RealGM's Nick Obergan has written detailed player reports on each of the contending countries in the 2010 Winter Olympics. Click on each of the links below to read his excellent coverage for the games. Team Canada No country faces a larger pressure to win than the hosts. As if being the home country wasn?t enough, they desperately need to atone for their ugly 7th place finish in 2006. Accuse me of homerism if you like, but on paper they have the most talent in the tournament; their top-11 forwards are better than that of any other team, they definitely have the most talented group of defensemen, and their goaltenders are as good as anyone else?s. They have a good balance of youth and veterans, as well as speed and power, a balance they lacked four years ago. Can they handle the pressure? Below are their 10 keys in coming out victorious. 8-10. The Young Captains Mike Richards ? Philadelphia Flyers Eric Staal ? Carolina Hurricanes Jonathon Toews ? Chicago Blackhawks As the heading states, these three captain their NHL clubs and are completely accustomed to heavy minutes and a major role. As the tournament goes on, and depending on the matchups and how well each plays, their roles and minutes will be both intertwined and inconsistent. The key for these youngsters (all of which are making their Olympic debut) is defense; there are no doubts about their offensive ability (Richards has 24 goals and 24 power play points, Staal has 50 points in 49 games, and Toews has 49 points in 55 games along with a +24 rating), but they will be major factors on the other end of the ice. Toews and Richards in particular will be key features on the penalty kill and will spend the majority of their 5 on 5 shifts on the checking line. Staal has lined up on the wing for the 2nd line so far, providing a physical presence. He has two 40 goal seasons and a 100 point season in his career, so it?s not like he is out of place in an offensive role, but his impact needs to be felt in the areas not on the stat sheet. - Click here to read the remainder of Team Canada's Preview United States ?Out with the old and in with the new? is the theme for this year?s United States Olympic squad, as Leafs? general manager Brian Burke and his team (notables being Kings? general manager Dean Lombardi and Leafs? coach Ron Wilson) have chosen a crop of young talent with sparse Olympic experience this time around. Young upstarts such as Erik and Jack Johnson will be seen on the blueline, and not Chris Chelios; Zach Parise, Patrick Kane and Bobby Ryan will be prominent in the forward rotation, and not Mike Modano, Scott Gomez or Brian Gionta. Speed, skill and hunger should prove to overshadow lack of experience this year, as the Americans have their best chance at a medal in recent memory. 10. Joe Pavelski ? San Jose Sharks After surprising the league last year with 25 goals, 34 assists and 59 points, big things were expected of ?The Other Joe? in San Jose. The 7th round pick broke into the NHL with a bang in 2006-07, scoring seven goals in his first 12 games in a season shortened by injury. He improved from 28 points to 40 as a sophomore before his largely successful year last year. In the 2008 playoffs he was one of the best players for the Sharks, with five goals and four assists in 13 games. This season has been very up and down for Pavelski, best evidenced by January alone. He started January 2010 pointless in the first 7 games of the month. But he has been on fire lately, with an outstanding 12 points in his last six games. Overall he has 34 points in 42 games. - Click here to read the remainder of Team USA's Preview Team Sweden The Swedes won gold in 2006, and should be a force to be reckoned with again this year. They have plenty of star power, a great young goaltender, and can be seen all over the league leaders on the NHL stats pages. Though they have some key injured players who may not be able to play (Kronwall, Franzen), they sport many carry-overs from the victorious squad of four years ago who will be looking to repeat as Olympic champions. 10. Patric Hornqvist ? Nashville Predators In the NFL, he would be known as ?Mr. Irrelevant;? in 2005 he was the last player taken in the draft, 230th overall. He came to North America last year from Sweden and played a third of the year in the NHL (28 games, 7 points) and the rest in the AHL (49 games, 35 points). He isn?t in jeopardy of being sent down this season, potting 23 goals in 56 games, and is a +13. He has pretty good numbers considering he went 11 straight games without a point (November 14th to December 4th) and only has points in 1 of his last 5 games. His scoring touch should be able to help ease the loss of Franzen. - Click here to read the remainder of Team Sweden's Preview Russia The Russians are the #1 ranked team in the IIHF thanks to back-to-back World Hockey Championships in 2008 and 2009. They are armed with the two most potent goal scorers of the last decade (Ovechkin, Kovalchuk), last year?s playoff MVP and Art Ross winner (Malkin), a back-to-back Hart Trophy winner (Ovechkin), two 2-time Selke winners (Datsyuk and Federov), some power play weapons on defense and all three nominees for the MVP last year (Ovechkin, Malkin, Datsyuk). It?s going to be hard to stop this team from winning gold. 10. Maxim Afinogenov ? Atlanta Thrashers Just a few short months ago, Afinogenov was not offered a contract by the Sabres, a team he was with since his rookie year in 1999-2000. In fact, no one offered him a contract, and he settled for a training camp tryout with Atlanta ? a move that has benefited both parties greatly. He has battled various injuries in his career and has never played a full 82 game season. The three-time 20 goal scorer had his best season in 2005-06, scoring 22 goals with a career-best 51 assists and 73 points. Only one other time he reached 60 points, and it was the following year with his career-high 23 goals in only 56 games. This season has been by far his most consistent, only twice going more than 2 games without a point. Maxim has played in all 60 games for Atlanta, and has 19 goals (5 on the power play), 27 assists, and 46 points. - Click here to read the remainder of Team Russia's Preview Czech Republic The bronze medalists from 2006 will have a tough time repeating as medal-earners. Two players from that team who were to be counted on as key contributors this year (Milan Hejduk and Ales Hemsky) will miss the tournament with injuries, while their captain has recently suffered a concussion (though is not supposed to miss much time, nor the tournament). Add in a goaltender duo who ranked only 10th in the first article of this Olympic series, and the Czech?s have an uphill battle to climb. 10. Milan Michalek ? Ottawa Senators Michalek was the sixth overall pick in 2003 by San Jose, but knee injuries derailed him until the post-lockout season in 2005-06. As a rookie he scored 17 goals and had 18 assists as the team?s top freshman. As a sophomore he netted 26 goals and 40 assists, earning him a 6-year/$26 million extension that offseason. His play stagnated from there, totaling 47 goals and 65 assists over the next two seasons combined, but the bonus was he played no fewer than 77 games. This past offseason, he was dealt to Ottawa in the infamous Dany Heatley deal. The 25-year old was enjoying a productive start to the season before a lengthy slump and injury knocked him off course ? he only has one goal since December 19th (an 11 game span), and was inactive due to injury from January 8th to the 20th. He has 17 goals in his first 46 games for the Senators with 6 power play goals and 2 shorthanded. - Click here to read the remainder of the Czech Republic Preview Finland Every team needs good role players and leadership in order to win. Finnish fans should be excited that their team has those in abundance. But their lack of firepower and All-Star caliber skaters should keep them off the podium despite winning silver in 2006. Their star goaltending duo (Kiprusoff, Backstrom) can only carry them so far. 10. Antti Miettinen ? Minnesota Wild The 29-year-old winger is typically a third liner who sees sporadic power play time. His career high in goals is only 15, but with 11 already this year, he is on pace for a new career-best. Last season he set career highs in assists (29) and points (44). He was a 7th round pick in 2000 by Dallas, and is in the second year of a 3-year/$7million contract with Minnesota. Antii was selected to the 2006 Olympic team, but was unable to play due to injury, so I am sure he is thrilled to be getting another chance at representing his country on the biggest stage in the world. - Click here to read the remainder of Team Finland's Preview Slovakia Without championship caliber goaltending and nine non-NHL players on their roster, Slovakia is not expected to contend for a medal; they finished 5th in 2006, and 13th in 2002. Who are their top 10 players for this year?s Olympics? 10. Jozef Stumpel ? Barys Astana (KHL) Stumpel played in the NHL from 1991-2008, amassing 677 points in 957 games for Boston, L.A. and Florida. 9 times he had over 50 points in a season, but injuries kept him from ever playing a full 82 game season. His best two seasons, came from 1997-1999, gaining 155 points in 155 games. He currently plays in the Kontinental Hockey League where he has 65 (46 assists) points in 82 games over the last two seasons. The talented play maker has played 76 games for Slovakia over his career in various international competitions, potting 16 goals. The 37-year-old needs to contribute if Slovakia has any aspirations of an upset. - Click here to read the remainder of Team Slovakia's Preview