U.S. using all its time to pick Olympic roster, Guerin says on '@TheRink' podcast

Bill Guerin said the group picking the United States roster for the Winter Olympic Games Milano Cortina 2026 are "a good way there" in terms of putting it together, but it's still an open competition among many of the players who have pushed their way into the discussion with their play this season.

Speaking on the latest episode of the "NHL @TheRink" podcast, Guerin, the U.S. general manager, said there are still some decisions to be made before the rosters need to be submitted on Dec. 31.

"I just don't believe in it being the second week of December and saying, 'Oh, that's it, we're done,' or, 'We need two more guys,'" Guerin said. "No, we're keeping this opportunity alive and making sure we're not closing doors on guys. We want to keep everybody going until the last possible minute. We want to use all the time we have."

Guerin said he and his management staff, including fellow NHL GMs Tom Fitzgerald (New Jersey Devils), Chris Drury (New York Rangers), Bill Zito (Florida Panthers), Stan Bowman (Edmonton Oilers), along with Wild assistant GM Chris Kelleher and USA Hockey assistant executive director of hockey operations John Vanbiesbrouck, met last week to discuss the roster.

Injuries to U.S. Olympic hopefuls like Jack Hughes (Devils), Adam Fox (Rangers), Charlie McAvoy (Bruins), Jaccob Slavin (Carolina Hurricanes), Connor Hellebuyck (Jets) and Matthew Tkachuk (Panthers) have reinforced to Guerin and his staff the need for roster flexibility, and making sure they're seeing all players who could play on the team, not just the locks.

"This goes without saying anyways, but I think with how some of the injuries have taken place you have to have Plan A, Plan B and Plan C because you don't know," Guerin said. "We have to name the team, but then after we name the team there's a massive gap with a lot of games to be played and we don't know what's going to happen, so you've got to be ready for anything.

"So, it's not just watching the players you feel are going to be on the team, it's if something goes wrong who is going to step in."

One thing that won't impact the roster is the smaller rink size in Milan.

"No, no," Guerin said. "To me, this is more a story for media and make a crazy big deal out of it. We don't care."

The rink at Milano Santagiulia Ice Hockey Arena, the main venue for the Olympic ice hockey tournaments, will be about three feet shorter than NHL-regulation size, measuring close to 197 feet long.

The rink was supposed to be NHL regulation per the League's agreement with the International Olympic Committee and the International Ice Hockey Federation to send NHL players to the Olympics, but it wasn't built that way and it can't be changed because of structural issues, NHL deputy commissioner Bill Daly said Monday.

Explore NHL.com's Coverage of the Olympic Winter Games Milano Cortina 2026

Guerin, though, said it's not an issue and it doesn't change his opinion about how the tournament will be played. He expects it to be tight checking with little room to operate for the players, exactly how it was in the 4 Nations Face-Off last season.

He said the U.S. is choosing a team that can play that style of hockey.

"If the 4 Nations showed us one thing it's that this is such high-level hockey," Guerin said on the podcast. "If you can't check, if you can't play winning hockey like that, this isn't the hockey for you then.

"Those were the best players in the world playing at the highest level the game has probably ever been played. There was no room and the guys played it to a T, so if you can't do that, if you're not willing to do that, this probably isn't the tournament for you."

The "NHL @TheRink" podcast is free and listeners can subscribe on all podcast platforms. It is also available on NHL.com/multimedia/podcasts and the NHL app.