Olympics: 2026 U.S. Olympic Team

[ColbyChaos]

Not wrong, but I'm just trying to say that the decisions for the roster made sense at the time. This isn't the equivalent of us taking Justin Abdelkader in 2016 over Phil Kessel or some dumb shit like that lol.

2016 U.S. World Cup of Hockey Roster

teamusa.usahockey.com

This is pretty f***ing bad btw, we should take solace how far we've come as hockey country roster wise.

My eyes! Dear god I forgot those brutally repressed memories

 

[WarriorofTime]

With 8 defensemen, you gotta bring Fox. Need three RHD to have available, can't be one injury away from only having one. This isn't Fox's best season but his pedigree is very high. Next up on RHD is Carlson, Jones, Pionk.. Fox has a good gap between those guys.

 

[William H Bonney]

Nelson, Kreider, Trocheck shouldn't sniff the roster. Hard discussion about Fox whether he's suited to play best on best with his skating being very abysmal for a defenseman. Kyle Connor might legit make it based on tonight's game. If they had a finisher in the lineup, they probably kill Canada in the third on the scoreboard and beat them in OT. Caufield/Tage have to take the opportunity to go to the World Championships this year

Yeah, definitely. I think Connor should still be in play. He didn't show well in the 4-Nations but it's a small sample size and he's a top scorer for a reason. But he's also a guy that hadn't represented the US in like 9 years despite being available most of the time. If available, he'd be remiss to not show up the WC and show the staff they made a mistake not keeping him in a scoring role.

 

[Deep Blue Metallic]

Stock way down: Fox, J. Hughes, Trocheck, Kreider, Nelson, Connor

Trocheck, Kreider, Nelson are done at this level.

Fox might be hampered by injury, but is probably too slow regardless.

Connor, meh.

Jack was so disappointing - headless chicken out there. Should have been at center instead of Tro. He was routinely muscled off the puck or put on his ass along the boards. Another year and he'll be fine.

 

[WarriorofTime]

If available, he'd be remiss to not show up the WC and show the staff they made a mistake not keeping him in a scoring role.

His team is in first place in the west. He won't be available.

 

[Dr Jan Itor]

Tkachuk - Eichel - Tkachuk
Guentzel - Matthews - Boldy/Keller
Keller/Boldy - Larkin - Tuch
Miller - Hughes - Connor/Thompson
Thompson/Connor
Robertson/Cooley

Hughes - McAvoy
Slavin - Faber
Werenski - Sanderson
Hanifin - Fox

Obvious goalies

 

[William H Bonney]

With 8 defensemen, you gotta bring Fox. Need three RHD to have available, can't be one injury away from only having one. This isn't Fox's best season but his pedigree is very high. Next up on RHD is Carlson, Jones, Pionk.. Fox has a good gap between those guys.

Jones shouldn't be in play but Carlson and Pionk should. And then guys like Pesce will be considerations, especially if they say leave Hanifin home to opt for a 3rd offensive defenseman at LHD. It's not too surprising that Fox's foot speed was exposed big time. That's not going to change. The fact that Fox, on a team that lost Hughes and was down to just two offensive defenseman, couldn't keep a prime role as one of our two offensive defenseman on a team that struggled to score in its last 3 games is pretty damning of what the staff thought of his play. He most certainly can rebound and he's still going to be a contender for the team, but I don't see the Olympics going all that differently for him if he makes it.

 

[WarriorofTime]

Jones shouldn't be in play

Yeah I know you think he's worse than Justin Faulk or whatever, but Jones is having a good season, he's on the 'next of' list in all likelihood. Maybe goes to World Championship again.

 

[William H Bonney]

His team is in first place in the west. He won't be available.

Possibly, but the WC starts like 3 weeks after the playoffs start. It's possible he's available. Not that I expect him to play anyway. He has turned it down consistently since he became a professional.

 

[ZachaFlockaFlame]

With 8 defensemen, you gotta bring Fox. Need three RHD to have available, can't be one injury away from only having one. This isn't Fox's best season but his pedigree is very high. Next up on RHD is Carlson, Jones, Pionk.. Fox has a good gap between those guys.

It's so tough because Fox is a tremendous IQ player that should work for best on best but sometimes a guy like McDavid speeds past you and there's nothing you can do, example like what he did to McAvoy in Montreal. But with Fox, it's repeated and guys that should not be doing that to you. The play on the 2nd goal was something you'd see in a roller hockey game where the dman bits on the puck carrier and leaves the guy streaking behind. I might put Fox in very sheltered minutes next year in Italy, it also doesn't help we got no power plays tonight which is where Fox thrives the most

 

[Deep Blue Metallic]

I’m just glad Slavin had a moment in the sun. What he did in this tournament, he’s been doing night in and night out for close to a decade. He went through that phase of being underrated, then a phase where everyone talked about him a lot for being underrated, but not many fans just watch the guy. He really is that good of a hockey player, the extremely rare #1 defensive defenseman.

A damn shame he'll never win a Norris because the award is a fantasy sports award.

Poster boy for a "best defensive defenseman" trophy.

(As if we need any more.)

 

[WarriorofTime]

The fact that Fox, on a team that lost Hughes and was down to just two offensive defenseman, couldn't keep a prime role as one of our two offensive defenseman on a team that struggled to score in its last 3 games is pretty damning of what the staff thought of his play.

wdym, he played 2nd powerplay, USA just didn't get any powerplays

 

[ZachaFlockaFlame]

Trocheck, Kreider, Nelson are done at this level.

Fox might be hampered by injury, but is probably too slow regardless.

Connor, meh.

Jack was so disappointing - headless chicken out there. Should have been at center instead of Tro. He was routinely muscled off the puck or put on his ass along the boards. Another year and he'll be fine.

I can understand being down on Jack but the line shuffling + him being on the wing did him no favors. I think the best thing for Jack is if the Devils make a run because he needs to learn how to play in big games since he's a smaller stature player. He played well in 2023 but he needs more reps.

 

[William H Bonney]

Yeah I know you think he's worse than Justin Faulk or whatever, but Jones is having a good season, he's on the 'next of' list in all likelihood. Maybe goes to World Championship again.

Hey, I was right that Jones was overrated for too long. He's not anymore because it took a few horrid years for folks to catch on. Even then, I'd probably take him over Fox. Pair him with a stout defender and hope he doesn't run around like a headless chicken as he's won't to do. At least he'd bring length and skating which Fox can't.

 

[WarriorofTime]

Possibly, but the WC starts like 3 weeks after the playoffs start. It's possible he's available. Not that I expect him to play anyway. He has turned it down consistently since he became a professional.

Hard to blame him when USA did snub him for the WJC back in the day

 

[William H Bonney]

wdym, he played 2nd powerplay, USA just didn't get any powerplays

He got 2nd PP by default after being demoted off the 1st PP unit that looked terrible with him at the helm, so bad he lost his role before the first game was out.

Being on the 2nd PP unit that got very little time is not prime offensive defenseman deployment. In games where the US struggled to generate offense from the backend, Fox still struggled to get a regular shift even though that's what he made the team to provide.

Hard to blame him when USA did snub him for the WJC back in the day

Yeah, it was a bad snub, but if that's his beef he needs to get over it. The staffs for the WJC and the WCs are not the same people.

 

[Deep Blue Metallic]

Whatever the roster is, they better not be in an overtime situation with Canada

We've already seen enough of that to know how it usually ends

No offense, but this sort of comment annoys the f*** out of me.

A sudden-death OT game in hockey is basically a coin-toss. Attributing a loss to a roster deficiency is just silly.

 

[WarriorofTime]

He got 2nd PP by default

Out of every American Defensemen that plays hockey, there was the injured Quinn Hughes, Werenski, then him. I wouldn't call that "default". If Werenski isn't duplicating this season, Fox is definitely a guy you want available. If he's no good, you can always scratch or 7th DMan him.

idk I know Fox didn't play great, but it's also a really short thing, so not gonna overreact too much. He's 7th in DMen even strength points last five seasons, and 3rd in powerplay points. Wouldn't try and big brain it with a "roster to beat Canada" kind of decision when it's not like you're overflowing with a bunch of RHD options.

 

[Deep Blue Metallic]

He should be fine, I think it's also worth noting that the Devils also haven't played big games with him in the playoffs besides 1 year. This was probably highest competition he's played in, not an excuse, just an observation. I think with a few Devils playoff runs, he'll be on par with the bigger guys on the Team USA roster. You can also hide him much easier on the center spot than wing. He's a top 6 player on the wing and probably 3C if he's down the middle.

Remember his D+1 year? He was dreadful. Shouldn't have been in the league, except it's practically required for a 1OA.

Plenty of upside on Jack at this level.

 

[William H Bonney]

Out of every American Defensemen that plays hockey, there was the injured Quinn Hughes, Werenski, then him. I wouldn't call that "default".

idk I know Fox didn't play great, but it's also a really short thing, so not gonna overreact too much. He's 7th in DMen even strength points last five seasons, and 3rd in powerplay points. Wouldn't try and big brain it with a "roster to beat Canada" kind of decision when it's not like you're overflowing with a bunch of RHD options.

You're missing the point. On a team that was left with Werenski and Fox to primarily drive offense from the backend, Fox was so bad we largely relied on just Werenski. It's not that he's bad offensively, as he's not, it's that he couldn't keep the staff's trust to try and fill that role despite how desperately the team needed him to without Quinn.

It's not big brain trying to beat Canada. It's whether he can play better with his deficiencies when playing the best of the best. I hope he rebounds big time, and he's definitely a heavy contender for the Olympic team, but I question anyone who watched the Four Nations and doesn't have serious concerns about his style at this level.

 

[WarriorofTime]

You're missing the point. On a team that was left with Werenski and Fox to primarily drive offense from the backend, Fox couldn't even keep the trust to have the opportunity after how bad he was.

He didn't get benched though? He just didn't play as much as other guys

It's not that he's bad offensively, as he's not, it's that he couldn't keep the staff's trust to try and fill that role despite how desperately the team needed him to without Quinn.

Over-dramatic. He didn't play great. The staff trust or whatever, he was still in the lineup and playing regularly.

It's not big brain trying to beat Canada. It's whether he can play better with his deficiencies when playing the best of the best.

This is absolutely "big brain". He's one of the best DMen in the world. That doesn't just stop in a different setting.

I hope he rebounds big time, and he's definitely a heavy contender for the Olympic team, but I question anyone who watched the Four Nations and doesn't have serious concerns about his style at this level.

I question anyone that takes a couple of games and forms a rash decision when considering the next of all have significantly worse pedigrees.

 

[Deep Blue Metallic]

Tempus fugit.

Didn't realize the 2026 Olympic Games are less than a year away.

 

[Alicat]

Bill Guerin needs to be fired.

 

[William H Bonney]

He didn't get benched though? He just didn't play as much as other guys

Over-dramatic. He didn't play great. The staff trust or whatever, he was still in the lineup and playing regularly.

This is absolutely "big brain". He's one of the best DMen in the world. That doesn't just stop in a different setting.

I question anyone that takes a couple of games and forms a rash decision when considering the next of all have significantly worse pedigrees.

I didn't say he was benched. I said he lost trust, which was obvious. He was one of our first 6 players named to the team and running the PP1 and ended up 6th in defenseman ice time on a team with 6 defenseman.

You think different styles of hockey don't change the effectiveness of players? Good lord that's a take. Yes, Adam Fox the NHL player is one of the best dmen in the world. A best-on-best tournament is not the NHL.

 

[S E P H]

A lot of passengers today, need a big goal and none of them follow through. Heartbreaking.

My thoughts based on this tournament:

B. Tkachuk - Matthews - M. Tkachuk
Guentzel - Larkin - X
Boldy - Eichel - X
X - Miller - X

Hughes - Slavin
Werenski - McAvoy
Sanderson - Faber

Hellebuyck
Swayman
X

Cut:
Jake Oettinger
Brock Nelson
Jack Hughes
Adam Fox
Noah Hanifin
Vincent Trocheck​