Why this could be the most thrilling Olympic men's hockey tournament yet

Charlie McAvoy was still rattled 19 months later.

It was September 2023, and McAvoy couldn't hold back his disgust at missing out on pulling a red, white, and blue Team USA jersey over his head and representing his country in men's hockey at the 2022 Olympics in Beijing.

"That one took a while to get over," he said at a preseason event in Las Vegas.

The Boston Bruins defenseman's facial expression, body language, and tone all suggested he wasn't over it.

"It's just a mess. It gets to a point where it gets real," McAvoy said of what went through his mind when the NHL backed out of the Beijing Olympics.

"You go through training camp, and you're preparing. The behind-the-scenes aspect is happening. We're months away, they're trying to assemble a team, you're on a short list, and you're going through all these things. You're picking sizes for your Ralph Lauren outfit to walk in during the Opening Ceremony. That stuff got real. It got really real. You internalize it. It's motivation. You want to be a part of it, and then you just lose it in a matter of seconds?"

The world's top players were denied the Olympic experience in 2018 because of industry politics, and again in 2022, this time due to health and safety concerns amid a pandemic. The prime of an NHL career is only so long, and the Olympic opportunity came and went for a group of unlucky stars. Fans were robbed of true best-on-best international play in the process.

For a while, predicting the NHL's return to the Winter Games in 2026 felt foolish - another obstacle seemed certain to arise. Would we ever see all-time great Sidney Crosby, author of 2010's "Golden Goal," on the Olympic stage again?

"I had some hope," the 38-year-old Canadian hero said this past September.

"I like to think I'm an optimistic person, so I think that I tried to maintain hope that it would work out," Crosby added. "It's one of those things: How are you going to control (the outcome)? You can't. I was hoping it would work itself out, and it definitely has."

Twelve long years after Crosby and Canada won gold in Sochi, the NHL's return to the five-ring circus is officially upon us. The 2026 tournament, held in Milan, opens Wednesday, with Finland facing Slovakia and Italy taking on Sweden. Canada, captained by Crosby, begins its round-robin schedule Thursday against Czechia. The U.S., captained by Maple Leafs superstar Auston Matthews, also gets going Thursday with a tilt versus Latvia.

The delicious storylines, boosted by a dramatically improved on-ice product, are everywhere. It starts with the rivalry between Canada, the gold-medal winner at three of the five Olympics featuring NHLers, and the emerging powerhouse that is Team USA. The North Americans enter as co-favorites after commanding the entire sports world's attention last year with two instant classics at the totally made-up but completely epic 4 Nations Face-Off.

"That was the fastest hockey anybody had ever played," Canada defenseman Cale Makar said in the fall. Transitioning from the dog days of the NHL regular season to frenetic, nearly mistake-free 4 Nations action was "pretty insane," he added. "It was a weird and cool experience to be out there for that. I think the Olympics will be a completely different thing, almost even more amplified."

Canada is led by three of the consensus five best players on the planet in first-time Olympians Connor McDavid, Nathan MacKinnon, and Makar. Its forward group is flat-out nasty and doesn't have a single weak link from Crosby through the 14th guy. The blue line is solid, but goaltending is a sore spot.

The USA boasts a young, talented defense corps led by Quinn Hughes and McAvoy, and the deepest goaltending trio in the 12-team field. Up front, the roster features a handful of game-breakers and the tone-setting duo of brothers Matthew and Brady Tkachuk. Still, there's no McDavid equivalent anywhere on the Americans' lineup card.

The U.S., with its massive population and professionalized youth sports system, is typically the nation with the target on its back in international competition. Hockey, however, has always been the exception to the rule - it's been Canada's domain. But an Olympic gold for the USA would change the dynamic, at least temporarily. On the flip side, a gold for Canada, coupled with last year's 4 Nations title, would kill any talk of the Americans coming for the throne, at least temporarily.

"Anything less than a gold medal would be ... I don't want to say a failure. But that would be disappointing," USA forward Jack Eichel said in the fall. "Yeah, we're going over there to win."

Sweden and Finland slot in as the third- and fourth-best countries. With Canada and the USA absorbing all of the pre-tournament hype, the Swedes have flown under the radar as a gold-medal contender. Their roster is wonderfully balanced.

The absence of Russia, which is excluded from all Olympic competition due to the war in Ukraine, can't be overlooked in the present or in the retelling of the tournament in the future. Although Milan is "best-on-best," an asterisk remains. That said, many mid-tier countries are littered with impact NHLers, like Czechia's David Pastrnak and Slovakia's Juraj Slafkovsky. The rise of Switzerland and Germany should produce tighter final scores and perhaps a Cinderella run. There are seemingly more dark horse medal threats than usual.

How far can stud Leon Draisaitl carry the top-heavy Germans? What kind of magic can warp-speed skaters McDavid and MacKinnon spin up on an ice surface slightly smaller than NHL rinks? Can Matthews find his elite scoring touch after a quieter past two seasons? Will USA starting goalie Connor Hellebuyck dominate or crumble in the spotlight? Does international officiating impact a contender's medal chances in any meaningful way?

Crosby is the only player entering the tournament with membership in the Triple Gold Club (Olympic gold, world championship title, Stanley Cup). But 13 players, including five Canadians, are one shiny medal away from joining him.

Macklin Celebrini, the 19-year-old Canadian who has a shot at becoming the best player in the world by the 2030 Olympics, is already a household name. He's about to get exponentially more famous. Non-hockey fans care about the Olympics, which is part of the appeal. The Games have a gravity to them. They're about sporting excellence, yes. But also patriotism and community.

Olympic men's hockey matters on a basic human level.

"It's something I've dreamed of ever since I was a kid," said Celebrini, who was seven years old when the 2014 gold was placed around Crosby's neck.

John Matisz is theScore's senior NHL writer. Follow John on Twitter/X (@MatiszJohn) or contact him via email ([email protected]).