6 Olympic storylines to monitor as NHL season approaches
The 2026 Olympics are five months away, with the 12-team men's hockey tournament scheduled for Feb. 11-22 in Milan, Italy. Countries announced six roster selections each in June and will name their final 19 players in January. Here are a handful of Olympic storylines to monitor as the NHL season nears.
Goalie spots (should be) flexible
Goaltending is arguably the most volatile position in sports. Nobodies become somebodies within weeks, and proven stars falter for months on end. Each country should take an open-minded approach to the selection process.
Just because Jordan Binnington, Adin Hill, and Sam Montembeault represented Canada at the recent 4 Nations Face-Off doesn't mean all three automatically deserve an Olympic spot. Darcy Kuemper posted the best numbers among Canadian goalies in 2024-25 - 30 goals saved above expected, according to Sportlogiq, and a .922 save percentage in 50 games. He should be strongly considered along with Mackenzie Blackwood (first full season in Colorado) and Logan Thompson (rising role in Washington).
The U.S. net is Connor Hellebuyck's to lose, for sure. But let's use pencil, not ink, to write the reigning Hart Trophy winner's name next to "starter." Jake Oettinger or Jeremy Swayman could get hot and look better suited for top duty by February. Thatcher Demko's proven he can stop pucks at a Vezina-caliber level when healthy; can he earn the No. 2 or 3 spot? Others with long-shot odds: Joey Daccord, John Gibson, Dustin Wolf, and Anthony Stolarz.
Jacob Markstrom is Sweden's starter on paper, but Linus Ullmark and Filip Gustavsson are fully capable of outplaying him before rosters are finalized.
There should be some kind of competition in Finland, too, even though Juuse Saros has already been named to the roster. He's coming off a subpar campaign in Nashville, while countrymen Kevin Lankinen (Year 1 of a five-year deal) and Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen (aged just 26) are both on the upswing.
Sizing up Canada's returnees
Canada's roster for the Sochi Olympics featured 25 players. More than a decade later, only eight of them continue to play in the NHL: Sidney Crosby, Drew Doughty, Brad Marchand, John Tavares, Jamie Benn, Corey Perry, Matt Duchene, and Jonathan Toews. (Technically, Alex Pietrangelo and Marc-Edouard Vlasic are active NHLers. Practically, though, both are retired).
Among the active eight, one's already been named to the 2026 team (Crosby), two are strong contenders for a spot (Doughty, Marchand), one's a long shot (Tavares), and four aren't even on the radar (Benn, Perry, Duchene, Toews).
What a difference 12 years makes.
Crosby, 38, is the most consistently brilliant player of all time (a point per game or better in each of his 20 seasons!). So it's safe to assume No. 87 will maintain an at least borderline elite level of play in the lead-up to Milan.
But does Father Time come for Doughty, who turns 36 in December? Or Marchand, 37? Or Mark Stone, another Canadian hopeful, who's 33 but has already dealt with many serious injuries? Will one, two, or all three fall off to the point where they can't crack Canada's roster?
Young studs and USA's blue line
Canada, the U.S., and Sweden all have an abundance of talent on the blue line. Each nation has a case for the best defense corps in the tournament. As for which country has the finest crop of up-and-coming D-men, it's USA all day.
A quick breakdown of general manager Bill Guerin's options: Quinn Hughes and Charlie McAvoy were already named to the team, while Jaccob Slavin and Zach Werenski are locks, barring injury. Filling out the final four blue-line spots won't be easy, although Brock Faber and Jake Sanderson - both 23 - have the inside track on two of them. Mid-career guys Adam Fox, Noah Hanifin, and Seth Jones will be in the hunt as well.
From there, there's roughly a dozen dark-horse candidates - including some youngsters with upside - who could force management's hand by performing exceptionally well in the early stages of 2025-26. Luke Hughes, Lane Hutson, Jackson LaCombe, and Alex Vlasic are all 21-24 years old, and there's a non-zero chance one of them gets picked as the eighth defenseman.
Warning: USA will have an absolutely stacked blue line at the 2030 Olympics.
GM-player familiarity factor
Robert Thomas is a classic bubble player. The Blues forward deserves to play in a best-on-best tournament because he's an above-average first-line center in the NHL. Yet he's far from a slam-dunk pick for Canada since the group of managers filling out the roster has so many equivalent or better options.
No executive knows Thomas better as a player or person than Canada GM Doug Armstrong. He scouted Thomas in 2016, drafted the Aurora, Ontario, native 20th overall in 2017, and watched the cerebral two-way playmaker grow into an impact player.
This all seems advantageous for Thomas. But sometimes a special kind of bias can emerge from such closeness. The GM knows the player's flaws and limitations and may be scarred by a few underwhelming performances. (That said, St. Louis' Binnington and Colton Parayko suited up for Canada at 4 Nations, so clearly Armstrong isn't opposed to taking his own players.)
The same logic can be applied to Team USA. Bill Guerin is also GM of the Wild. He knows Faber and Matt Boldy extremely well - the good and the bad.
Matthew Tkachuk's bounce back
Matthew Tkachuk missed the back half of the 2024-25 regular season after tearing his adductor muscle and suffering a sports hernia injury at 4 Nations. He returned to the Panthers' lineup in the playoffs and contributed 23 points in 23 games en route to the franchise's second consecutive Stanley Cup.
Tkachuk, one of the faces and top leaders of American hockey, will be sidelined to start the coming season as he recovers from offseason surgery. He likely won't see action until at least December, Panthers GM Bill Zito said.
Tkachuk was one of USA's original six selections, so the agitating winger's roster spot is secure, but it's worth monitoring how he looks after the layoff. Do we see him at the peak of his playmaking powers despite a relatively short runway, or does he still not quite seem like himself heading into the Olympics?
On paper, Tkachuk is a top-six presence for the United States, as he was at 4 Nations. But he could theoretically get pushed down the lineup due to somebody else's stellar first half of the season. The USA, after all, has enviable depth at forward.
Laine Watch is on in Montreal
The first thing that jumps out from Finland's projected roster is the steep drop-off on defense after Miro Heiskanen. The second thing: Damn, that's a nice group of forwards! The third: Yeah, OK, but who's going to score?
The Finns have plenty of silky passers and defensive maestros - the incredible Aleksander Barkov fits both descriptions - but their supply of snipers is limited. Mikko Rantanen, Sebastian Aho, Roope Hintz, and Artturi Lehkonen were the only Finns to score 25 or more goals in the NHL last year and none of them reached 35.
Enter Patrik Laine, the enigmatic marksman from Tampere. The 27-year-old right-handed winger potted 20 goals, including 15 on the power play, in 52 games for the Canadiens in 2024-25. That would be a 32-goal pace over a full season. His rocket of a shot can be a real weapon. He's a potential X-factor for Finland.
That said, Laine's also a wild card who doesn't always deliver on the hype.
John Matisz is theScore's senior NHL writer. Follow John on Twitter/X (@MatiszJohn) or contact him via email ([email protected]).