We’re less than two months away from the start of the men’s hockey tournament at the 2026 Winter Olympics in Milan, Italy and anticipation is building ahead of the NHL’s first trip to the Winter Games since 2014 in Sochi, Russia.
Recently, there has been some concerns regarding the arena in Milan, which still isn’t completed and the rink surface is smaller than that of ice in the NHL, it sounds like everything should be finished up in the near future, with Final Four events in Italy’s IHL Hockey League Serie A Championship and the 2025-26 Italian Cup set to be held at Milano Santagiulia Ice Hockey Arena from January 9th to the 11th.
As the NHL, NHLPA, IOC, IIHF and Milan’s organizing committee continue to deal with the arena, we’re roughly a month away from finding out the full rosters for all 12 participating nations, including Canada, whose management group has some big decisions to make in the weeks ahead.
Options for Canada’s 2026 Winter Olympic Roster
Eight months ago, I shared my initial 2026 Winter Olympic roster predictions for all 12 nations and by far, Canada and the United States’ were the hardest. You could easily make two additional gold medal contending teams from each nation with players that’ll likely be on the outside looking in come early January when roster are announced.
Flash forward to December and the majority of teams already at or close to the 30-game mark in the 2025-26 season, it feels like the right time to share my new, and final, roster predictions for Team Canada as Tampa Bay Lightning Head Coach Jon Cooper looks to lead this nation to their first Olympic gold medal in men’s hockey since 2014.
For full transparency, below I have listed all 48 players that I took into consideration for my final roster prediction, with those names in italics already being named to the team back in June by Hockey Canada.
Forward options: Sidney Crosby, Nathan MacKinnon, Sam Reinhart, Brayden Point, Connor McDavid, Mark Scheifele, Brandon Hagel, Nick Suzuki, Macklin Celebrini, Connor Bedard, Mitch Marner, Seth Jarvis, Anthony Cirelli, Mark Stone, Brad Marchand, Wyatt Johnston, Robert Thomas, Tom Wilson, John Tavares, Travis Konecny, Mat Barzal, Quinton Byfield, Zach Hyman, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, Sam Bennett.
Defense options: Cale Makar, Josh Morrissey, Thomas Harley, Brandon Montour, Mackenzie Weegar, Dougie Hamilton, Thomas Chabot, Evan Bouchard, Noah Dobson, Travis Sanheim, Aaron Ekblad, Shea Theodore, Devon Toews, Colton Parayko, Drew Doughty.
Goaltending options: Sam Montembeault, Mackenzie Blackwood, Scott Wedgewood, Logan Thompson, Jordan Binnington, Adin Hill, Cam Talbot, Darcy Kuemper.
My Predictions for Canada’s 2026 Olympic Roster
Each nation participating in February’s Olympic tournament will be allowed to carry 25 players on their respective rosters with it typically being broken down like this – 14 forwards, eight defensemen and three goaltenders.
It wasn’t an easy decision because there are several elite players I’ve had to leave off my roster prediction, but here we go. Here is my roster for Team Canada, with exactly two months to go until they open up the preliminary round against David Pastrnak and Team Czechia.
Goaltenders: Darcy Kuemper (Los Angeles Kings), Logan Thompson (Washington Capitals), Scott Wedgewood (Colorado Avalanche).
Defensemen: Thomas Harley (Dallas Stars), Cale Makar (Colorado Avalanche), Brandon Montour (Seattle Kraken), Josh Morrissey (Winnipeg Jets), Colton Parayko (St. Louis Blues), Shea Theodore (Vegas Golden Knights), Travis Sanheim (Philadelphia Flyers), Devon Toews (Colorado Avalanche).
Forwards: Connor Bedard (Chicago Blackhawks, Macklin Celebrini (San Jose Sharks), Sidney Crosby (Pittsburgh Penguins), Brandon Hagel (Tampa Bay Lightning), Seth Jarvis (Carolina Hurricanes), Wyatt Johnston (Dallas Stars), Nathan MacKinnon (Colorado Avalanche), Brad Marchand (Florida Panthers), Mitch Marner (Vegas Golden Knights), Connor McDavid (Edmonton Oilers), Brayden Point (Tampa Bay Lightning), Sam Reinhart (Florida Panthers), Mark Scheifele (Winnipeg Jets), Nick Suzuki (Montreal Canadiens).
Canada will open up the preliminary round, as mentioned, on Thursday, February 12th at 10:40 am ET against Czechia. Jon Cooper’s group will also face Switzerland (Friday, February 13th at 3:10 pm ET) and France (Sunday, February 15th at 10:40 am ET) in the preliminary round, before the playoff round begins on Tuesday, February 17th.
(Image Source: CityNews).