U.S. Olympic roster to have similar look to 4 Nations Face-Off

Bill Guerin is a big proponent of team chemistry and said it was a determining factor selecting the players to represent the United States at the Olympic Winter Games Milano Cortina 2026.

The Minnesota Wild general manager, who was in charge of putting the United States Olympic roster together, liked how the players jelled at the 4 Nations Face-Off last February, and is going back with a similar group seeking its first gold medal since 1980.

"I liked the way we played," Guerin said Friday, after the United States roster was announced. "Everybody was together, everybody played the right way, adhered to the game plan that Mike [Sullivan] and his coaching staff brought to the table. But I think the biggest thing for me was the chemistry.

"I think the chemistry allowed the guys to play the way that they did; the willingness to accept their role, the willingness to do things that maybe on their NHL team, they're not asked to do. Take a little bit less ice time, play a different role, all of those things went into it. But the chemistry was one of the biggest things."

Of the 25 players named to the United States roster Friday, 21 played at 4 Nations. The United States lost 3-2 in overtime to Canada in the championship game, but won its three previous round-robin games. That included a 3-1 win against Canada in an emotional contest at Bell Centre in Montreal on Feb. 15.

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

Forwards Clayton Keller of the Utah Mammoth and Tage Thompson of the Buffalo Sabres were added to the Olympic roster, along with defensemen Seth Jones of the Florida Panthers and Quinn Hughes of the Wild, who missed the 4 Nations with an injury.

"It's a pretty incredible group of defensemen, it combines skill, skating ability, the ability to defend, the willingness to defend," Guerin said. "Puck-moving, we have a number of guys that play on the power play, they can all kill penalties. I think versatility, mobility, all those things when you look at them, it's a pretty damn good group."

All three goalies, Connor Hellebuyck of the Winnipeg Jets, Jake Oettinger of the Dallas Stars and Jeremy Swayman of the Boston Bruins, return from 4 Nations.

The United States will open the 12-team tournament against Latvia on Feb. 12, then play Denmark on Feb. 14 and close out the preliminary round against Germany on Feb. 15.

Hughes is the biggest addition to the United States roster. He won the Norris Trophy as the best defenseman in the NHL in 2023-24, and was traded to Minnesota in a blockbuster deal Dec. 12.

"His skating is fantastic, his ability to help us get out of our zone and to move the puck up the ice as quick as possible by either skating it or moving it quickly, he always seems to be one step ahead," Guerin said. "I know what he's done for our Wild team and it's been incredible. I think he's going to be able to bring those same attributes to Team USA."

Up front, the United States has a number of versatile forwards who can play both at center and on the wing.

New Jersey Devils forward Jack Hughes is expected to take on an even bigger role at the Olympics than he did at the 4 Nations, where he had one assist in four games. He has 22 points (11 goals, 11 assists) in 22 games for New Jersey this season.

"Jack is a unique player with his ability to drive offense," Sullivan said. "One of the things we liked with the way we constructed our lines at the 4 Nations was the size we had down the middle. We thought it was the strength of the group, but having said that, we have had conversations around using Jack in the middle at this Olympic experience and will continue to have those conversations leading up to the first game. We'll make decisions as we go, we know that's an option."

Along with having plenty of options when it comes to line combinations and defense pairs, the United States will also have three of the best goalies in the League to select as a starter.

"The thing that we really talked about when we were putting the 4 Nations (roster) and that was the versatility, the ability to play multiple positions, multiple roles, but it's also the buy-in and being part of the chemistry," Guerin said. "The buy-in was really big and will continue to be really big. We'll need players to assume roles that maybe they don't normally assume and accept what's going on and think of the team first and put winning at the top of their minds."

The United States and Canada are favored to meet in the gold medal game on Feb. 22, but Guerin said the team was not put together with that in mind.

The participating teams are divided into three groups with the group winners and the best second-place team each earning a bye into the quarterfinals; the other eight teams will play single-elimination games to determine the other four quarterfinalists.

"It's a one-game elimination, when you get down to it, so we can't look past anybody," Guerin said. "We didn't build our team just to play Canada, because we don't know if we're going to play Canada. We have other teams in front of us before we get anywhere, so we don't want to put the cart in front of the horse here. We feel we built the best team possible and we did that with us in mind, we're worried about us, not anybody else."