Auston Matthews among initial six players named to USA’s 2026 Olympic roster

Daily Faceoff’s Frank Seravalli was the first to report the preliminary roster, which includes Matthews as captain.

Matthews will be joined by Ottawa Senators captain Brady Tkachuk, Florida Panthers star Matthew Tkachuk, Vancouver Canucks captain Quinn Hughes, Boston Bruins defenceman Charlie McAvoy and Vegas Golden Knights forward Jack Eichel.

Prior to this past season, it had been a long time since the Arizona native had represented his country on the international stage. This changed when Matthews was named captain of the American squad at the first-ever 4 Nations Face-Off. It was Matthews’ first experience with the senior national team since the 2016 IIHF Men’s World Championship and his first stint of international hockey since playing for Team North America in the 2016 World Cup of Hockey.

Matthews surprisingly failed to score a goal in the three games he appeared in, registering three assists as the Americans made it to the championship game, ultimately losing to Canada in a thrilling overtime finish at the 4 Nations Face-Off.

While he’s never won a medal in senior IIHF action, Matthews has some hardware from his earlier days. He won gold with the U.S. at the 2013 Under-17 World Hockey Challenge, as well as back-to-back golds at the 2014 and 2015 IIHF Under-18 Men’s World Championships. Matthews also won bronze at the 2016 IIHF World Junior Championship.

Even though there’s still a lot of time between now and next year’s tournament in Italy, the U.S. will be favourites to win the gold medal. With the rising core of talent from south of the border, and how the group put on a show at the 4 Nations, there are many reasons the Americans can make a deep run.

The United States will be in Group C, where they are heavily favored to finish first going up against the likes of Germany, Latvia and Denmark.

The men’s tournament is set to begin on Feb. 11, 2026, with the gold medal game scheduled for Feb. 22.