This is it, the news of the 2026 Milano Cortina Winter Olympic Team Canada men’s hockey roster finally being released. No more writing down fantasy, mock rosters and trying to guess who made it, but we can still imagine the power play units. In any case, this is the team that will represent the best country in hockey, all time. Yes, Canada has lost best-on-best, but it doesn’t happen frequently, considering they’re taking on…the world, Great Googily, Moogily. Especially when you consider the perspective of direct competition, it isn’t even close. No one country can reasonably matchup up to Canada’s best-on-best standing, starting back in 1972.
Official Team Canada 🇨🇦 2026 Men’s Olympic Hockey Roster
Forwards (14)
Macklin Celebrini #TheFutureIsTeal
Anthony Cirelli #GoBolts
Sidney Crosby #LetsGoPens
Brandon Hagel #GoBolts
Bo Horvat #isles
Nathan MacKinnon #GoAvsGo
Brad Marchand #TimeToHunt
Mitch Marner #VegasBorn
Connor…— Frank Seravalli (@frank_seravalli) December 31, 2025
2026 Men’s Team Canada Olympic Hockey Roster Announcement News
Since the Olympics welcomed the best in Nagano, Japan for the 1998 Winter Olympics, Canada has collectively been king. Even that year, with Wayne Gretzky famously sitting on the bench for a shootout, Canada still made the medal round. In the four other times that the Olympics featured the NHL stars since then, Canada has skated away with three Gold Medals.
The Locks On Team Canada
When you start talking about this, and any Team Canada really, the greatness of the collective group cannot be understated. For starters, Sidney Crosby, certified GOAT, captain (2014, 2025, and for the Pittsburgh Penguins), remember 2010? Let’s go, baby!
Next up, Connor McDavid and Mitch Marner. We all remember the now famous 2025 connection on the 4 Nations winning goal. Additionally, for Marner specifically, it is tough to not understate his impact when you consider the state of his former team, the Toronto Maple Leafs power play.
Let’s be honest, this is Connor McDavid’s team. Look at his scoring throughout his whole career. McDavid is 60th on the all-time points list, and seventh among active players (Crosby is eighth and first, respectively). He turns 29 in a couple weeks. He’s a GOAT. We thought him leading the 4 Nations team to victory, might translate to Stanley Cup Playoff success. However, we all know who got in the way there. Guys by the name of Brad Marchand, and Sam Reinhart, oh yeah, guys on this Team Canada roster. It definitely takes a special breed.
So Much Talent
Nathan MacKinnon is on top of his game right now. He is such good friends with Sid, imagine if he sustains elite talent for as long as Crosby has. It is something to think about. At the age of 30, he only seems to be getting better. He has only had three career 100-point seasons, each coming in the last three years. Moreover, this season he is well on pace to get there (around 142, in fact).
Bo Horvat, Tom Wilson, Anthony Cirelli, and Macklin Celebrini did everything they could to earn a spot on the team. We were expecting Celebrini nailed down his spot, based on the rumours circulating last evening. And why not, he is top three in league scoring (60 points), for a second-year pro, simply spectacular. The rest did deserve their respective nods as well.
It was tough for the guys on the bubble, like Mark Scheifele, Wyatt Johnston, and Connor Bedard. But hey, we can’t have everyone. Furthermore, guys like Brandon Hagel, Brayden Point, and Mark Stone have so much pedigree themselves, you knew what the decision would be on them.
The Ministers of the Canadian Defence
The defence group. One thing that is known is that Team Canada’s top defensive pairing is 2022 Stanley Cup Champion teammates Cale Makar and Devon Toews. They’ve been the top, or top-three anyway, NHL pairing for a number of years now. Moreover, Josh Morrissey and Colton Parayko have played at such a high level, and for a while now, that they were locks.
There were lots of great debate here on defence, too. Guys like Thomas Harley and Shea Theodore were thought to be front-runners, for no other reason than playing at the 4 Nations. Harley, Theodore, Travis Sanheim, and Drew Doughty were all selected for their experience.
Conversely, there were a couple that did a great job of putting their names in the ring. Jakob Chychrun and Matthew Schaefer come to mind for that category. In the end, the defence was a very difficult position to crack. There was just so much competition. However, the star power that it does possess, can give Canadian hockey fans some reassurance.
Finally, Goaltending
For the goaltenders of Team Canada Olympic hockey roster, yes, there was some debate, but there really wasn’t too much discordance between prognosticators when it came to making their guesses. Adin Hill had been injured, so we didn’t want to take someone who wasn’t in rhythm. Sam Montembeault was recently demoted to the AHL, not really Team Canada best-on-best calibre. The last remaining member of the 2025 4 Nations Face-Off Roster, Jordan Binnington, well he is an exception of sorts.
Binner was outstanding in the 4 Nations championship game, especially in overtime, to help Canada emerge victorious. Plus, he’s buddies with general manager (from Canada and the St. Louis Blues) Doug Armstrong. Not to mention, he was also a huge part in the 2019 Stanley Cup winning Blues team, as a rookie no less.
The next goalie up is the statistical leader of the group, Logan Thompson. Despite being left off the 4 Nations club, there’s no denying his body-of-work, mostly in numerical form. Over his six-year NHL career, he has a .912 save percentage.
Darcy Kuemper is another strong selection, who has been consistent for a long time. His experience of winning the 2022 cup with MacKinnon, Toews, and Makar, is a boost.
The other goaltending story from 2025-26, has been from the league’s best team, the Colorado Avalanche, and well the Central Division, too, for that matter, are running away with the league. The funny thing for Colorado, is that it hasn’t seemed to matter who’s in net. Early in the season, when their starter Mackenzie Blackwood was out, career backup Scott Wedgewood had stolen the show. He was even getting some Team Canada recognition himself. In contrast, as Blackwood has returned, he has been on a mission. Between the three of them, Thompson, Blackwood, and Wedgewood, they all find themselves among the league leaders in save percentage and goals-against average, as well as analytics. However, in the end, they didn’t get selected.
The Final Word
One final note is that the Team Canada roster may not be the final roster to play games. In the instance of injuries, there can still be replacement players. Just something to keep in mind for those not named today.
To wrap it up, Canada is happy with their selection. Their team is coming off a 2025 victory. Before that, it was a long while. Notwithstanding, Team Canada has won the 2016 World Cup of Hockey, 2014 Sochi Olympics, and 2010 Vancouver Olympics. So, they have a four tournament streak going, with the constraints of counting best-on-best tournaments. Canada opens the Olympics on February 12th versus Czechia. Get ready hockey and Canadian sports fans, it is sure to be legendary.
Main Photo Credit: David Kirouac-Imagn Images