Demko and Boeser get Olympic snub but Canucks teammate Garland receives an invite
The Vancouver Canucks have no shortage of talent hailing from the United States.
Approximately one-third of Vancouver’s team is made up of American players, including some of the most prominent names on the roster: Quinn Hughes, Brock Boeser, Thatcher Demko, and Conor Garland.
Those are the four Canucks players that were expected to be on Team USA’s radar ahead of the 2026 Milano Cortina Winter Olympics in February, to varying degrees.
On Tuesday, we got a bit of insight into what USA Hockey is thinking, as it revealed the names of 44 players invited to their men’s hockey Olympic orientation camp, taking place Aug. 26 and 27 in Plymouth, Mich.
Hughes and Garland received an invite, while Canucks teammates Demko and Boeser did not. Former Canucks centre J.T. Miller also received an invite to the camp.
As one of six players already named to the team, Hughes’ invite was no surprise. Garland’s inclusion was less expected, though.
Garland helped USA win gold at the 2025 IIHF Men’s World Championship, and players from that team appear to have been prioritized. A total of 12 players from the gold-medal-winning squad received invites.
Forwards Frank Nazar and Shane Pinto were also part of that gold-medal winning team, and received invites ahead of Boeser. This comes despite Boeser outscoring each player last season.
Boeser could still make the team, but he was always going to be a long shot to make what promises to be a loaded American squad. He’ll need to have one heck of a start to the season to draw consideration.
The biggest snub was Demko, who finished second in Vezina Trophy voting 14 months ago. While the Americans have an embarrassment of riches in goal, Joey Daccord received an invite instead of Demko.
If Demko can remain healthy next season, a spot on Team USA should not be out of reach.
Apart from Hughes, other players named to Team USA’s Olympic roster back in June include: Jack Eichel, Auston Matthews, Brady Tkachuk, Matthew Tkachuk, and Charlie McAvoy.
USA Hockey men’s Olympic orientation camp roster
The Olympic orientation camp is an off-ice gathering of players, which USA Hockey described as “largely an administrative and team-building event.” Hockey Canada revealed its Olympic orientation camp roster earlier this month.
Olympic rosters, consisting of 25 players per country, are expected to be announced in early January.
All 23 players from USA’s 4 Nations Face-Off team were named to the camp, with the exception of Matthew Tkachuk, who is injured.
Goaltenders
- Joey Daccord
- Connor Hellebuyck
- Jake Oettinger
- Jeremy Swayman
Defencemen
- Brock Faber
- Adam Fox
- Luke Hughes
- Quinn Hughes
- Noah Hanifin
- Seth Jones
- Jackson LaCombe
- Charlie McAvoy
- Ryan McDonagh
- Brett Pesce
- Neal Pionk
- Jake Sanderson
- Brady Skjei
- Jaccob Slavin
- Alex Vlasic
- Zach Werenski
Forwards
- Matt Boldy
- Cole Caufield
- Logan Cooley
- Kyle Connor
- Jack Eichel
- Conor Garland
- Jake Guentzel
- Jack Hughes
- Patrick Kane
- Clayton Keller
- Matthew Knies
- Chris Kreider
- Dylan Larkin
- Auston Matthews
- J.T. Miller
- Frank Nazar
- Brock Nelson
- Shane Pinto
- Jason Robertson
- Bryan Rust
- Tage Thompson
- Brady Tkachuk
- Vincent Trocheck
- Alex Tuch
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