There is great anticipation on Wednesday throughout the international hockey world as the Canadian Olympic men’s hockey team will be announced for the 2026 Olympic Winter Games in Milan/Cortina d’Ampezzo. We already know six players on the roster as they were announced this past summer. They were Connor McDavid of the Edmonton Oilers, Cale Makar and Nathan MacKinnon of the Colorado Avalanche, Brayden Point of the Tampa Bay Lightning, Sam Reinhart of the Florida Panthers, and Sidney Crosby of the Pittsburgh Penguins.
Who are my predictions for the 19 other players?
Three goaltenders have not been selected yet by Team Canada management. It is highly unlikely that Jordan Binnington of the St. Louis Blues will return from the Four National tournament after having an awful start to the 2025-26 NHL season. The two goaltenders who appear to be locks are Saskatoon’s Darcy Kuemper of the Los Angeles Kings and Calgary’s Logan Thompson of the Washington Capitals. That leaves the third spot up for grabs. It appears to be either Colorado’s Scott Wedgewood or Mackenzie Blackwood. My gut is telling me Blackwood of Thunder Bay, as he has more experience under his belt. Both goalies have been great for the Avalanche in 2025-26.
On defense, it will be interesting to see the seven blueliners who join Makar. Devon Toews of Abbotsford, British Columbia is very likely to be selected because of his familiarity with Makar in Colorado. The second defensive pairing seems to be Calgary’s Josh Morrissey of the Winnipeg Jets, and Aldergrove, British Columbia’s Shea Theodore of the Vegas Golden Knights.
That leaves four more blueliners. Thomas Harley of the Dallas Stars was on the Four Nations team and played well, but is a -2 this season on a very good Stars team and will probably not be picked as a result. Drew Doughty of London, Ontario has had a solid season for the Los Angeles Kings (13 points and is a +11), and was Canada’s best player at the 2014 Olympic Winter Games in Sochi. Canadian management likes size, and that is why St. Albert’s Colton Parayko of the St. Louis Blues (6’6″, 230 pounds), and Elkhorn, Manitoba’s Travis Sanheim of the Philadelphia Flyers (6’4″, 220 pounds) will be chosen.
The final defenseman spot will either go to Oakville’s Evan Bouchard of the Edmonton Oilers or Hamilton rookie Matthew Schaefer of the New York Islanders. Schafer gets the edge because is the better all-around defenseman. It will be interesting to see if Canadian management will go wth inexperience and conservatism or experience and risk.
On forward, there are nine spots up for grabs. Two players likely to be chosen who were not on the Four Nations team are North Vancouver’s Macklin Celebrini of the San Jose Sharks (third in NHL scoring with 60 points), and Kitchener’s Mark Scheifele of the Winnipeg Jets (45 points). I’m a huge advocate of Toronto’s Wyatt Johnston of the Dallas Stars, and should be chosen because he leads the NHL with 14 power-play goals. My other six are Markham’s Mitch Marner of the Vegas Golden Knights, Saskatoon’s Brandon Hagel of the Tampa Bay Lightning, London’s Nick Suzuki of the Montreal Canadiens, Halifax’s Brad Marchand of the Florida Panthers, Holland Landing, Ontario’s Sam Bennett of the Panthers and London’s Bo Horvat of the New York Islanders.
