NHL
2026 Olympic
Hockey
Adam Fox's exclusion from the main Team USA Olympic roster is a win on the blue line for a hypothetical B-Team. Minas Panagiotakis / Getty Images
Ever since the NHL first sent its players to the Olympics in 1998, any proud Canadian would be happy to tell you that the Canadian B-Team would probably still contend for the gold medal. And given the depth of Canadian talent in the league, it’s been tough to argue against.
But the United States has since closed the gap with its neighbor to the north, taking Canada to overtime in the gold-medal game in Vancouver in 2010 and again in the 4 Nations Face-Off last February. The Americans won the World Championships for the first time in 92 years this past summer, and have won the last two World Juniors titles. The playing field has leveled quite a bit. During that Nagano season, 84 American players played at least half of the NHL season. In 2024-25, 177 Americans did.
It begs the question: Can the American B-Team hang, too, now? Well, here’s what an all-America snub roster might look like.
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Extras: Patrick Kane, Bryan Rust
Next up: Will Smith, Frank Nazar
Leading with Dallas winger Jason Robertson, who was left off Bill Guerin’s Olympic roster, the American B-Team packs plenty of scoring punch. Robertson is second to Matt Boldy in goals by an American this season, while Detroit’s Alex DeBrincat, Montreal’s Cole Caufield and Anaheim’s Cutter Gauthier are all in the top seven, ahead of Jake Guentzel, Kyle Connor and Auston Matthews.
This team is heavy on youth, which is a tantalizing prospect for Team USA’s long-term future, but gets a veteran boost at the bottom of the lineup. Shane Pinto, at the ripe old age of 25, gives the Americans a true checking and penalty-killing center, while Chris Kreider and Patrick Kane bring a wealth of international experience.
Extras: Ryan McDonagh, Sam Malinski
Next up: Dylan Samberg, Shayne Gostisbehere, Alex Vlasic
Adam Fox’s loss is the B-Team’s gain, as the Norris Trophy winner immediately becomes this group’s No. 1 blueliner. Pairing him with Montreal’s dynamic Lane Hutson makes for a potentially elite top duo. The second pair is darn good, too, with Ducks rising star Jackson LaCombe joining the venerable Capitals stalwart John Carlson. The third pairing was a little trickier to pick, as Team USA has a glut of solid-but-unspectacular next-tier guys, but Miller can join LaCombe on the top penalty-killing unit, while Faulk provides some offense from the back end.
It was tempting to bring the next generation along for this imaginary trip to Milan, as Vancouver’s Zeev Buium (20 years old) and New Jersey’s Luke Hughes (22) could become fixtures on the American blue line in the not-too-distant future. But for now, we’ll lean toward the veterans and take along Tampa Bay’s Ryan McDonagh, now that he’s healthy again, and Colorado’s Sam Malinski.
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Next up: Joey Daccord, Alex Lyon, Jonathan Quick
Canada could only dream of having America’s goaltending depth. Spencer Knight briefly flirted with the American A-Team with a brilliant start to the NHL season but has come back down to Earth along with his Blackhawks teammates of late. Still, he’s playing consistently well behind a defensively dubious team and he’s a star on the rise. He very well could be in the mix for future Olympics. After Knight, Vancouver’s Thatcher Demko gets the nod because of his total body of work, while Calgary’s Dustin Wolf (24 years old, same as Knight) has a chance to be a future No. 1, too.
It’s tempting to throw the tried and tested Jonathan Quick on the roster as an in-case-of-emergency-break-glass No. 3, but we’ll keep our eyes on the future rather than the past.
So, is this team good enough to contend at the Olympics? Perhaps not for the gold medal, not with the staggering talent on the Canadian, American and Swedish A-Teams. But given the scoring punch up front, the high-end talent on the back end, three goalies who could make Canada’s A-Team, and just enough defensive-minded players to lean on in a close game — not to mention all that youthful energy and excitement— this group wouldn’t be an easy out for anyone. We’re in the midst of an American hockey golden age, and Canada should at least be looking over its shoulder.
Mark Lazerus is a senior NHL writer for The Athletic based out of Chicago. He has covered the Blackhawks and the league at large for 13 seasons for The Athletic and the Chicago Sun-Times. He has been named one of the top three columnists in the country twice in the past three years by the Associated Press Sports Editors. Follow Mark on Twitter @MarkLazerus
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