Crew Canada basic supervisor Don Sweeney indicated that Chicago Blackhawks star Connor Bedard remains to be in consideration for the 2026 Winter Olympics regardless of being snubbed from their NHL 4 Nations Face-Off roster this week.
Bedard, 19, was the NHL rookie of the yr final season. He had dominating performances for Canada on the 2023 world juniors (23 factors in 7 video games) and the 2024 IIHF world championships (5 targets in 10 video games). That sparked hypothesis that Bedard would make the roster for the 4 Nations Face-Off, a four-team exhibition match that is changing the NHL All-Star Recreation this season, to higher put together him for the 2026 Olympic match in Italy.
However Bedard has struggled in his second NHL season, with 5 targets in 26 video games after scoring 22 targets in 68 video games as a rookie. He has 19 factors for the Blackhawks as nicely.
Sweeney, who’s the final supervisor of the Boston Bruins, stated that Bedard is a part of “the subsequent wave of nice gamers” for Canada however one who wants to realize expertise earlier than making the leap to the nationwide group.
“It is his second time across the league. There’s some challenges related to that. He is working via that, in a scenario the place he will get all the eye doable from the most effective gamers that he is enjoying in opposition to every evening,” stated Sweeney. “So I believe he is dwelling and respiratory it proper now and it is solely going to assist him to proceed to construct his resume and we’re enthusiastic about that.”
Sweeney, who would be the assistant to GM Doug Armstrong for the Canadian males’s hockey Olympic group, and Crew Canada coach Jon Cooper each anticipated Bedard would push for a roster spot in 2026.
Additionally they stated the 4 Nations Face-Off roster, which options only one participant born after 1998, was constructed for this match somewhat than as a check run for the 2026 roster.
“We constructed this group to win the 4 Nations. The Olympics remains to be a yr away. Are there gamers which are going to develop and take strides in that point? There is not any query,” stated Cooper, the top coach of the Tampa Bay Lightning. “Particularly a few of these youthful gamers the place your improvement continues. That is simply going to make choices harder.”
Sweeney stated that is why Crew Canada had a “wider lens” in gamers like Bedard who may not be prepared for the 4 Nations match however might make the minimize in 2026.
“We wished to determine gamers which are going to mission out down the highway. Gamers which may not essentially be able to push any individual out of a job that we felt had earned it at this level,” he stated. “We’ll must proceed to have these [players] stack up on prime of one another within the subsequent yr and a half and make a very arduous determination on a number of rising gamers. We’re extremely enthusiastic about them, however we could not lose sight of the truth that we had been constructing a group for February.”
It is not unprecedented for Canada to depart a younger phenom off its nationwide group roster. Sidney Crosby was left off the Canadian Olympic group in 2006 when he was 18 years previous, regardless of enjoying at a point-per-game tempo as a rookie. Steven Stamkos did not make the 2010 Olympic group regardless of scoring 51 targets as a 19-year-old in his second NHL season.
In the meantime, the participant who completed second to Bedard within the rookie race final season — 22-year-old Minnesota Wild defenseman Brock Faber — made the minimize for Crew USA on the 4 Nations Face-Off.