5 Biggest Questions for Canada's Men's Hockey Team After Roster Reveal

Canada's roster for the 2026 Winter Olympics in Milan Cortina looks imposing and arrived with a bit less controversy than its rival from the United States, but as good as it looks on paper, it's not perfect.

Team Canada will be looking to win gold at the Olympics with NHL players for the third straight time (2014, 2010) and fourth time in five when you add in its 2002 gold.

With it being the first Olympics with NHL players since 2014, the pressure is sky-high for Canada to reclaim the title as the best in the world.

There are some questions around the team, though, and we're going to dig into them and figure out if Canada has got what it takes to answer them when the puck drops in Italy in a few weeks.

Can Logan Thompson, Darcy Kuemper, or Jordan Binnington Get It Done in Goal?

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Logan Thompson

By far the biggest question for Canada at the Olympics surrounds their goaltending.

It was their biggest issue at Four Nations, and Jordan Binnington's performance, particularly in the championship game, made it moot. But Binnington's presence on the Olympic roster has raised questions again, despite the changes that added Logan Thompson and Darcy Kuemper in place of Samuel Montembeault and Adin Hill.

Thompson and Kuemper are having outstanding seasons for the Capitals and Kings, respectively, but Binnington is struggling. You could infer from his place on this team that he's the incumbent starter, and while that might be an assumption too strong, if he's not the starter, then who would be?

Kuemper has won a Stanley Cup, and while Thompson has been outstanding since joining the Capitals and was as well previously in Vegas, the stage at the Olympics shines a lot brighter, and the pressure is immense. Binnington is a Cup winner himself and helped Canada win the Four Nations title.

As easy as it might seem to pooh-pooh what Binnington has done so far in the regular season, that kind of experience and success when the pressure is at its highest cannot be discounted. As obvious as it might seem to run with Thompson or Kuemper, there's an unknown to putting them in charge of the Olympic net.

Will Canada Regret Not Selecting Connor Bedard?

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Arguably, the biggest omission from the Olympic roster was Chicago Blackhawks star forward Connor Bedard.

While no one will argue about Sharks forward Macklin Celebrini being included, Canada's management opted for more two-way focused forwards Nick Suzuki and Bo Horvat, as well as rugged power forward Tom Wilson, instead of the speedy and creative Bedard.

Canada leaving the 20-year-old at home despite his breakout this season is tough, and the injury he just overcame didn't seem to be a factor in leaving him off the roster, but you do have to wonder if it was on the back of management's minds.

Offense shouldn't be a problem for Canada, considering the presence of Nathan MacKinnon, Connor McDavid, Cale Makar, Sidney Crosby, Celebrini, Sam Reinhart, and Mitch Marner, but what's the right cut-off point between offensive skill players, two-way players, and physical defensive players?

The Four Nations showed Canada isn't always going to run roughshod over the competition, and leaving a player of Bedard's caliber at home will open the door for criticism should it not win gold, particularly if the goals dry up.

Will Tom Wilson Go Too Hard?

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No one attracts a crowd of complaints the way Washington Capitals power forward Tom Wilson does.

His legacy of toeing and crossing the line with his physical play gets all the attention. Countless suspensions from even more ferocious hits delivered have made him a lightning rod for hot takes and anger online.

Of course, the way Wilson plays also earns him adoration from Capitals fans, who have enjoyed how he's broken rivals both physically and mentally in trying to counter what he does on the ice.

That entire package of traits, along with the idea that Canada may have to deal with the United States with Brady and Matthew Tkachuk in tow, helped lead to Wilson's inclusion on Team Canada's roster.

And while Wilson's reputation is earned, he's also a deeply accomplished power forward who can score goals and make life miserable for foes in front of the net. He's an outstanding player, but we know there's an element of dark arts to his game.

Canada will want Wilson to play his game, which means leaning into physical play and using it to generate offense, but the international rulebook is far less tolerant than the NHL's, and that's where things can get murky with his inclusion on the team and bears watching.

Does Canada's Defense Have the Right Mix?

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Devon Toews and Cale Makar

It's hard to be critical of Canada's defense corps. Any team with Cale Makar at the top of the list is going to be close to impossible to deal with, and when you add in the likes of Josh Morrissey, Thomas Harley, and Devon Toews, it's a dynamite group.

With guys like Shea Theodore, Travis Sanheim, Colton Parayko, and Drew Doughty rounding out the group, it's a menacing pack of players on the blue line, and guys who do bring about questions about their inclusion quieted them with the way they played at Four Nations.

After all, Canada's defense is the one area that didn't change at all between Four Nations and the Olympics, and running it back with this group is something they feel comfortable with.

You can question doing that, though, given some of the players, team management could have swapped in but didn't. Edmonton's Evan Bouchard, Washington's Jakob Chychrun, and Islanders rookie Matthew Schaefer stand out among the snubs.

After all, Bouchard is among the leading Canadian defensemen in scoring, Chychrun is tops in goal scoring with 15, and Schaefer's all-around performance as an 18-year-old has blown everyone away.

And while some critics will grump about seeing veterans such as Parayko or Doughty on the team, their places have been earned over time, and they all played very well at Four Nations.

Still, with the kind of talent left off the roster, it will always open the door for criticism if things go wrong, and as hard as it is to argue with the players Canada is taking to Italy, who is staying home would make for a heck of a team themselves.

Did Canada Tinker Too Much From the Four Nations Roster?

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Sam Bennett

When Canada took home the title at last year's Four Nations Face-Off, it didn't surprise a lot of people. After all, it was a team that had most of the NHL's elite players across a couple of generations.

Canada would have been well within its rights not mess with that roster and run it back for the Olympics. Unlike the United States, though, it didn't do that.

Canada swapped out Sam Bennett, Seth Jarvis, Travis Konecny, Samuel Montembeault, and Adin Hill for Tom Wilson, Macklin Celebrini, Nick Suzuki, Bo Horvat, Logan Thompson, and Darcy Kuemper. It has gone in depth on the goalies, but the other changes raise questions.

Bennett's edgy, hard-nosed play, Jarvis' speed and creativity, and Konecny's snarly two-way play getting traded out for the larger, more forceful Wilson, Celebrini's brilliance, and Suzuki and Horvat's steady two-way play open up further questions about roles in the team.

Celebrini's inclusion was obvious, and even then, the debate centered more on choosing him or Connor Bedard. Jarvis has been outstanding in Carolina, and although Konecny hasn't had as strong a season with Philly, they're getting swapped out for Suzuki and Horvat.

It's hard to get too worked up about those changes because they're all outstanding players, but you have to think Canada's concern about defensive-mindedness was addressed given how well Suzuki and Horvat can mind their own end of the ice as well as excelling on the offensive side as well.

These changes are noticeable, however, and given that Canada won the Four Nations, it has to win gold in Milan Cortina to allay any criticism that might be waiting.