Which Canucks will be at the 2026 Winter Olympics?

NHL players will have an opportunity to represent their nation as they will finally be allowed to participate in the 2026 Winter Olympics.

The IIHF announced earlier in the summer that six players were named to all 12 of the participating countries’ preliminary rosters:

• Canada: Sidney Crosby, Nathan MacKinnon, Cale Makar, Connor McDavid, Brayden Point, Sam Reinhart
• Czechia: David Pastrnak, Martin Necas, Ondrej Palat, Pavel Zacha, Radko Gudas, Lukas Dostal
• Denmark: Frederik Andersen, Nikolaj Ehlers, Oliver Bjorkstrand, Jesper Jensen Aabo, Lars Eller, Jonas Rondbjerg
• Finland: Juuse Saros, Esa Lindell, Miro Heiskanen, Mikko Rantanen, Aleksander Barkov, Sebastian Aho
• France: Yohann Auvitu, Jules Boscq, Hugo Gallet, Alexandre Texier, Pierre-Edouard Bellemare, Jordann Perret
• Germany: Leon Draisaitl, Moritz Seider, Philipp Grubauer, Lukas Reichel, Nico Sturm, Tim Stutzle
• Italy: Damian Clara, Thomas Larkin, Luca Zanatta, Diego Kostner, Tommy Purdeller, Daniel Mantenuto
• Latvia: Rodrigo Abols, Uvis Balinskis, Zemgus Girgensons, Elvis Merzlikins, Arturs Silovs, Teodors Blugers
• Slovakia: Juraj Slafkovsky, Martin Pospisil, Simon Nemec, Martin Fehervary, Erik Cernak, Tomas Tatar
• Sweden: Rasmus Dahlin, Victor Hedman, Adrian Kempe, Gabriel Landeskog, William Nylander, Lucas Raymond
• Switzerland: Jonas Siegenthaler, Roman Josi, Kevin Fiala, Nico Hischier, Nino Niederreiter, Timo Meier
• USA: Matthew Tkachuk, Brady Tkachuk, Auston Matthews, Jack Eichel, Quinn Hughes, Charlie McAvoy

As you can see, just two Vancouver Canucks were named to their preliminary roster: Captain Quinn Hughes and Teddy Blueger – there were three before the Arturs Silovs trade.

However, there are still 19 other roster spots for each country, leaving the door open for other Canucks players to represent their country. Here is a list of four Canucks who will likely be selected to participate in Italy.

Elias Pettersson

One of the bigger shocks when Sweden announced the six players on their preliminary roster was not seeing Elias Pettersson’s name among them. Although, it’s hard to blame them.

Not only did he struggle with the Canucks last season, but he was also nowhere to be found when he represented Team Sweden at the 4 Nations Face-off. Pettersson was held without a point throughout the entire tournament, registering just two shots on goal while averaging under 14 minutes of ice time per game. His poor play saw him move down to the third line, with his minutes diminishing all the same.

Now, that performance is likely the reason Pettersson was left off the preliminary roster. However, Pettersson remains one of Sweden’s best centres and will undoubtedly still make the Olympic roster.

Filip Chytil

This, of course, all depends on the health of Filip Chytil at the time of selection. There’s no concern about his head injuries throughout the offseason, but everything can change with one hit. However, if Chytil manages to remain healthy, there shouldn’t be any doubt about him making the Czechia Olympic roster.

Down the middle, the Czech’s are going to need Chytil’s speed on the roster. They have Tomas Hertl, Pavel Zacha, and Jiri Kulich as the other NHL centremen projected to make the team – 39-year-old Roman Cervenka is another centre option. Chytil ranked in the 90th percentile in top skating speed last season, while the three others did not crack the top 50th percentile.

He may not be as polished an NHL player as the rest of the players projected to make the roster, but his speed is an added element that only Martin Necas can match. We’ll just see if his health can hold up.

Filip Hronek

This was another surprising omission from the preliminary roster announcement. The nation announced Anaheim Ducks defenceman Radko Gudas ahead of Hronek, despite the Canucks defenceman quarterbacking the Czech’s top power play unit at the 4 Nations. However, there shouldn’t be much doubt about him being on the roster.

According to the projected Czechia lineup, Hronek certainly stands out as the highest-profile defenceman. David Jiricek, David Spachek and Jan Rutta join Hronek and Gudas as the only active NHL Czechia defencemen projected to crack the lineup. Hronek shared the lead in points by a Czech defenceman with Jakub Krejcik during the 4 Nations Face-off, so his spot on the roster shouldn’t be questioned.

Kevin Lankinen

After a fantastic start to what became a breakout campaign, Lankinen caught the attention of the selection committee for Team Finland at the 4 Nations Face-off. Starting the tournament as Juuse Saros’s backup, Lankinen quickly became an option after the Nashville Predators’ netminder allowed four goals in the third period alone to Team USA.

Finland turned to Lankinen for their big matchup against Sweden, where he stopped 21 of 24 shots en route to the Finns’ only victory of the tournament. Lankinen would start a must-win game against the Canadians, but was pulled after allowing four goals in just over a period.

However, with only 10 active Finnish netminders, Lankinen should be able to carve out a role as one of the top three puckstoppers to represent their country.

Question Marks

Team USA

There is a trio of American Canucks skaters who we here at CanucksArmy could see making the team.

First off, with the best odds to make the team, we have goaltender Thatcher Demko.

We are just one season removed from Demko’s Vezina runner-up campaign. Before it was announced that Demko would not be ready for the start of the 2024-2025 season, many believed he would be on the Americans’ 4 Nations Face-off roster, with Jeremy Swayman and Jake Oettinger battling for the final spot. However, the injury concern held him entirely off the American roster. But if he manages to stay healthy during the 2025-2026 season, Demko should draw consideration for Team USA.

Secondly, we look at a pair of Canucks forwards: Brock Boeser and Conor Garland.

Boeser is a more high-profile player for his goal-scoring ability. However, he’d likely need a big start to the season to command serious consideration. He will be competing with the likes of Cole Caufield and Tage Thompson, who are also categorized as snipers and did not make the Americans 4 Nations team, who had considerably better seasons than Boeser last year.

The more intriguing option might actually be Garland.

You might not categorize Garland as one of America’s best skaters; however, his performance at the IIHF World Championships should not be overlooked. Garland finished the tournament with five goals and 10 points in 10 games, good for a tie for third on Team USA. Not only that, but he took home Player of the Game honours in a 6-3 victory over Germany, nabbing two goals and four points.

Having such recent success at the international level will likely hold more weight than one might think. However, it is still an uphill battle for Garland to make the team given the depth, but don’t completely rule it out yet.

What do you think, Canucks fans? Did we miss anybody who will be making their respective Olympic roster?