betting and online casino gaming, where international platforms attract users from different markets.
Denmark has an established gambling market regulated by Spillemyndigheden, the national gambling authority. Danish-licensed operators must comply with local requirements, including participation in ROFUS (Register Over Frivilligt Udelukkede Spillere), the country’s national self-exclusion register. Beyond the domestic market, international casino platforms operate under licences issued by other jurisdictions, including Malta and Curaçao. The Danish review website dansk.casino covers this segment through its guide to Danish casino without ROFUS, comparing operators by their gaming selections, payment methods, licensing information, and platform features. These comparisons help readers understand the differences between international platforms and Danish-licensed services, particularly regarding regulatory oversight and player protections.
As Ehlers, Bjorkstrand, and Eller continue representing Denmark in North American hockey, the digital entertainment landscape surrounding their home audience reflects an increasingly international sports economy.
At Milano Cortina 2026, Denmark drew Group C alongside Germany, the United States and Latvia. The Americans handled them 6–3 on 14 February, in what was only Denmark’s second ever Olympic men’s hockey appearance after Beijing 2022, and the first Winter Games since Sochi 2014 to feature NHL players on the ice. The result mattered less than the fact of being there with a roster this credible.
Looking ahead, Mads Søgaard in Ottawa is the obvious next-wave goaltender behind Andersen, and the Danish hockey federation now has a tangible professional pathway to point developing players toward something that didn’t really exist a generation ago. On the football side, Froholdt is still the only Danish-born player starting in the NFL. The question for the next cycle isn’t whether these four hold their spots. It’s who, from a country of six million, shows up behind them.
Players must be 21 years of age or older or reach the minimum age for gambling in their respective state and located in jurisdictions where online gambling is legal. Please play responsibly. Bet with your head, not over it. If you or someone you know has a gambling problem, and wants help, call or visit: (a) the Council on Compulsive Gambling of New Jersey at 1-800-Gambler or www.800gambler.org; or (b) Gamblers Anonymous at 855-2-CALL-GA or www.gamblersanonymous.org.
