The U.S. men will begin their pursuit of a gold medal on Feb. 12 against Latvia.
The U.S. men's Olympic hockey roster was revealed Friday morning during NBC's "Today" show with the 25-man team set to take part in the February tournament taking place in Milan, Italy.
Auston Matthews, Brady Tkachuk, Matthew Tkachuk, Jack Eichel, Quinn Hughes, and Charlie McAvoy were the first six players named to the roster in June. They are now joined by the likes of Jack Hughes, Dylan Larkin, Zach Werenski, and Connor Hellebuyck, among others.
U.S. general manager Bill Guerin and his staff did not want to throw the best 20 Americans together to form an Olympic roster. They wanted certain players with specific skillsets to fill roles to make it less of an All-Star team and more of a complete team.
“I’m a firm believer in building a team,” Guerin told The Athletic's Michael Russo recently. “It’s not like we’re gonna go out and take a bunch of fourth liners. You know what I mean? These are all very good players. But you need players to play a role. You need your top players to be able to check. Just look at the 4 Nations. Matthews, Eichel, MacKinnon, McDavid, (Sidney) Crosby, the Tkachuks, they were all checking. It wasn’t like this wide-open pond hockey. They were all playing like that and I just don’t think it’s going to be much different. I really don’t.”
Here's a look at the U.S. men's hockey roster that will look to capture Olympic gold for the first time since 1980.
Forwards
Matt Boldy, Minnesota Wild
Kyle Connor, Winnipeg Jets
Jack Eichel, Vegas Golden Knights
Jake Guentzel, Tampa Bay Lightning
Jack Hughes, New Jersey Devils
Clayton Keller, Utah Mammoth
Dylan Larkin, Detroit Red Wings
Auston Matthews, Toronto Maple Leafs
J.T. Miller, New York Rangers
Brock Nelson, Colorado Avalanche
Tage Thompson, Buffalo Sabres
Brady Tkachuk, Ottawa Senators
Matthew Tkachuk, Florida Panthers
Vincent Trocheck, New York Rangers
Defensemen
Brock Faber, Minnesota Wild
Noah Hanifin, Vegas Golden Knights
Quinn Hughes, Minnesota Wild
Seth Jones, Florida Panthers
Charlie McAvoy, Boston Bruins
Jake Sanderson, Ottawa Senators
Jaccob Slavin, Carolina Hurricanes
Zach Werenski, Columbus Blue Jackets
Goaltenders
Connor Hellebuyck, Winnipeg Jets
Jake Oettinger, Dallas Stars
Jeremy Swayman, Boston Bruins
The U.S. men will be led by New York Rangers head coach Mike Sullivan. He will be assisted by John Hynes of the Minnesota Wild, David Quinn of the Rangers, and John Tortorella.
Two players — Chris Kreider, Adam Fox — were on the U.S. team during last season's 4 Nations Face-off, but did not make the Olympic roster.
Fox will get the most attention among defensemen left off the roster, especially when you consider Sullivan is his head coach with the Rangers. Canadiens blueliner Lane Hutson, who is second among U.S.-born defensemen with 38 points, and John Carlson (8 goals, 29 points) of the Washington Capitals are also on the outside looking in.
There are other notable omissions, including forwards Jason Robertson of the Dallas Stars and Cole Caufield of the Montreal Canadiens. As of Friday, Robertson is second in the NHL among American-born goal scorers with 24. Caufield is not far behind him with 20 through 40 games.
Other forwards missing out include Alex DeBrincat (21 goals, 41 points) of the Detroit Red Wings and Troy Terry (12 goals, 38 points) of the Anaheim Ducks.
All countries participating have a list of players who will be considered as replacements should injuries arise before the beginning of the tournament.
As part of a joint agreement between the NHL, NHL Players Association, the International Ice Hockey Federation and the International Olympic Committee announced last February, the league is returning to the Olympics for first time since 2014.
The 2030 Olympics in France will also see NHL players participate.
NHL players participated in five straight Winter Olympics from 1998 to 2014, but concerns about marketing, insurance, travel costs and player injuries prevented the league, the NHLPA, the IIHF and the IOC from finalizing an agreement to continue for 2018 in Pyeongchang, South Korea.
The NHL and NHLPA had agreed to send players to the 2022 Beijing Olympics, but disruptions to the regular-season schedule due to the COVID-19 pandemic caused the league to keep players home.
Finland and the Olympic Athletes from Russia won the two men's hockey gold medals in the competitions that didn't feature NHL players. Since the league allowed players to take part beginning in 1998, Canada has won three times.
There have been five Olympics in which NHL players have participated. The U.S. has claimed two silver medals (2002, 2010) and lost in the 2014 bronze medal game to Finland in Sochi, Russia.
USA Hockey men's Olympic schedule
Thurs., Feb. 12: Latvia - 3:10 p.m. ET
Sat., Feb. 14: Denmark - 3:10 p.m. ET
Sun., Feb. 15 : Germany - 3:10 p.m. ET
Tues., Feb. 17: Playoff round
Wed., Feb. 18: Quarterfinal
Fri., Feb. 20: Semifinal
Sat. Feb. 21: Bronze-medal game
Sun., Feb. 22: Gold-medal game
Category: General Sports
