Tom Wilson Invited to Team Canada’s Olympic Orientation Camp

Speaking with NHL.com’s Mike Zeisberger, Wilson said, “Obviously, it’s a dream your whole life to be mentioned in that type of realm of the guys with that type of pedigree. There’s a lot of really good superstar names, and just to be even in the mix is a huge privilege. I’m just going to try and play as well as I can up until the final team is announced and put my name in the hat.” Just 22 skaters will be chosen for the team’s final roster– six have been announced already. Should Tom Wilson make the Olympic team, he will be joining Sidney Crosby, Nathan MacKinnon, Cale Makar, Connor McDavid, Brayden Point, and Sam Reinhart.

Other Capitals Left Off Orientation Camp Roster

With multiple highly talented Canadians on the Capitals squad, it is interesting to note that Wilson was the only player invited to Orientation Camp. Arguments could be made for players such as Dylan Strome and Logan Thompson being invited, as well. Strome has played his best three seasons of hockey with the Capitals and became a point-per-game player last season. He was both a playmaker and a goal-scorer, easily taking the place of Nicklas Backstrom as Alex Ovechkin’s centerman. His career-high 29 goals and 53 assists included a secondary assist on Ovechkin’s record-breaking goal, cementing his name in hockey history forever. The Mississauga native became a household NHL name last season, but Hockey Canada did not look his way.

The bigger snub, however, is that of Capitals’ goaltender Logan Thompson. Hockey Canada chose to invite just three goaltenders to the Orientation Camp– Jordan Binnington, Adin Hill, and Sam Montembeault, who all joined the team during the 4 Nations Faceoff. Similar to Wilson and Strome, Thompson had a breakout season in 2024-25. While he was expected to play backup to Charlie Lindgren, Thompson became Washington’s starter and ranked fourth in Vezina Trophy voting. He was among the top 10 in the league in both save percentage (.910, 10th) and goals against average (2.49, ninth), and finished the season with a 31-6-6 record. Thompson was also notably left off the 4 Nations Faceoff roster, and there is speculation that it had to do with his relationship with Bruce Cassidy and Peter DeBoer, who were both coaches with the Vegas Golden Knights during Thompson’s time with the team. Cassidy and DeBoer are assistant coaches of Team Canada’s Olympic squad.

The 2026 Winter Olympics will run from February 4-22, 2026, with NHL players participating for the first time since 2014. The Capitals already have one player representing his home country–defenseman Martin Fehervary, who Slovakia named as one of its initial six players.