The 4 Nations Face-Off last February was a smash hit and set the stage for an even more competitive 2026 Olympics in Milan in February. With NHL players participating for the first time in 12 years, USA coach Mike Sullivan said “the stakes have never been higher” for the 12-team tournament.
As Team USA gathered for an orientation camp last week in Plymouth, Michigan, the players and management did not shy away from the pressure .
“The expectation is to go to Milan and win the gold medal,” Vegas star Jack Eichel said Wednesday at the camp. “I think anything short of that, it would be disappointing.”
With the U.S. looking to win its first Olympic gold in men’s hockey since the 1980 Miracle on Ice team, the talent pool is deeper than ever. General manager Bill Guerin and his staff have a series of difficult decisions.
“The guys that played in [4 Nations] did a great job, but we have to go back to the drawing board and start over again,” Guerin said. “Guys have to be playing well. They’ve got to be healthy. So it’s really tough to say how much is the roster going to change. I don’t know. We will see as time goes on, but having the two extra spots is huge.”
Five months out, here’s what you should know about how Team USA is being constructed.
THE TWO-DAY CAMP — about three weeks before NHL training camps open — featured no on-ice sessions, and no systems and strategy were discussed. The focus was building camaraderie and setting expectations. Guerin gathered the 44 players in a ballroom for a talk once they arrived. According to players, the message was this: Team USA had a good showing at the 4 Nations but fell short. The Olympics are a bigger stage, with more tradition. The 2026 Games are a prime opportunity to make a statement on how far the United States has come as a hockey country.
“I think the message is that we can play any style,” said Lightning defenseman Ryan McDonagh, joined by Patrick Kane as the only holdover invitees from the 2014 Olympic team in Sochi. “We can go against any team, how they’re built and we feel confident that we can win.”
“They had a good talk with us,” Devils defenseman Brett Pesce said. “The expectation is gold and nothing else — and I completely agree. Whoever makes the team, the talent pool is insane.”
ALL 23 PLAYERS who were named to the 4 Nations team were in attendance except Matthew Tkachuk — plus Jake Sanderson, Tage Thompson and Pesce who were later brought on as injury/illness replacements. Tkachuk tore his adductor muscle and suffered a sports hernia injury during 4 Nations, which sidelined him for most of the final against Canada, then Florida’s last 25 regular-season games before he returned in the playoffs. He had offseason surgery and is expected to sit out the start of the NHL regular season.
This summer was a big one for Tkachuk: he got married back home in St. Louis, then underwent surgery. Guerin said he was “planning and expecting” for Tkachuk to be ready for Milan. Tkachuk’s brother, Brady, was even more emphatic. “I think it’s a full expectation of him not just to play but be at his best,” he said. “It goes back to the injuries that he has had and he’s played through, he’ll just give you absolutely everything that he has. I know with his preparation and his work ethic that he’ll probably be in the best shape he’s ever been in after this surgery.”
Matthew and Brady talked constantly during the two-day camp, which Matthew didn’t attend because it wasn’t a good idea for him to travel. “He’s had the most FOMO that I’ve ever seen him have,” Brady said.
THE 44-PLAYER camp roster featured some notable omissions — but also some surprising additions: young players such as Jackson LaCombe, Frank Nazar, Shane Pinto and Alex Vlasic, all long shots to make the team. What they have in common: they were on the roster in May for the world championships, which the U.S. men’s team won for the first time in 92 years. That commitment was rewarded.
“We’re doing things differently now, and the world championships are absolutely connected to this. If you’re saying no and you don’t have a legit excuse, it will hurt you,” Guerin said. “I am not afraid to say that we don’t look at that with the Olympics coming up. That’s the biggest stage. The world championships are huge. They might not be as popular in the United States, but in Europe, in Canada, it is, and it has to be important for us. … We need to know what you’re all about. We need to know that you want to help USA Hockey win.”
TAGE THOMPSON SAYS he believes he should have been on the 4 Nations team.
The Sabres star said Guerin called him well before the roster was released to let him know he was on the outside. “When I received the news, obviously it sucked,” Thompson said. “That was a big goal of mine and I wanted to be on the team. To be honest with you, I felt like I would do a good enough job last year.”
The 6-foot-7 forward says he adds an element Team USA covets: versatility. “In the early stages of my career, I was in a different role and was playing more of a fourth, third line checking, defending role,” Thompson said. “As I’ve progressed in my career, I’ve been given opportunities to move up, with the ability to score and create plays. If that’s something they already have and they don’t need, then I also believe with my size and my speed, I can play pretty much any role that they need me to. PK, power play, whatever.”
Thompson said he didn’t want to project it out loud but acknowledged he did use the snub as motivation. After his call with Guerin, Thompson scored 33 goals and 54 points over his final 57 games. Thompson says he’s putting an extra emphasis on consistency and cleaning up some of his game in the defensive zone. But the 27-year-old remains confident.
“You’re looking at the 25 best players in the country,” Thompson said. “So now it’s, what role are you going to play and who is going to do their job the best? I believe I can do any of those roles the best.”
JOHN TORTORELLA WAS an unsung member of Team USA’s coaching staff at 4 Nations. Sullivan asked his former mentor to take on a different role. “I don’t want you to be the hammer,” Sullivan told Tortorella. “I’ll be the hammer. I want you to be the old wise man. I want you to reveal yourself to the players and the other coaches, to show the John Tortorella that I know, that my wife knows, my kids know, that your kids know. The side you don’t show the world very often.”
While the younger players loved having Tortorella around, Sullivan credited the former Flyers coach for being his sounding board; it was Tortorella who gave affirmed to Sullivan that they should put the Tkachuk brothers together on a line halfway through the opening game against Finland — which changed the complexion of the tournament.
Since Tortorella is not on an NHL bench this fall, Guerin has tasked Tortorella with another new role. The 67-year-old will be hitting the road early in the NHL season to scout, with an extra focus on bubble players.
BEFORE 4 NATIONS, it had been a long time since NHL players competed in a best-on-best competition, and even the stars were taken aback by the intensity.
“The game really didn’t translate to the NHL game; it was a different skill level, different speed,” goalie Connor Hellebuyck said. “When I got back to my NHL game, first I had to shake off losing. Then I had to get back into my routine.”
Quinn Hughes, watching at home while injured, noted: “I don’t want to say you couldn’t notice anyone, but it felt like everyone was just fitting in because guys were so good. I felt like no one could really stand out or you couldn’t really put your imprint on the game too much. You might’ve had one chance or two chances and it’s either you take advantage of those chances or you don’t, but no one was getting six, seven chances, which you might get in an NHL game.”
HUGHES WAS GUTTED to miss 4 Nations because of injury.
“Obviously I feel like I could have made a difference. I mean there’s still moments in the game where I feel like I could have taken advantage of some things, but you never know,” Hughes said. “The beautiful thing is that I’ll hopefully have the chance in February again, so really test myself there.”
It was a challenging season for the Vancouver captain, as he managed several different injuries.
“I tore my oblique, then came back a little too early and hurt my groin because my oblique was probably weak,” Hughes said. “And then I hurt the ligament in my hand in late December off a one-timer, and I’ve taken two million one-timers in my career, and for whatever reason that happened.”
He was able to play with a cast on his hand, which he said “actually worked out great.” It was the oblique, Hughes said, that kept him out of 4 Nations. The good news heading into important season — both for the Canucks, and Team USA — is that Hughes said he had a great summer, which he called a mental and physical reset.
THE TRADE FROM Chicago to Florida changed Seth Jones‘ hockey life. When the 4 Nations roster was submitted in December, Jones was on the Blackhawks and it seemed nobody talked about the 30-year-old as a notable omission. Fast-forward a few months and Jones played the most of any Panther (outside goalie Sergei Bobrovsky) in Florida’s dominant 23-game Stanley Cup run. Jones is now firmly back on the radar.
He’s careful to compare his situation with the Blackhawks and Panthers, but believed he played “more confidently” with Florida.
“I’m comfortable with where I’m at; over a long playoff run you can show you can play with that physicality, and in different situations over those 2½ months,” Jones said. “Hopefully they saw that.”
With Hughes, Charlie McAvoy, Jaccob Slavin and Zach Werenski basically locked into the top four, the final spots on the blue line are fierce. Adam Fox is coming off a down season, but talk at USA camp was that the Rangers’ defenseman is poised for a major comeback. Sanderson, an up-and-comer, earned his way into a more regular role after being thrust into 4 Nations as a 22-year-old.
“I’m not sure what my chances are,” Jones said. “But I’m going to do my best to make it.”
IT’S GOING TO be an intense start to the season. With dozens of players across several countries and NHL teams fighting for bubble spots on Olympic rosters, there’s a common prediction among players: games over the first three months are going to have extra juice.
“Obviously it’s going to be interesting playing for your team, your personal team, then in the back of your mind, you’re kind of playing for this as well, right?” Jones said. “Usually you have the first 20 games after training camp, everyone’s getting settled into their system. I think you’re going to see a lot more guys look faster early on this season, because they’re fighting for something.”
4 NATIONS MARKED the first time Brady and Matthew Tkachuk were teammates, outside of an All-Star game. “It was the little moments — going back to the hotel and going to each other’s rooms, hanging out, getting dinner, I felt like we were just inseparable for the two weeks. It felt like we were kids again,” Brady said. “It was just so special in the locker room, looking across the room and seeing him and hearing what he has to say and his Stanley Cup experience of giving it to everybody.”
Now, the Hughes brothers, who are good friends with the Tkachuks, have a chance to do the same. Quinn Hughes has already been named to the team; Jack and Luke hope to join him. Quinn and Jack were teammates for a World Juniors team. Jack and Luke are teammates in New Jersey. But Quinn has never played with Luke, who is 23.
“It’s something we’ve always dreamed of, to play with each other and wear the crest,” Luke Hughes said. “The three of us to do that together would be such an honor. So it will happen someday. I think it will happen someday.”
The Hughes brothers enjoyed being together at camp last week, and they were together … a lot.
“It’s like three brothers, they bicker back and forth,” said Pesce, Luke’s defense partner in New Jersey. “And then you add Quinn, he’s the older brother. I feel like he’s kind of the middle man. They’re always barking at each other. Sometimes it’s hockey, sometimes it’s the Chipotle bill. They’re always goofing on each other; it’s fun.”
RALEIGH, N.C. — Carolina Hurricanes rookie defenseman Charles-Alexis Legault had surgery to repair multiple torn extensor tendons in his right hand after getting cut by a skate blade during a game over the weekend in Toronto.
General manager Eric Tulsky announced Tuesday that the operation was completed on Monday by Dr. Harrison Tuttle at Raleigh Orthopaedic.
Legault’s hand was sliced by one of Nick Robertson‘s skates during a scrum at the end of the first period, while the Maple Leafs forward was prone on the ice following a hit.
The team put Legault on injured reserve and said he was expected to miss three to four months. The Hurricanes in a statement thanked the Leafs’ medical staff for swift and decisive assistance in triage care of the injury.
Legault, 22, played in his first eight NHL games this season as injuries piled up on the blue line for Carolina.
“Pretty funny how that works,” the Colorado Avalanche rookie forward cracked Tuesday before their game against Anaheim. “But yeah, very fortunate. Happy that they believed in me.”
Brindley’s new deal will be worth $850,000 next season if he plays in the NHL and $900,000 no matter what level he suits up at in 2027-28, according to a person familiar with the move. The person spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because terms were not disclosed.
The 5-foot-8, 173-pound Brindley was acquired by Colorado on June 27 as part of a deal that sent Charlie Coyle and Miles Wood to Columbus. Brindley made an immediate impression in Colorado’s training camp with his persistence and grit, leading to a spot on the opening-day roster.
He has three goals this season, including the OT winner at Vancouver on Sunday when he knocked in his own rebound. The 21-year-old from Florida became the seventh-youngest player in franchise history to notch an OT-winning goal.
“I think he can be a top-six forward,” said Avalanche coach Jared Bednar, who currently has Brindley on the fourth line. “He plays bigger than his size. The motor, the relentlessness, the skill level, and the brain to go with it, is all there.”
His deal was still so new that even his linemate, Parker Kelly, hadn’t heard about it. Once Brindley came off the ice following the morning skate, Kelly congratulated him.
“Super happy for him,” Kelly said. “He deserved it. He came into camp, did really well, made his presence known. He’s been playing the right way and has great details to his game.”
A 2023 second-round pick by the Blue Jackets, Brindley signed an entry-level deal in April 2024 after playing for the University of Michigan. He made his NHL debut with the Blue Jackets on April 16, 2024, against Carolina.
Brindley spent last season with Columbus’ AHL affiliate, the Cleveland Monsters, where he had six goals and 11 assists in 52 games.
He’s thrived in his role since the trade.
“Honestly, I really didn’t know what to think,” Brindley said when asked if he viewed being dealt to Colorado as a fresh start. “A lot of different emotions. I feel like positives and negatives, getting traded that young, and going through it. I feel like it’s good to go through it early and experience that and experience the downs of last year. Just learn from it and get better and grow.”
Kristen Shilton is a national NHL reporter for ESPN.
TORONTO — The 2026 Winter Olympic Games are less than 90 days away in Italy, and there is still work to be done on the ice surfaces that will showcase NHL players suiting up at their first Games in a decade.
The league hasn’t allowed its skaters to participate at the Olympics since 2014 in Sochi. Now that they are on the cusp of returning, there are serious questions about the quality of ice both men and women players will be working with in February.
“There’s still work ongoing on the rinks and the ice conditions,” confirmed NHL commissioner Gary Bettman at the NHL GM meetings on Tuesday. “It’s something that we’re monitoring closely, and we have absolutely no control over. This is all on the [International Olympic Committee] and the [International Ice Hockey Federation].”
Bettman said the league is getting “constant reassurances” from the IOC and IIHF that “everything will be fine” with the rinks by the time athletes arrive overseas. At this point, the main hockey rink — Santagiulia Arena — is still under construction. The venue was meant to undergo testing for Olympic events in December, with a U-20 world championship tournament. But that’s now been moved to another rink — the Rho Fiera — that will host secondary hockey matches during the Games.
Those building delays could mean that no games will actually be played at Santagiulia Arena until the women’s hockey schedule officially opens Feb. 5 with an untested ice surface. Beyond just being a safety issue for players, there’s also a question of testing things such as bathrooms and concessions for fans in a newly constructed space.
While the NHL can’t do much to expedite the construction process, they are staying actively involved in what’s going on. When the league’s current Global Series showcase in Sweden between the Pittsburgh Penguins and Nashville Predators wraps up this weekend, NHL executives will make a pilgrimage to Milano-Cortina to check the status of rink construction for themselves.
What they find there remains to be seen. All Bettman can reiterate is that it’s out of the NHL’s hands.
