Breaking down the most surprising inclusions and exclusions from initial 2026 Olympic hockey rosters
The International Ice Hockey Federation has started rolling out the first six names for each of the 12 rosters. While there have been some pretty obvious names announced – like Leon Draisaitl (Germany), William Nylander (Sweden) and Connor McDavid (Canada) – there have been a few decisions that have led fans from around the world scratching their heads, both on players who have been named to rosters and those who have been left out.
On Monday’s edition of Daily Faceoff LIVE, Frank Seravalli and Tyler Yaremchuk look at a few of the storylines from the first slate of player announcements.
Tyler Yaremchuk: What’s a bigger surprise – Gabe Landeskog, who’s played five games in the last three seasons, being named to Sweden or J.J. Peterka being left off the Germany roster?
Frank Seravalli: Probably going to go with Gabe Landeskog being a selection for Sweden. I mean, he’s a guy that obviously deserves a ton of credit for the way that he’s worked his way back to playing again. But five games in three calendar years to make him one of your first six selections for Sweden is pretty surprising. I guess from the Peterka front, with how good he’s been, basically knocking on the door of 30-goal seasons two years in a row now, on a really bad Buffalo team, I think what you’re left with is Germany just deciding to name Philipp Grubauer, despite being one of the worst goalies in the league the last couple years, as a veteran presence that they decided that they need on their team. So, it doesn’t really make a ton of sense to me on both of the selections
I think we’re in for some other really interesting news, though. I put out my projection for Team USA and Connor Hellebuyck’s not on it. That’s the reigning Hart and Vezina Trophy winner. I don’t believe he’s going to be selected by Team USA as one of their first six when that roster comes out
Tyler: Interesting. I mean, obviously, there were the dueling chants during that playoff series with Oettinger and Hellebuyck and their two respective fan bases, but Otter, Hellebuyck, and even a guy like Dustin Wolf might be able to work his way into that conversation.
Frank: Swayman was also pretty good at the Men’s Worlds. I’d say it’s never wrong, based on the nature of the position, to not name a goalie in this circumstance. It’s not like we’re saying Connor Hellebuyck’s not going to make the team. No one’s saying that at all. It’s just that, hey, look [at Team Canada, they had an opportunity with [Jordan] Binnington, who showed some huge stones in the Four Nations face-off. He’s not named to one of their top six.
You can watch the full segment and the entire episode here…