Winners, Losers and Snubs From Canada's 2026 Men's Hockey Olympic Roster

Hockey Canada announced its roster for the 2026 Men's Olympic Ice Hockey tournament on Wednesday. With the NHL returning to the Olympics for the first time since the 2014 games in Sochi, Russia, Canada appears to be one of the top favorites in the tournament. Perhaps even the top favorite.

There are a lot of the expected names on their roster, but also a few new faces and surprises.

So let's take a look at some of the biggest winners, losers and snubs from Wednesday's announcement.

Before we get into all of that, here is a quick look at the roster.

Winner: Macklin Celebrini (and common sense)

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Sometimes Olympic roster decision-makers overthink things and complicate the process. The phrase "galaxy brain" comes to mind here a lot. Team USA always does that, and is likely to do it again this year.

In the past, Canada has made some baffling roster decisions involving some of its youngest stars, including leaving Sidney Crosby and Steven Stamkos off the 2006 and 2010 teams.

There was a real discussion as to whether or not Canada would do it again this year with San Jose Sharks forward Macklin Celebrini and Chicago Blackhawks young star Connor Bedard.

There was an argument to be made for both of them to make the team.

At least one of them had to be there.

In the end, one of them is. It is Celebrini. He is also the right choice if you plan to take only one of them. Celebrini is not only one of the league's top scorers, but he is also already one of the league's best players, blending elite, game-changing offense, advanced defensive play for a 19-year-old, and a relentless work ethic and grind that will work at any level and against any level of competition.

He had to be here. He is. They got it right.

Loser: Evan Bouchard and High-Risk Defensive Play

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If you had to pick one word to describe Edmonton Oilers defenseman Evan Bouchard, polarizing would probably be a good one to use.

He has his fans.

He has his critics.

Both will steel-cage fight to the death in favor of their position.

There is no denying Bouchard's offensive impact, especially when it comes to the power play. He can be a magician with the puck at times offensively and has demonstrated over the years that he is more than capable of playing with high-end, highly skilled players. He is a points machine from the defense.

The flaw in his game is that he is also prone to taking higher risks and can make the occasional mistake that looks bad. That occasional, big mistake that looks bad is an alarm bell for his critics. Canada, likely feeling it already had enough offense, did not seem to want to take that high-risk level of play.

Just to throw more fuel onto that polarizing fire, if it were truly a liability, it would show up somewhere in the numbers. It does not.

Since the start of the 2023-24 season, the Oilers outscore their opponents 201-155 when Bouchard is on the ice during 5-on-5 play with a 58.5 percent expected goals share.

When he is not on the ice, the Oilers are outscored 239-259 with only a 51.9 percent expected goal share.

Is some of that due to having Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl as teammates and regular ice-mates? It sure is. But the Oilers' expected goal share is still above 50 percent when Bouchard is on the ice without McDavid and Draisaitl, and given the depth questions beyond those two at forward, that is still a strong showing for Bouchard. He would also be playing on a team full of highly-skilled players here. Given the lack of puck-movers and scorers on this defense, he is going to be one of the most discussed omissions.

Winner: Tom Wilson's Redemption

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For most of Tom Wilson's career, he was public enemy No. 1 around the NHL. He was the biggest villain and one of the most hated players in the league. Heck, he still probably is. But he is also something else now: A legitimately good player and one of the best, most productive power forwards in the NHL. He is no longer just a guy who skates around, checking people into oblivion, and running afoul of the league's Department of Player Safety.

He added 30-goal scorer to his resume a year ago.

Now he can officially add Canadian Olympian to it.

He is a worthy inclusion, as well.

Since the start of the 2024-25 season his 52 goals are the ninth-most among Canadian forwards, and he also brings the physical play, defensive play and penalty killing ability that somebody is going to have to play at some point.

Loser: High-End Goaltending

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It is not hard to spot the potential Achilles heel on this team, and it is very much in net, where they truly lack a high-end starter.

Jordan Binnington, as expected, is here despite a truly dreadful start to the 2025-26 season, and there is a good chance he is going to be starting due to his big-game reputation. He has a Stanley Cup ring, he backstopped Canada to the 4 Nations Face-off championship, and Canada is not going to overlook those things.

They got it right by taking Logan Thompson and Darcy Kuemper as the other two goalies on the roster, but this is not only Canada's biggest question mark, it might be one of the weakest goalie trios of any of the top contenders going into the tournament.

That is not a position you want to be weak at in a tournament like this. Especially when you get into the medal round and one bad game can ruin everything.

Winner: Experience, Reputation and a Steady Hand on Defense 

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Canada made it pretty clear what it wanted from its defense by omitting Evan Bouchard. It made it even clearer with the inclusion of Drew Doughty and Colton Parayko.

Both players have represented Canada in the past, both players have won for Canada in the past, and both players bring experience, a strong defensive reputation and a steadier hand on defense.

Whether or not that all equates to a better defense and better overall play in 2025-26 and in this particular tournament remains to be seen.

Bouchard and New York Islanders defenseman Matthew Schaefer would have been really intriguing additions to this blue line and brought a lot of offense back there. But that is not what Canada wanted, and reputation won out.

Loser: Sam Bennett's Chaos

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Is Sam Bennett one of Canada's best players? Objectively speaking, probably not. But he was a member of their 4 Nations team, has been money in big games, and would no doubt add an element of chaos to any potential game against the United States, especially given the presence of Matthew and Brady Tkachuk on the other side. Given the strong 4 Nations flavor on this team, Bennett's big-game play and the aforementioned chaos factor, he seemed like he would have a spot here.

Maybe Canada thought that would be overkill with Tom Wilson on the roster and not needed?

Perhaps his down year offensively hurt his stock in the eyes of management?

Head coach Jon Cooper certainly won out by getting Brandon Hagel and Anthony Cirelli on the roster.

Whatever the case may be, Bennett is a somewhat surprising omission given recent history and recent big-game play.

The Biggest Snubs

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Connor Bedard, Evan Bouchard, Matthew Schaefer, Mark Scheifele, and the Colorado Avalanche Goalies

Team Canada made the right decision by including Macklin Celebrini. It could have doubled down on youth by taking the Chicago Blackhawks young superstar Connor Bedard. It did not. That is also not really much of a surprise, given the buzz and rumblings leading up to the roster announcement on Wednesday. Perhaps Canada was scared off by his recent injury? Maybe management did not see him as an equal to Celebrini in all-around play? Maybe they just decided it is not his team, and he will be a part of future teams. Whatever the case may be, his talent and production were not enough for this particular team. He will be here in the future.

Canada could also have tripled down on youth by selecting New York Islanders defenseman Matthew Schaefer, the No. 1 overall pick in the 2025 NHL Draft and an instant star in the NHL. But as with Bouchard's omission, Canada clearly had a vision for its defense that included more veteran, stable defensemen. Like Bedard, Schaefer will almost certainly be here in the future. He could have been here now and especially given the lack of elite puck-movers and offense from the defense beyond Cale Makar. There is a potential weakness there that could be a problem against the better teams.

Another potential set of snubs that might be sneaking under the radar, especially in comparison to the attention the Bedard and Bouchard omissions will receive, is the Colorado Avalanche goalie tandem of MacKenzie Blackwood and Scott Wedgewood. They are backstopping the Avalanche to the best record in the NHL (by a massively, hilariously wide margin) while also owning save percentages of .919 and .924 for the season, both well above the league average and into the elite category.

It is especially eye-opening to see Canada willingly take another goalie in Binnington, who has an .870 save percentage entering play on Wednesday. Very interesting choice there. Reputation and a steady hand won out on defense for Canada's decision-makers. It really won out here in goal with Binnington over the Avalanche goalies.

Some of these players could be on Canada's standby list and eventually make it due to injury. As of now, though, they are most definitely on the snub list for the roster.