US hockey announces initial 6 players for 2026 Milan Olympics

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (AP) — The U.S. named Matthew and Brady Tkachuk, Auston Matthews, Jack Eichel, Quinn Hughes and Charlie McAvoy as its first six players for the 2026 Olympics, avoiding goaltenders on the initial roster unveiled Monday.

Some assortment of Connor Hellebuyck, Jake Oettinger, Jeremy Swayman and Thatcher Demko figure to make the team when full rosters are submitted in early January.

"Our goalies played well for us, great seasons: Connor just got the Vezina and Hart, which is incredible," U.S. general manager Bill Guerin said on a video call with reporters. "It was just kind of the thing we talked that about before we did it for 4 Nations: do we add a goalie, do we not add a goalie? I felt it was best we stay consistent and just let the goalies play it out during the season."

All 12 teams that qualified — with France replacing Russia because of the International Olympic Committee's ban on that country for team sports because of the war in Ukraine — announced the start of their groups set to take part in Milan. This tournament marks the return of NHL participation and what should be the first Olympics for Canada's Connor McDavid and many other top players who have not yet gotten that opportunity.

“Incredibly honored to represent my country at the biggest sporting event in the world,” McDavid said after he and the Edmonton Oilers practiced during the Stanley Cup Final. “You think of the Canadian players that can be named to that team and to be selected again, it means a lot.”

McDavid would have been there had the NHL not pulled out of the 2022 Beijing Games because of pandemic-related scheduling issues. Along with McDavid, Canada picked Sidney Crosby, Nathan MacKinnon, Cale Makar, Brayden Point and Sam Reinhart, the latter of whom is also in the final with the defending champion Florida Panthers.

“When you’re growing up when you’re watching as a kid, it’s Stanley Cup finals and it’s Team Canada,” Reinhart said. "Those are the two things that you dream about playing for. To have that opportunity is pretty exciting.”

Three other Panthers players — Aleksander Barkov for Finland, Nico Sturm for Germany and Uvis Balinskis for Latvia — are penciled in for Milan. Edmonton's Leon Draisaitl headlines the list for Germany, which reached the final in 2018 when the NHL skipped the Olympics.

“There’s not a lot of elite centermen in the league: I think Leon is in that category, Sasha (Barkov is) in that category,” Sturm said. “Big left-handed centermen that you can model your game after. He’s definitely somebody that I look up to a lot and try to learn from.”

Obviously much can change over the next eight months, from injuries to performance, and this process with the IOC and International Ice Hockey Federation follows what the U.S., Canada, Sweden and Finland did in naming six initial players last summer for the 4 Nations Face-Off that was a massive success in February.

“I understand it from a marketing perspective to get things up and running,” Canada GM Doug Armstrong said. “We probably had a wide berth of players we could have named, but it is what it is. I think it’s consistent with the 4 Nations and the event before, so we’re OK doing. As I said to someone: ‘I think the easy part’s behind us, these six. Now it gets interesting as we fill out that roster.’”

Sweden chose forwards Gabriel Landeskog, Lucas Raymond, William Nylander and Adrian Kempe and defensemen Victor Hedman and Rasmus Dahlin. Finland picked Barkov, fellow skaters Mikko Rantanen, Sebastian Aho, Miro Heiskanen and Esa Lindell and goaltender Juuse Saros.

This is Barkov's second Olympics after being in Sochi in 2014. That was as a young, part-time player.

“That was my dream as a kid to be there, and I got to experience that for a little bit for two games,” Barkov said. "Now, to be named again is a huge honor. I’m really, really happy and honored and thankful for that opportunity.”

Much of the reaction to the roster release on social media had to do with Russia not taking part. That means all-time leading goal-scorer Alex Ovechkin, MVP finalist Nikita Kucherov and two time Cup-winning goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy will not get the chance to go to Milan.

“It’s disappointing that they’re not in this event, but it’s certainly nothing that the participants in the event can control,” Armstrong said. “You have to play the teams that are on your schedule, and unfortunately this time around the Russians won’t be there.”

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