Olympic Stock Watch: Who helped or hurt their case during the Stanley Cup playoffs?
We’ve witnessed a banner year for the NHL. The 4 Nations Face-Off blew away even the most optimistic expectations. Alex Ovechkin broke Wayne Gretzky’s all-time goals record. The Stanley Cup Final treated us to a rematch between the Edmonton Oilers and Florida Panthers. And with a rising salary cap, a wild offseason of player movement looms.
But the excitement won’t end after this season. Among the plotlines to look forward to in 2025-26: the Winter Olympics in Milan, which will feature NHL participation for the first time since the 2014 Sochi Games. Each of the national teams is expected to reveal its first six players for Milan before June is up.
With the Olympics only eight months out and the Stanley Cup playoffs wrapping up: which prospective participants have impacted their stocks for better or worse this postseason?
Before diving into this Olympic Stock Watch, a couple rules:
(a) Players must have advanced to Round 2 of the playoffs and provided a large enough sample size to impact their stocks (with one important exception).
(b) We’re aren’t appraising the stocks of players who are virtual locks to make their teams regardless of their 2025 playoff performance. You can slam the Toronto Maple Leafs’ Mitch Marner for disappearing in Round 2, but it’s not like he won’t make Canada. We’re mostly focusing on players who didn’t make their 4 Nations teams or did make it but played relatively low in the lineup.
(c) The national teams’ roster situations matter. Eetu Luostarinen has opened eyes with his playoffs, but Finland’s NHL group is shallow enough that he was in little jeopardy of missing out on a spot. On the flip side, Seth Jones has excelled this postseason, but the Americans are so stacked on defense that Jones is still no better than the eighth or ninth best option for Milan. Neither player makes this list as a result.
STOCK UP
Sam Bennett, C, Canada
It may seem strange for me to include Bennett given he made Canada’s 4 Nations club and made an impact. But he opened that tourney as a healthy scratch, lest we forget. He drew in when Canada wanted some sandpaper to face the Americans. Now that we better understand how spirited the competition was, and factoring in that the Winter Games will be played on NHL-iced ice, Bennett looks like a lock at this point. He leads the NHL in goals this postseason, has been a one-man wrecking ball and suddenly has a real shot to win the Conn Smythe Trophy.
Evan Bouchard, D, Canada
It was ludicrous to exclude Bouchard in the first place. Hopefully his dominant playoffs, in which he continues to rapidly climb the all-time defenseman scoring leaderboard, erases any doubt that he’d be a vital addition to the Milan roster. His skating, his vision and his shot on the power play easily trump that freeze-framed video of him caught out of position that your drunk uncle wants to show you at the family barbecue.
Thomas Harley, D, Canada
Harley impressed when he parachuted into the 4 Nations for emergency duty after Shea Theodore got hurt and Cale Makar fell ill. Now, it’s looking like Harley will make the team in the first place. Only Mikko Rantanen had more points for the Dallas Stars during their run to the Western Conference Final. Harley eliminated the Winnipeg Jets with the overtime series winner in Round 2. In 5-on-5 play, he has the highest individual expected goals mark of any blueliner (min. 200 minutes played) this postseason. A Canadian D-corps with Harley and Bouchard added to it would have serious offensive play-driving ability.
Matthew Knies, LW, USA
Knies’ breakout was in its early stages by the time Team USA named its roster. But he finished the year with 29 goals, only five of which came on the power play despite him establishing a major net-front presence, meaning there’s room for his goal total to grow a lot going forward. In the playoffs, he was a beast, shaking off defenders like a bull and showing impressive breakaway wheels for a bruising big man. If Team USA expects the physicality to carry over from the 4 Nations, Knies would be a smart add. His tool set reminds me a lot of Chris Kreider a decade ago.
Gabriel Landeskog, LW, Sweden
Here’s where I break my rule and name a player who didn’t advance past Round 1. For Landeskog, simply participating in the playoffs means everything for his Milan case. It took the Colorado Avalanche captain three years to overcome his knee injury and return to the NHL. He was legitimately impactful in doing so, picking up four points in five games, his line tilting the ice at 5-on-5. If Landeskog is healthy next winter, he’s an Olympian, period.
Brad Marchand, LW, Canada
Marchand was arguably one of Canada’s most disappointing players at the 4 Nations, an afterthought as a depth forward who struggled to keep up with the speed of the games. He looked to me like someone who was playing his final best-on-best games for Canada at 36. But after missing time with a head injury suffered shortly after the tournament and getting traded to the Panthers at the deadline, Marchand, 37, is completely rejuvenated. He’s been one of the very best players league-wide this postseason. He and fellow third-liners Anton Lundell and Eetu Luostarinen have pancaked their competition. Marchand has even scored multiple breakaway goals, showing he still has pace to his game. There’s no telling when or if his play could suddenly nosedive next season due to aging, but if Marchand continues playing at this level, you can’t leave him off Canada, right?
Logan Thompson, G, Canada
Thompson had some heroic moments for an ultimately disappointing Washington Capitals team, particularly in Round 1 vs. the Montreal Canadiens. Among goalies who played five or more games this postseason, only one saved more goals above expected per 60 than Thompson. That comes after an excellent regular season that had him in the Vezina Trophy conversation for much of the year before he faded down the stretch. The bar to make Canada’s goalie stable isn’t that high to clear. It feels like Thompson would get the nod if full teams had to be named today.
STOCK DOWN
Connor Hellebuyck, G, USA
I don’t actually think Hellebuyck is on the outside looking in, but I think his stock is damaged in terms of where he sits on the projected depth chart. He couldn’t make the save for USA in in the deciding overtime vs. Canada at the 4 Nations. Then came his mostly disastrous playoff run in which the supposed best goalie in the world – he got my first-place Hart Trophy vote – often struggled to even look like an NHL-caliber goalie on the road. Given how many excellent options the Americans have in net, it feels like Hellebuyck’s starting role is longer secure. If the Olympics commence today, is Jake Oettinger your No. 1?
Adin Hill, G, Canada
Hill made sense as a safe choice in a shallow pool of viable picks for the 4 Nations. He was a 2023 Stanley Cup winner who followed that triumph with a solid if unspectacular 2023-24 campaign. Hill was above average this season, a net positive in goals saved above expected. He struggled in the playoffs, though, posting an .887 save percentage. The only goalies (min. 5 GP) who saved fewer expected goals per 60 this postseason were Hellebuyck and Joseph Woll. Hill remains a contender for the Olympic team, but did his former Vegas Golden Knights tandem mate Thompson leapfrog him? It feels like the third spot will come down to Hill, Sam Montembeault, Darcy Kuemper and Mackenzie Blackwood right now, with Jordan Binnington presumably still holding the No. 1 gig.
Zach Hyman, LW, Canada
Omitting Hyman from the 4 Nations team during his early-season slump reeked of recency bias, and he was much better after his ugly first 20 games, finishing with 27 goals. Still, given Hyman is 33 and on the outside of Canada’s roster cut line, it would’ve helped him to show a ton during a long playoff run. That’s why his season-ending wrist injury hurts so much, literally and figuratively. He was often a force in his 15 games with the Oilers this spring, delivering five goals and a stunning 111 hits. But the injury recovery projects to be a long one and threatens to delay the start of his 2025-26. If you didn’t make the last best-on-best roster, you need every game you can get to make an impression, so Hyman’s odds for Milan have taken a hit.
Wyatt Johnston, C, Canada
Johnston’s upward trajectory as a goal-scoring center, just 22, suggests he could level up again at any point and work his way onto the Canadian Olympic team. He could absolutely do so if he starts strongly for the Stars this autumn. But his playoffs were a disaster – particularly when he’s previously been an excellent spring player. Four goals in 18 games? Dallas was doubled by its opponents in goals when Johnston was on the ice at 5-on-5. It feels like he played his way to the back of an extremely competitive bubble tier. You’d have to put the likes of Macklin Celebrini and Nick Suzuki ahead of him now.
Jason Robertson, LW, USA
Robertson’s predicament is similar to teammate Johnston’s – didn’t make his country’s 4 Nations club, playoff performance didn’t help his future case. Robertson missed the start of the postseason recovering from a knee injury and managed a substandard four goals in 11 games. Working in his favor: it’s possible he rushed back and that’s why he wasn’t himself. He had an excellent second half of the regular season. Just two seasons removed from racking up 109 points, Robertson could still work his way onto USA’s roster if he asserts himself with a big October and November – whether it’s with Dallas or a new team.
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POST SPONSORED BY bet365
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