FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — The U.S. named Matthew and Brady Tkachuk, Auston Matthews, Jack Eichel, Quinn Hughes and Charlie McAvoy as its first six players for the 2026 Olympics, avoiding goaltenders on the initial roster unveiled Monday.

Some assortment of Connor Hellebuyck, Jake Oettinger, Jeremy Swayman and Thatcher Demko figure to make the team when full rosters are submitted in early January.

“Our goalies played well for us, great seasons: Connor just got the Vezina and Hart, which is incredible,” U.S. general manager Bill Guerin said on a video call with reporters. “It was just kind of the thing we talked that about before we did it for 4 Nations: Do we add a goalie, do we not add a goalie? I felt it was best we stay consistent and just let the goalies play it out during the season.”

All 12 teams that qualified — with France replacing Russia because of the International Olympic Committee’s ban on that country for team sports over the war in Ukraine — announced the start of their groups set to take part in Milan. This tournament marks the return of NHL participation and what should be the first Olympics for Canada’s Connor McDavid and many other top players who have not yet gotten that opportunity.

“Incredibly honored to represent my country at the biggest sporting event in the world,” McDavid said after he and the Edmonton Oilers practiced during the Stanley Cup Final. “You think of the Canadian players that can be named to that team and to be selected again, it means a lot.”

McDavid would have been there had the NHL not pulled out of the 2022 Beijing Games because of pandemic-related scheduling issues. Along with McDavid, Canada picked Sidney Crosby, Nathan MacKinnon, Cale Makar, Brayden Point and Sam Reinhart, the latter of whom is also in the final with the defending champion Florida Panthers.

“When you’re growing up when you’re watching as a kid, it’s Stanley Cup Finals and it’s Team Canada,” Reinhart said. “Those are the two things that you dream about playing for. To have that opportunity is pretty exciting.”

Three other Panthers players — Aleksander Barkov for Finland, Nico Sturm for Germany and Uvis Balinskis for Latvia — are penciled in for Milan. Edmonton’s Leon Draisaitl headlines the list for Germany, which reached the final in 2018 when the NHL skipped the Olympics.

“There’s not a lot of elite centermen in the league: I think Leon is in that category, Sasha [Barkov is] in that category,” Sturm said. “Big left-handed centermen that you can model your game after. He’s definitely somebody that I look up to a lot and try to learn from.”

Obviously, much can change over the next eight months, from injuries to performance, and this process with the IOC and International Ice Hockey Federation follows what the U.S., Canada, Sweden and Finland did in naming six initial players last summer for the 4 Nations Face-Off that was a massive success in February.

“I understand it from a marketing perspective to get things up and running,” Canada GM Doug Armstrong said. “We probably had a wide berth of players we could have named, but it is what it is. I think it’s consistent with the 4 Nations and the event before, so we’re OK doing. As I said to someone: ‘I think the easy part’s behind us, these six. Now it gets interesting as we fill out that roster.'”

Sweden chose forwards Gabriel Landeskog, Lucas Raymond, William Nylander and Adrian Kempe and defensemen Victor Hedman and Rasmus Dahlin. Finland picked Barkov, fellow skaters Mikko Rantanen, Sebastian Aho, Miro Heiskanen and Esa Lindell and goaltender Juuse Saros.

This is Barkov’s second Olympics after being in Sochi in 2014. That was as a young, part-time player.

“That was my dream as a kid to be there, and I got to experience that for a little bit for two games,” Barkov said. “Now, to be named again is a huge honor. I’m really, really happy and honored and thankful for that opportunity.”

Much of the reaction to the roster release on social media had to do with Russia not taking part. That means all-time leading goal scorer Alex Ovechkin, MVP finalist Nikita Kucherov and two-time Cup-winning goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy will not get the chance to go to Milan.

“It’s disappointing that they’re not in this event, but it’s certainly nothing that the participants in the event can control,” Armstrong said. “You have to play the teams that are on your schedule, and unfortunately this time around the Russians won’t be there.”

The International Ice Hockey Federation unveiled the schedule Tuesday for the men’s and women’s tournaments at the 2026 Olympics in Milan and Cortina.

Women’s hockey starts on Feb. 5 with the U.S. against Czechia and Canada versus Finland among the opening games. The U.S. and Canada renew their rivalry in the preliminary round on Feb. 10, and the gold-medal game is set for Feb. 19.

Men’s hockey, with the return of NHL players, opens the following day with Finland facing Slovakia and host Italy against Sweden. Without Russia in the 12-team field, the U.S. is grouped with Germany, Latvia and Denmark and will play each of them in a round robin.

The U.S. opens Feb. 12 against Latvia, the same day Canada faces Czechia. The NHL’s best are participating for the first time since 2014 in Sochi.

“It’s great that the NHL players are back in the Olympics,” U.S. general manager Bill Guerin said. “Obviously it’s the biggest sports stage in the world, and we’re all happy we’re back involved.”

No teams are eliminated from group play on the men’s side. The top four advance to the quarterfinals, with the remaining eight taking part in a qualification round.

Games will take place on NHL-sized rinks at Milano Santagiulia and Milano Rho arenas. The final is scheduled for Feb. 22 as the last event of the Olympics before the closing ceremony.

The schedule release came a day after the federations involved announced the first six players named to their respective rosters. The U.S. picked all skaters: forwards Matthew and Brady Tkachuk, Auston Matthews and Jack Eichel and defensemen Quinn Hughes and Charlie McAvoy.

Finland is the defending Olympic champion from the Beijing bubble in 2022, when the NHL pulled out because of pandemic-related scheduling issues, and the Russians won in 2018. Canada has won the past two involving NHL players, and GM Doug Armstrong hopes for a third.

“I’m excited about our group,” Armstrong said. “I know our group wants to go there and wants to put their best foot forward. There’s no guarantees in this sport, but I know we’re going to go with the right attitude.”

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — The Edmonton Oilers, facing elimination against the Florida Panthers in Game 6 on Tuesday night, have flipped back to Stuart Skinner as their starting goalie.

Skinner was pulled in Games 3 and 4 in Florida and was benched in favor of backup Calvin Pickard in their Game 5 loss in Edmonton that gave the Panthers a 3-2 series lead.

“Feeling good coming into tonight. I definitely know that I have the confidence in my teammates and coaching staff,” Skinner said after Edmonton’s morning skate. “I think there’s obviously a lot of belief here still.”

Skinner was benched after the first period in Game 4, having given up three goals on 17 shots. Pickard stopped 22 of 23 shots as the Oilers won in overtime to even the Stanley Cup Final at 2-2. Pickard got the start in Game 5 in Edmonton, giving up four goals on 18 shots in a 5-2 loss, which put Florida in a position to raise their second straight Stanley Cup over the Oilers.

Skinner was also pulled in the third period of their Game 3 blowout loss in Florida after giving up five goals on 23 shots. He said it was hard watching Edmonton play from the bench over the past three games.

“My job is to stop the puck when I’m told to go in the net. Sometimes I get told that I’m not [in the net]. For sure, it’s disappointing,” Skinner said. “I’ve just got to stick to what my job is. [Those decisions] are over my pay grade. Whenever they tell me to go on the net, I’m definitely not going to say ‘no.'”

Knoblauch said after Game 5 that “there’s no fault at Calvin at all on any of those goals.” But with their season on the line, the Oilers coach decided to go back to Skinner.

“Stu has been in a lot of high-pressure games. He’s played really well,” Knoblauch said. “We looked at the amount of elimination games he’s played in. I think there were six last year. Every game that he played in, they were really solid if not spectacular performances. So, season on the line, we’ve got a lot of confidence in him.”

Three of those elimination games came against the Panthers, who failed to close out Edmonton in the 2024 Stanley Cup Final after building a 3-0 series lead, needing to win in Game 7 to hoist the Cup for the first time as a franchise. Skinner was great in their Game 6 win in Edmonton, stopping 20 of 21 shots to force a winner-take-all game.

He’s trying to repeat that feat one year later and extend the Stanley Cup Final to a seventh game back in Edmonton on Friday night.

“He’s amazing in the playoffs and had incredible games this year. There’s just a trust factor that we know that he can get the job done for us,” Oilers star Leon Draisaitl said. “In Game 4, he was amazing in the first period. It was us that let him down. It doesn’t seem fair, right? So, we have full belief in him.”

Skinner, 26, was the Oilers’ primary starter in the regular season with a 26-18-4 record in 51 games and was their starter to begin the first round against the Los Angeles Kings. But after giving up 11 goals in the first two games of the series, he was replaced as starter by 33-year-old backup Pickard, who has played for six NHL teams in 10 seasons. Pickard went 6-0 until an injury in the second round against Vegas gave Skinner the starting job again.

Overall, Pickard is 7-1 with a .886 save percentage and a 2.85 goals-against average. Skinner is 7-6 with a .891 save percentage and a 2.99 goals-against average.

In other Oilers lineup changes, defenseman John Klingberg draws in for defenseman Troy Stecher, while forward Kasperi Kapanen replaces winger Viktor Arvidsson up front.

The Panthers have struggled with closing out opponents over their past two runs to the Stanley Cup Final. They needed seven games to eliminate Edmonton last year. They lost Game 6 at home against the Toronto Maple Leafs in the second round and lost Game 4 at home in the Eastern Conference Final to Carolina. In both instances, they eliminated their opponent in the following game.

“We’re going to have to do a great job of matching their desperation,” defenseman Seth Jones said. “At the same time, we go into every series planning on playing seven games. We want to approach each game the same as the one before and that’s what we’re going to do tonight.”