Three Canucks players named to Olympic rosters but how many more will join them?
At least three Vancouver Canucks players are headed to Milan, as Olympic men’s hockey teams revealed preliminary rosters on Monday.
Each of the 12 countries competing in the Olympic men’s hockey tournament has revealed the names of six players. The three Canucks players named include Quinn Hughes for Team USA, while Teddy Blueger and Arturs Silovs were named to the Latvia team.
There probably isn’t a player more excited to represent his country in Italy next year than Hughes, who was forced to miss the 4 Nations Face-Off due to injury.
Two notable Olympic omissions, at least right now, include Elias Pettersson and Filip Hronek.
Pettersson was passed over by Sweden in favour of William Nylander, Adrian Kempe, Victor Hedman, Lucas Raymond, Rasmus Dahlin, and Gabriel Landeskog. Sweden does have a wealth of talent to choose from, though, so there’s no shame in not being among the first six players named.
Hronek’s omission from Czechia’s preliminary roster is a bigger surprise. Hronek led all Czech blueliners in points (33) and average ice time (23:54) last season by a wide margin.
Instead, Czechia opted to name 35-year-old Anaheim Ducks defenceman Radko Gudas over him. David Pastrnak, Martin Necas, Pavel Zacha, Ondrej Palat, and Lukas Dostal were also named to the preliminary roster.
Full Olympic rosters will be named closer to February, and it would be a major surprise if Pettersson and Hronek aren’t picked.
Other Canucks players looking to make Olympic rosters will need strong starts to their respective NHL seasons.
Pius Suter (Switzerland), Kevin Lankinen (Finland), and Filip Chytil (Czechia) will also be in the mix for their respective countries, as will Thatcher Demko (USA) if he can stay healthy.
Brock Boeser and Conor Garland (USA), as well as Marcus Pettersson and Nils Hƶglander (Sweden), are probably long shots at this point.
Suter is the lone Canucks player that has already has Olympic experience. He played for the Swiss as a 21-year-old at the 2018 Olympics, prior to making the jump to the NHL.
Taking place in February, Milano Cortina 2026 will mark the first time since 2014 that the NHL will pause its season to allow players to compete in the Olympics.