{"id":480959,"date":"2026-01-02T08:42:37","date_gmt":"2026-01-02T13:42:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/?p=480959"},"modified":"2026-01-02T08:42:37","modified_gmt":"2026-01-02T13:42:37","slug":"2026-men-team-usa-hockey-winter-olympic-roster-reveal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/2026\/01\/02\/2026-men-team-usa-hockey-winter-olympic-roster-reveal\/","title":{"rendered":"The 2026 Men&#8217;s USA Winter Olympic Hockey Team Roster Reveal"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The United States of America have announced their selections for the <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/2025\/12\/31\/2026-team-canada-winter-olympic-roster-news-announcement\/\" target=\"_self\">2026 Milano Cortina Winter Olympic Games<\/a>. This will be the first time that NHL players will be allowed in the tournament since 2014 in Sochi, Russia. <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/2025\/12\/20\/final-olympic-roster-projections-team-usa\/\" target=\"_self\">The USA<\/a> had already announced the first six to the roster prior to the beginning of the season. The superstars included in that list are, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.hockey-reference.com\/players\/h\/hughequ01.html?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2026-01-01_hr\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Quinn Hughes<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.hockey-reference.com\/players\/e\/eicheja01.html?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2026-01-01_hr\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Jack Eichel<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.hockey-reference.com\/players\/m\/matthau01.html?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2026-01-01_hr\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Auston Matthews<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.hockey-reference.com\/players\/m\/mcavoch01.html?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2026-01-01_hr\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Charlie McAvoy<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.hockey-reference.com\/players\/t\/tkachbr01.html?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2026-01-01_hr\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Brady Tkachuk<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.hockey-reference.com\/players\/t\/tkachma01.html?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2026-01-01_hr\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Matthew Tkachuk<\/a>.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Introducing the 2026 U.S. Olympic Men\u2019s Ice Hockey Team \ud83c\uddfa\ud83c\uddf8 <a  href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/MilanoCortina2026?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">#MilanoCortina2026<\/a><\/p>\n<p>U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Rosters: <a  href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/hUC1A7aZ7R\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">https:\/\/t.co\/hUC1A7aZ7R<\/a> <a  href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/V1DV63Jyie\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">pic.twitter.com\/V1DV63Jyie<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; USA Hockey (@usahockey) <a  href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/usahockey\/status\/2007083455805587849?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">January 2, 2026<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<h2>USA Olympic Roster<\/h2>\n<h3>Goaltenders<\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.hockey-reference.com\/players\/h\/helleco01.html?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2026-01-01_hr\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Connor Hellebuyck<\/a> (WPG)<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.hockey-reference.com\/players\/o\/oettija01.html?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2026-01-01_hr\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Jake Oettinger<\/a> (DAL)<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.hockey-reference.com\/players\/s\/swaymje01.html?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2026-01-01_hr\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Jeremy Swayman<\/a> (BOS)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>As expected, Connor Hellebuyck will lead the American&#8217;s in net, so far this season he has proven to be the Jets best player. They have sported a 9-9-3 record with him in net, and a 6-9-1 without him. The third goaltender spot has been a bit of a debate among us here at <em>Last Word On Hockey<\/em>, and it could&#8217;ve gone a number of ways with Dustin Wolf, Spencer Knight and Jeremy Swayman all in consideration until the end.<\/p>\n<h3>Defense<\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li>Quinn Hughes (MIN)<\/li>\n<li>Charlie McAvoy (BOS)<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.hockey-reference.com\/players\/w\/werenza01.html?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2026-01-01_hr\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Zach Werenski<\/a> (CBJ)<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.hockey-reference.com\/players\/j\/jonesse01.html?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2026-01-01_hr\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Seth Jones<\/a> (FLA)<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.hockey-reference.com\/players\/f\/faberbr01.html?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2026-01-01_hr\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Brock Faber<\/a> (MIN)<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.hockey-reference.com\/players\/s\/sandeja01.html?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2026-01-01_hr\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Jake Sanderson<\/a> (OTT)<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.hockey-reference.com\/players\/h\/hanifno01.html?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2026-01-01_hr\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Noah Hanifin<\/a> (VGK)<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.hockey-reference.com\/players\/s\/slavija01.html?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2026-01-01_hr\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Jaccob Slavin<\/a> (CAR)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>The top pair for the USA was decided long ago with Quinn Hughes and Charlie McAvoy being named to the first six. Meanwhile, <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/2025\/12\/29\/nhl-predictions-december-29th-ottawa-senators-columbus-blue-jackets\/\" target=\"_self\">Zach Werenski<\/a> continues to prove that he should be in consideration for the Norris Trophy every year. Despite his recent injury scare, he should be ready in time for Milan.<\/p>\n<h3>Forwards<\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li>Jack Eichel (VGK)<\/li>\n<li>Auston Matthews (TOR)<\/li>\n<li>Brady Tkachuk (OTT)<\/li>\n<li>Matthew Tkachuk (FLA)<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.hockey-reference.com\/players\/l\/larkidy01.html?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2026-01-01_hr\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Dylan Larkin<\/a> (DET)<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.hockey-reference.com\/players\/t\/thompta01.html?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2026-01-01_hr\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Tage Thompson<\/a> (BUF)<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.hockey-reference.com\/players\/n\/nelsobr01.html?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2026-01-01_hr\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Brock Nelson<\/a> (COL)<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.hockey-reference.com\/players\/m\/millejt01.html?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2026-01-01_hr\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">J.T. Miller<\/a> (NYR)<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.hockey-reference.com\/search\/search.fcgi?pid=hugheja03,hugheja02&amp;search=Jack+Hughes&amp;utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2026-01-01_hr\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Jack Hughes<\/a> (NJD)<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.hockey-reference.com\/players\/b\/boldyma01.html?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2026-01-01_hr\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Matt Boldy<\/a> (MIN)<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.hockey-reference.com\/players\/c\/connoky01.html?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2026-01-01_hr\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Kyle Connor<\/a> (WPG)<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.hockey-reference.com\/players\/g\/guentja01.html?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2026-01-01_hr\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Jake Guentzel<\/a> (TBL)<\/li>\n<li>Clayton Keller (UTH)<\/li>\n<li>Vincent Trocheck (NYR)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>The U.S. has a deep forward group they could&#8217;ve chosen from, only surpassed by the Canadian&#8217;s. The names left off the roster might be more glaring than the ones that are on the team. There was little doubt that<a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/2025\/11\/15\/new-jersey-devils-star-centre-will-miss-time\/\" target=\"_self\"> Jack Hughes would be on the team<\/a>, even after the incident that cut his hand at a team function a number of weeks ago.<\/p>\n<p>The USA is considered to have second best odds to win the gold medal at these Olympics and with the roster that general manager <a href=\"https:\/\/www.hockey-reference.com\/players\/g\/gueribi01.html?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2026-01-01_hr\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Bill Guerin<\/a> and head coach <a href=\"https:\/\/www.hockey-reference.com\/players\/s\/sullimi01.html?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2026-01-01_hr\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Mike Sullivan<\/a> have created, they could be well on their way to their first gold in 46 years.<\/p>\n<p>Main Photo Credit: Eric Bolte-Imagn Images<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The United States of America have announced their selections for the 2026 Milano Cortina Winter Olympic Games. This will be the first time that NHL players will be allowed in the tournament since 2014 in Sochi, Russia. The USA had already announced the first six to the roster prior to the beginning of the season. [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5657,"featured_media":462558,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[2963,4547,304,34,4548],"tags":[228,2133,617],"class_list":["post-480959","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-olympics","category-hockey","category-international-hockey","category-news","category-nhl","tag-auston-matthews","tag-brady-tkachuk","tag-team-usa"],"modified_by":"Levi Pike, Editor","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/480959","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5657"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=480959"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/480959\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":481138,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/480959\/revisions\/481138"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/462558"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=480959"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=480959"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=480959"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}