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Germany's Leon Draisaitl reacts during the men's quater final Ice hockey match between Slovakia and Germany, as part of the 2026 Winter Olympic Games in Milan-Cortina. Peter Kneffel/dpa
Captain Leon Draisaitl has said that the German ice hockey team lacked a proper plan at the Olympics and suggested that pre-Games expectations in them were also too high.
Germany had hoped for a medal but went out in the quarter-finals against Slovakia at the Olympic tournament in Milan last week.
"It is difficult at this level if not everyone is on the same page and everyone knows how we want to play," Edmonton Oilers forward Draisaitl said after Thursday's 8-1 at the Los Angeles Kings.
"It took us too long to find out how we are as a team and how we wanted to play," he said.
Draisaitl said this was directed at everyone from players to coaches but that at the end of the day "it is us the players who are out there and we have to put our best performance on the ice."
However, Draisaitl said that expectations in the team were too high, also given that they had fewer NHL players within their ranks than others. German won the silver medal in 2018 when NHL players did not participate in the tournament.
"We had never played in this set-up before and we had six NHL players included. So that doesn't mean that we had a team of superstars," he said.
However, German opening ceremony flag bearer Draisaitl also admitted that expectations within the team had also been high.
"We have a very, very good team with a lot of potential. Unfortunately we could not perform that we," he said.
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