Sidney Crosby Joins Canada Roster for 2026 IIHF World Hockey Championship After Olympic Loss

Pittsburgh Penguins captain Sidney Crosby is heading to Switzerland to help the Canadian men's hockey team seek redemption after their recent Olympic gold medal game loss.

Hockey Canada announced Tuesday that Crosby has been added to the roster ahead of the 2026 IIHF World Championship.

Crosby and Team Canada are set to open the tournament with a game against Sweden on Friday at 10:20 a.m. ET.

Hockey Canada announced Sunday that 19-year-old San Jose Sharks star Macklin Celebrini would serve as captain for the upcoming tournament.

Prior to Crosby's addition to the roster, Celebrini was the only Canadian player who also represented his country at the 2026 Olympics.

Crosby, 38, has represented Canada at 11 international tournaments including three past World Championships.

He and Team Canada were most recently upset by Denmark in the quarterfinals of the 2025 World Championships.

No country has as many IIHF World golds than Canada, which is heading into this spring's tournament with 28 gold medals.

That includes a win at the 2015 tournament that made Crosby, already an Olympic gold medalist and Stanley Cup champion, a member of the Triple Gold Club.

The Canadians also haven't medaled at the tournament in 2023, however, and in February the men's team fell short of gold in Milan Cortina for the first time in three Olympics featuring NHL players.

Canada's hopes of making it back to the World Championships podium will be bolstered by the return of Crosby, whose injury absence from the Olympic final contributed to his team's loss.

Crosby recorded 74 points (29 goals, 45 assists) in 68 games with the Penguins this season to mark his NHL-record 21st consecutive point-per-game season.

He then posted five points (one goal, four assists) in six playoff games before the Penguins were eliminated by the Philadelphia Flyers.

Crosby will now head to Switzerland for a 16-team tournament split into two groups for the preliminary round.

Olympic champion Matthew Tkachuk and the United States are in the opposite group from Canada, so the teams won't meet until the quarterfinals at the earlier. Teams will qualify for the knockout round if they rank among the top four in their group after the seven-game opening round.