Who will play with Connor McDavid at the Olympics?

On Wednesday, Hockey Canada revealed its roster for the men’s ice hockey tournament for the 2026 Winter Olympics.

The team is filled with stars and future Hall of Famers, including Sidney Crosby, Cale Makar, Nathan MacKinnon and Mitch Marner. Of course, there is Connor McDavid, the hero from last February’s 4 Nations Face-Off, and he is expected to lead his country as it tries to recapture the gold medal.

The big question is, who will play alongside the Edmonton Oilers captain in Milan? McDavid played with a variety of names in the four-team tournament earlier this year, including Brayden Point, Marner and MacKinnon. However, to properly balance the lineup, who should No. 97 play with in the biggest sporting event in the world?

On Wednesday’s edition of Daily Faceoff, Jason Gregor and Tyler Yaremchuk gave their thoughts on who should be on a line with McDavid in Italy.

Tyler Yaremchuk: I was surprised there wasn’t more conversation about Zach Hyman. If you go back to 2010, there was a big conversation throughout that 2010 Olympics of like who can play with Sidney Crosby. They eventually figured it out with [Jarome Iginla], but in 2014, they brought Chris Kunitz to that tournament, and I was curious if they were going to do a similar thing here. We’re like, ‘You know what? Bring Zach Hyman, even if he’s your 14th forward. If you get through two round-robin games and McDavid hasn’t clicked with anyone, you just put Zach Hyman in the lineup, and you know it works.’ Obviously not the case. Zach Hyman’s not going. So, who do you think are the best fits at the top of this lineup of Connor McDavid?

Jason Gregor: I’m going to say Point and [Macklin] Celebrini. I think Macklin Celebrini is a really smart player. He’s very reliable. I’m taking out age. I don’t care about age. He doesn’t play like a 19-year-old. I would have Macklin Celebrini and Brayden Point. Those would be the two guys I’d start with. Reinhart didn’t really work. Mitch Marner? Meh. So, I would go with that because I think Reinhart’s going to play with MacKinnon and Crosby. So, that’s what I would do.

You can watch the full segment and entire episode here…