In mid-June this year, the IIHF published the 2020 World Rankings, which were used for the seeding of the 2022 Olympic Winter Games in Beijing, China.
While the host (China) along with the top eight teams automatically received berths into the Olympics, all other teams had the opportunity to qualify for the remaining three spots at the IIHF's qualification tournaments from August 26 to 29, 2021.
All three Latvia, Denmark, and Slovakia took their chances and secured themselves a spot at the upcoming Olympic Winter Games. In addition to Russia and Czechia, Switzerland will thus have to face Denmark during the group stage.
Group A: 
Canada (1), 
USA (6), 
Germany (7), 
China
Group B: 
Russia (2), 
Czechia (5), 
Switzerland (8), 
Denmark
Group C: 
Finland (3), 
Sweden (4), 
Latvia, 
Slovakia
