HENDERSON, NEVADA — Connor Bedard didn`t take it as a personal insult that Canada did not include him, the Chicago Blackhawks star, in the squad for the 4 Nations Face-Off tournament.
“I generally expected it. I had a somewhat slow start last year,” he stated. “There are so many outstanding players in Canada. Even if I had performed excellently and still didn`t make the team, I wouldn`t have been particularly upset.”
Tage Thompson of the Buffalo Sabres reacted much more emotionally to being passed over by Team USA for the 4 Nations Face-Off.
“In the second half of the season, it became extra motivation to show them that I could play,” he said. “That perhaps I deserved to be there. I used it to fuel my game and push it in the right direction.”
Evidently, the drive to earn the chance to represent one`s country in a best-on-best tournament is a powerful motivator. Thompson accumulated 24 points in 27 games for the Sabres after the 4 Nations break, scoring 18 goals.
Dozens of NHL players enter the 2025-26 season with Olympic aspirations. The NHL is returning to the Winter Games for the first time since 2014, taking a break in its season so players can chase gold in Italy next February.
While many players from the 4 Nations Face-Off rosters for Canada, the U.S., Sweden, and Finland will transition to their respective Olympic rosters, executives such as Team USA GM Bill Guerin have stated that the “4 Nations” group “is probably not going to be the exact lineup we take to the Olympics.”
This is good news for players like Clayton Keller, the Utah Mammoth forward who was left off the 4 Nations roster and, like Thompson, wasn`t thrilled about it.
“Obviously, I was upset, but I used it as motivation,” Keller said. “I think I played my best hockey of the year after that. We came out very strong and pushed for the playoffs.”
Thompson was arguably the most significant “snub” from the Team USA 4 Nations roster. The fact that he was added as an injury replacement for the championship game against Canada underscores how close he was to making the main squad.
Thompson watched that game in Boston. He watched as the U.S. lost in overtime, 3-2, unable to break through against goalie Jordan Binnington before Connor McDavid ended the game and secured the gold medal for Canada.
“Of course, I would have loved to be out there and help them win,” he said. “But I don`t pick the team. I just play and do my job on the ice.”
When the Team USA roster for the 4 Nations was assembled, Guerin and his management team opted for veteran depth forwards with two-way potential — such as Vincent Trocheck, Chris Kreider, and Brock Nelson — rather than bringing in younger players known primarily for their offensive prowess.
One reason was their versatility, as players like Nelson and Trocheck have successfully performed in various roles in the NHL. Guerin noted that star players have to adjust when they join a “best-on-best” team and don`t receive their usual ice time and offensive opportunities.
“You have to leave your ego at the door. That happens on any championship team. I feel like we had that with the 1996 World Cup of Hockey team,” Guerin stated. “You just have to do things you`re not used to doing. Play roles you`re not used to playing or minutes you`re not used to playing. You have to accept that.”
Another reason players like Keller and Thompson were overlooked was a lack of experience in championship tournaments. Thompson has never appeared in a Stanley Cup playoff game after eight seasons — seven of them with Buffalo. Keller has only appeared once in the NHL postseason, playing nine games for Arizona during the empty-arena COVID bubble playoffs in 2020.
Both players sought to bolster their resumes by playing for the U.S. team in the 2025 IIHF World Championships last spring, when the Americans captured their first title since 1960. Guerin placed great importance on having players on the Olympic “bubble” participate in the World Championships.
Not only were Thompson and Keller there, but also promising players such as defensemen Zach Werenski of the Columbus Blue Jackets and Jeremy Swayman of the Boston Bruins, both of whom were on the 4 Nations roster. Younger players like Anaheim Ducks defenseman Jackson LaCombe and Chicago Blackhawks defenseman Alex Vlasic used their World Championship experience to earn invitations to the Team USA Olympic orientation camp in August.
Although Thompson and Keller both stated they are focused on their respective NHL seasons, they cannot ignore the Olympic carrot dangling before them.
“I think it`s something super cool and exciting and something to play for, and I`m just going to play my game and let the rest take care of itself,” said Keller, who led Utah with 90 points in 81 games last season. “I`m not stressing about it.”
“You shouldn`t think about it too much. My priority is to help our team win in Buffalo. If I do that, then everything will fall into place,” said Thompson, who was Buffalo`s leading scorer with 44 goals in 76 games. “The Olympics are a big goal of mine. It`s something I`ve wanted to achieve for a long time. So making the team would be something pretty special. But you shouldn`t think about it too much.”
Bedard, entering his third NHL season after being drafted first overall by Chicago in 2023, chose not to play for Team Canada at the IIHF World Championships this year. His focus was on skating and other developmental work in the offseason. Despite Canada`s significant forward depth, Bedard keeps his Olympic hopes alive, having attended the orientation camp in August.
“It would be incredible. I don`t think about it too much now. I just want to have a good start in training camp, personally and as a team, and then we`ll see what happens,” said Bedard, who scored 67 points in 82 games and led Chicago last season.
Washington Capitals forward Tom Wilson`s name was widely discussed by fans after the Americans — and specifically the Tkachuk brothers — stirred things up at the 4 Nations. In fact, Wilson fought Brady Tkachuk in a game against the Ottawa Senators a few weeks after the tournament.
While Olympic rules likely mean there won`t be another brawl between Canada and the U.S., Wilson did receive an invitation to Team Canada`s Olympic orientation camp this summer after being left off the 4 Nations roster.
“It was cool. It`s an impressive group of guys, to say the least. It really makes you put your head down and work as hard as you can to put yourself in the conversation for making the Olympic team,” Wilson said. “When you`re a kid, it`s the Stanley Cup and an Olympic gold medal. That`s everything. Those are your biggest, wildest dreams. But you look around that [camp] room, every guy next to you wants it just as much as you do — and these are the best players in the league.”
Wilson believes that the first few months of the 2025-26 season will be particularly intense for players with Winter Games dreams, who will be putting in extra effort to make a final impression.
“For all those Olympic hopefuls, you don`t have much opportunity to gracefully dip your toes in the water at the start of the year. There`s a short runway before rosters start being announced and all that,” he said. “You can be sure every guy who was discussed this summer was working really hard to start well.”
Making an Olympic roster means taking a spot from someone who played in the 4 Nations Face-Off. Philadelphia Flyers defenseman Travis Sanheim played three games for Team Canada at the 4 Nations and competed for the Canadians at the IIHF World Championships, where they were stunned in the quarterfinals by Denmark.
“Obviously, being part of the 4 Nations was a privilege. I probably wasn`t thinking about it a couple of years ago, and only in the last couple of seasons have I put myself in that situation,” Sanheim said.
The work doesn`t stop just because he made that roster. Sanheim was one of 14 defensemen who attended Team Canada`s Olympic orientation camp. He is considered on the bubble for the 2026 Winter Games.
“I think Canada is a very strong team, and the guys who are competing for those roster spots — you could take about 20 guys to fill, what is it, eight spots? So it`s going to be a challenge,” Sanheim said. “The Olympics are something I`m striving for and want to be a part of. It`s an exciting opportunity.”
Patrick Kane has had that opportunity twice, winning silver in 2010 and losing bronze in 2014 for the Americans. The 36-year-old winger`s absence from Team USA`s 4 Nations roster was not a surprise, as Kane himself admitted his play last season didn`t warrant a selection. However, his presence at the U.S. Olympic orientation camp in August was a surprise to some, though not to Kane himself.
“They told my agent there was potential to maybe make the team. That I was under consideration. So when you hear that, it`s not really that big of a surprise that you`re there,” he said.
Kane recalled 2010 when he was a 21-year-old star on the U.S. Olympic team, surrounded by veteran national team members such as Chris Drury, Jamie Langenbrunner, and Brian Rafalski. Now, he would be that “elder statesman” if he made the cut for 2026. But like every other NHL player who hasn`t formally been named to an Olympic roster, Kane knows he must earn it.
“I want to get to a point where, obviously, you put yourself in consideration for the team just by your play, right? Not by your name or what you`ve done in the past,” Kane said. “That`s the goal for this year.”
