Who's hot and who's not among Team Canada Olympic goalie hopefuls
The 2026 Winter Olympic Games are just over two months away, and nobody knows who will be Team Canada’s starting goalie in Milan.
Canada has typically been a country that has strong goaltending depth. Carey Price was magnificent in 2014, capturing a gold medal, while a legendary duo of Martin Brodeur and Roberto Luongo helped the Canadians win on home soil back in 2010.
This time around, however, there is no obvious choice for Canada between the pipes. The start of the new NHL season hasn’t gone according to plan for several hopeful goaltenders, and now the tough decision will come down to the Canadian management team of Doug Armstrong, Julien BriseBois, Jim Nill, Don Sweeney, and Kyle Dubas.
There are no easy answers for who should make Canada, and looking back at last year’s victorious 4 Nations group only raises more questions.
Jordan Binnington led the way for the Canadians at the 4 Nations, starting in all four games and coming up huge in the championship against the United States. Heading into the season, it seemed like a forgone conclusion that the St. Louis Blues’ goalie would crack the Olympic roster, but things have gone awry in the last two months.
Binnington has fallen off a statistical cliff this season. The 32-year-old ranks among the worst goaltenders in the entire league when it comes to save percentage (.880), goals-against average (3.13), and goals-saved above expected (-6.0). The 32-year-old may still have the inside track to crack the roster, but the starter’s gig should still be up for grabs.
His 4 Nations teammates have not impressed either. Samuel Montembeault has felt his grip on the Montreal Canadiens’ starter’s job slip to a 24-year-old rookie in Jakub Dobes, while Adin Hill has been sidelined with an injury since October.
Hopefuls like Stuart Skinner and Cam Talbot have also fallen by the wayside with less-than-stellar starts to the NHL season as well. MacKenzie Blackwood was another player vying for a spot, but injuries have limited him to just four games this season.
Canadian goalies on the rise
The good news is that there have been a few standout Canadian goaltenders who have played their way into consideration, and not all of them are obvious names. Assuming Binnington is a lock to make Canada due to his success at the 4 Nations, that leaves two more spots left to fill.
Logan Thompson of the Washington Capitals must be on the short list as we head into the final stretch of Canada’s decision-making. The 28-year-old has been stellar to start the season despite being on an underperforming Washington squad. Thompson has managed a .912 save percentage and is among the NHL leaders with a +12.6 goals-saved above expected.
That comes after he’s strung together four solid seasons split between Washington and the Vegas Golden Knights, putting up a save percentage of .908 or better in each season since 2021.
He’s far and away been the best Canadian goaltender in the NHL this season.
From there, things do get a bit murky again. Veteran Darcy Kuemper is coming off a Vezina-finalist season with the LA Kings and is off to another good start once again. He has also won a Stanley Cup, proving that he can perform in high-pressure situations.
That Stanley Cup victory, however, came back in 2018, and he is among the older starting goalies around the league. Will that experience be valued for Canada? Time will tell.
Scott Wedgewood is not a name you’d typically associate with the Olympic team, but he’s been amazing for the Colorado Avalanche this season. He’s got an incredible 13-1-2 record and a sparkling .918 save percentage. The one point against him is that he has never really been a starting goalie throughout his career, and is only playing in that spot in Colorado because of Blackwood’s injury.
Before then, the 33-year-old was mainly a backup goalie who had attained a bit of a journeyman status. Since being drafted back in 2010, Wedgewood has appeared in games for the New Jersey Devils, Arizona Coyotes, Dallas Stars, Nashville Predators, and now the Avalanche.
After those three, the quality of goaltenders really takes a dip. Jake Allen is on the downswing of his career, and neither Tristan Jarry nor Matt Murray don’t exactly have a great reputation at the moment. Columbus Blue Jackets rookie Jet Greaves has been mentioned here and there, but it’s highly unlikely that Canada will bring such an inexperienced goalie to the Olympics.
We are entering the final stretch of Olympic auditions for the Canadian squad, and it’ll be interesting to see how the goaltending gets sorted out.