Final Olympic Roster Projections: Team USA

Welcome to our series of final Olympic Roster Projections. Today, we focus on Team USA. A couple of weeks ago, we at Last Word On Hockey provided a roster projection for the upcoming 2026 Milano-Cortina Winter Olympic Games. Since then, the United States have suffered a slew of injuries that could play a factor in the roster decisions. The main concern surrounds the health of Matthew Tkachuk. The star forward has already been named to the USA roster. However, he has not played a single minute this season and remains out of the lineup after under going surgery in the offseason. If anyone can come back out of the blue and make a difference on a roster it would be Matthew Tkachuk.

The Team USA Top Selections

Before the season began, Team USA and the rest of the competing countries announced their first six players. For the United States the first six are Jack Eichel, Quinn Hughes, Auston Matthews, Charlie McAvoy, Brady Tkachuk, and Matthew Tkachuk. Of the first six, only one has remained unscathed throughout the first half of the season, that being Quinn Hughes. For instance, Auston Matthews missed two weeks due to injury, and Charlie McAvoy missed a considerable amount of time with a broken jaw.

USA Roster Projections (25 Man Roster)

As with before, we will begin the projections with the goaltending. For the goalies nothing has changed as it’s expected that 2025 Hart Trophy winner Connor Hellebuyck will hold the reigns in net for the USA. The other two goaltenders are unlikely to see deciding action, with the exception of the back-to-back against Denmark and Germany.

Connor Hellebuyck
Jake Oettinger
Spencer Knight

Defence Pairings

There’s some concern surrounding Adam Fox, who we named to this roster in our initial projections. The concern comes after suffering what appeared to be a shoulder injury. However, he has returned to practice in a non-contact sweater and is progressing to a return before the roster announcement.

Quinn Hughes (MIN) – Charlie McAvoy (BOS)
Zach Werenski (CBJ) – Adam Fox (NYR)
Noah Hanifin (VGK) – Brock Faber (MIN)
Lane Hutson (MTL) – Jake Sanderson (OTT)

There’s one change with the defensive pairings with Noah Hanifin replacing Luke Hughes. It’s less of a question of Hughes’ ability and more of he’s been there before. Hanifin was a part of the 2025 4 Nations Face-Off roster and will likely be a part of the Olympic roster because of that.

Forward Lines

It’s become fairly clear that Auston Matthews’ production has dropped without Mitch Marner on his wing. While he is still considered an elite hockey player. However, he’ll need to be paired with someone like Marner if the former 69-goal scorer is to be fully effective in a short tournament like this.

Brady Tkachuk (OTT) – Jack Eichel (VGK) – Matthew Tkachuk (FLA)
Cole Caufield (MTL) – Auston Matthews (TOR) – Tage Thompson (BUF)
Jason Robertson (DAL) – Dylan Larkin (DET) – Alex DeBrincat (DET)
Kyle Connor (WPG) – Jack Hughes (NJD) – Alex Tuch (BUF)
Matthew Knies (TOR) and Trevor Zegras (PHI)

The addition to the USA roster is Trevor Zegras who has found himself in a better situation in Philadelphia. At just over a point a game pace he’s starting to make a case for making the American roster. The subtraction comes at the expense of Shane Pinto of the Ottawa Senators. He’s been hurt recently, and others have elevated their play.

The USA is expected to announce their 25-man roster on January 2, 2026. They have amassed a total of 38 international medals, of those six were of the golden variety. At the Olympics they have 11 medals, two of which are gold. The latest being the Miracle on Ice in the 1980 Lake Placid games. The Americans tournament begins February 12 against Latvia.