Team USA Goalie Competition Heats Up

When Team USA unveiled the first six players for its preliminary roster for the 2026 Winter Olympic Games on Monday, who wasn't named may have been more notable than who was.

Make no mistake, all six players selected are more than worthy of being there. The group features four forwards — namely Jack Eichel (Vegas Golden Knights), Auston Matthews (Toronto Maple Leafs), Brady Tkachuk (Ottawa Senators) and Matthew Tkachuk (Florida Panthers) — and two defensemen, Quinn Hughes (Vancouver Canucks) and Charlie McAvoy (Boston Bruins). All six players are among the NHL's best at their positions, and form a strong core for Team USA to build around.

One may notice, however, that there's no goaltender among that group. Granted, Team USA was far from the only team to not name a goalie among its first six, but given the amount of goalie talent in the States, it is still quite odd.

At the 4 Nations Face-Off in February, Team USA carried three goaltenders in Connor Hellebuyck (Winnipeg Jets), Jake Oettinger (Dallas Stars) and Jeremy Swayman (Bruins). Hellebuyck occupied the net for the bulk of the tournament, posting an outstanding .932 save percentage and 1.59 goals against average. With Team USA having already clinched a spot in the final, Oettinger started the final round-robin game against Finland, stopping 21 of 23 shots in a 2-1 loss.

Add in the fact that Hellebuyck just won the Vezina and Hart Trophies, being the first goaltender to do so in the same season in a decade, he should be a shoe-in for the starting role at the Olympics, but it's not that simple.

While Hellebuyck was simply outstanding the regular season, he once again collapsed in the playoffs. In fact, his .866 save percentage ranked 17th out of 18 goalies with at least 180 minutes played this postseason. He's now posted a save percentage under .900 in three consecutive postseasons, and his struggles on the biggest stage have to be concerning heading into the Olympics.

Oettinger, meanwhile, had a much better playoff performance with a .905 save percentage and a 2.82 goals against average. He admittedly had a rough end to the postseason as he was pulled in Game 5 of the Western Conference Final against the Edmonton Oilers, but for the most part, he's been remarkably consistent under the bright lights, which could give him an edge in this competition.

That's just the big names, too, not even getting into other options such as Dustin Wolf (Calgary Flames) and Thatcher Demko (Canucks). With the deadline to submit final rosters approaching later this year, Team USA certainly has some tough decisions to make in net.

“Our goalies played well for us,” Team USA general manager Bill Guerin said, per The Athletic. “They had great seasons. Connor just got the Vezina and the Hart, which is incredible. We’re all very excited for him. It was just kind of the thing that we talked about before we did it for the 4 Nations: Do we add a goalie? Do we not add a goalie? I just felt it was best to stay consistent and let the goalies play it out during the season.”