McDavid, Crosby among first six players named to Canada’s 2026 Olympic hockey team

All six players return to the team from their performance at the 4 Nations Face-Off, which saw Canada beat the United States 3-2 in overtime to win the tournament.

Much like the initial six players named to the 4 Nations Face-Off, Canada has elected to not name a goaltender early on in the process due to their talent pool at that position being much more wide open. Jordan Binnington, Adin Hill and Sam Montembeault were named to the 4 Nations Face-Off team, with Binnington playing in all four games for Canada.

While Canada isn’t the defending Olympic gold medal-winning team, with Finland winning it in 2022, they have won the last four instances of best-on-best action, including the 2010 and 2014 Winter Olympics, the 2016 World Cup of Hockey, and the 4 Nations Face-Off.

Canada will play in Group A alongside Czechia, France and Switzerland, with the tournament taking place from Feb. 11-22 in Milano, Italy.

McDavid, MacKinnon, Crosby and Makar’s selections should be of no surprise to anyone, with all four players still being some of the best players in the game, and certainly the best Canada has to offer. While Crosby isn’t quite at the same level as the other three at this point in his career, his legacy with Canada at the international stage has earned him an open invitation to any international tournament.

Reinhart and Point were the two picks a bit more up in the air as far as being selected for the preliminary roster, but they certainly shouldn’t be surprises on the team. In the last five seasons, only Mitch Marner has more points than Point’s 373 and Reinhart’s 364 among the non-core four for Canada.