Canada reveals Olympic men's hockey First 6: Behind the Sam Reinhart pick, other roster decisions
If there is one trait Team Canada has looked to identify in players for international best-on-best hockey, it's the ability to rise to the occasion when the pressure is highest.
With three straight Stanley Cup Finals, one Cup ring and another championship a win away, plus a solid performance at 4 Nations, Florida Panthers forward Sam Reinhart fit that bill. And on Monday, all that winning paid off, earning him the one 'open' spot in Team Canada's First Six players named for the 2026 Milan Olympics.
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A year after scoring a career-high 57 goals, Reinhart had 39 in 2024-25, and his complete game continued to impress, getting him nominated for the Selke Trophy. He's as well-rounded as they come, and there's great comfort in that for Team Canada.
'What we saw at the 4 Nations: Sam is just a well-balanced player who can touch every aspect of our team,' Canada Olympic general manager Doug Armstrong told The Athletic in explaining the decision. 'There was no question he was going to be on our team. He was just a natural selection now (in June) based on his play and his history of great play in big events.''
Reinhart replaced 37-year-old Brad Marchand — the only change from the First Six announced 12 months ago for 4 Nations, with the Pittsburgh Penguins' Sidney Crosby, Colorado Avalanche's Nathan MacKinnon and Cale Makar, Edmonton Oilers' Connor McDavid and Tampa Bay Lightning's Brayden Point all named as repeats to the Olympic squad Monday.
That's no knock on Marchand, who has excelled in the playoffs — what a dream Cup Final he's having, with six goals. But Marchand's recovery from injury and surgery last summer and his age were factors when it came to the six early roster picks this far out from the February Olympics.
'I had a good chat with Brad. He's certainly a candidate to make this team,' Armstrong said. 'What he did for our team at the 4 Nations — the character and the ability to bring the team together — plus what he's done in the playoffs here, it's very inspiring. But we just felt that Sam, what he's done the last three years, playing on a championship team, he just seemed like a natural candidate to join the other five.''
Reinhart said he's greatly honored to get the call this early.
'Team Canada, that's what you dream about playing for,' Reinhart told The Athletic. 'It's been such a long time, right, since we've been in the Olympics? So to have that opportunity is a dream come true.'
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The funny thing is, Reinhart forgot there would be six players named this early. So it caught him off guard when he got the call.
'I had other things on the mind,' he said with a smile, with Tuesday's Game 6 of the Cup Final against the Edmonton Oilers next on the docket. 'But it was something that was unexpected, and it was a huge honor and good for the confidence as well.''
Reinhart was also quick to point out that while he's replacing Marchand in the First Six, he is sure his Panthers teammate will be on Team Canada in the end.
That's just it: Naming six players for the Olympic team is the appetizer.
'This is the easiest part,' Armstrong said with a half-chuckle.
There was discussion about other potential players to join the returning five among the Team Canada management staff, which includes Don Sweeney, Jim Nill, Julien BriseBois, Kyle Dubas, Ryan Getzlaf, Scott Salmond and head coach Jon Cooper.
'We had a good discussion about it,' Armstrong said. 'I think the five players that are returning are in the prime of their careers, and then you had Sid's great leadership and his history and just his play even this year at his age and what he's doing in the league. I saw him at the World Championship, and even though it didn't go the way he wanted or Canada wanted, his play was inspiring there.'
Armstrong wouldn't go further into the discussions that were had, but my suspicion is that the other names in play for the final spot would have been Avalanche defenseman Devon Toews and Toronto Maple Leafs forward Mitch Marner, both of whom were on the 4 Nations championship roster and both of whom are pretty much locks to go to Milan as well.
St. Louis Blues goalie Jordan Binnington also makes sense as a First Six candidate after his clutch performance at 4 Nations.
'Binnington had a great 4 Nations and really played fantastic for the Blues down the stretch to gain a playoff spot and was strong in the playoffs,' said Armstrong, who's also the Blues' GM. 'He's certainly the leader in the (goalie) clubhouse, there's no question about that, with his play.
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'But you look at different players now — the two guys that joined him at 4 Nations (Adin Hill and Sam Montembeault), and quite honestly you have (Logan) Thompson, you have (Darcy) Kuemper, you have (MacKenzie) Blackwood, you have (Stuart) Skinner, that's just four off the top of my head — they're all quality goaltenders who are going to push. We'll let the competition play itself out and see where we're at in January.'
The goalie position for Team Canada generated much debate among fans and media ahead of 4 Nations, and while it remains the most wide-open discussion, there's certainly less concern at the moment given Binnington's season, Thompson's huge year, Kuemper being nominated for the Vezina Trophy and Blackwood's performance in Colorado.
The tough part for Team Canada comes next: filling out the roster by the Dec. 31 deadline. It's a 25-man roster for the Olympics instead of 23 players for 4 Nations. So Team Canada still has room for nine more forwards, seven more defensemen and three more goalies.
The Olympic tournament will be played on NHL-sized ice, which is noteworthy. It's not the bigger international ice.
But at the same time, Armstrong doesn't expect three fights in the opening seconds of the next U.S.-Canada game, either. So there's no need to 'toughen up' the lineup with roster decisions, either. With IIHF rules, fighting is not an option.
'What transpired, which got the 4 Nations to a raucous start, you know, that won't happen in the Olympics,' Armstrong said. 'Those players that were in the 4 Nations can play any style. There's no question about that. But if the question is: Are we going to base some decisions on the first minute of one game? No. Our roster won't be based on the first minute of one game.'
That doesn't mean a guy like Tom Wilson isn't on the radar. He had a heck of a season.
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'Quite honestly, the way Tom played last season, he's in that group of strong consideration just for his overall play,' Armstrong said. 'We just went through the easy part, the first six. Now it gets interesting.'
How many roster spots does Team Canada view as in flux from the 4 Nations team?
'I won't give you the number, but it was interesting, midway through the (World Championship), our management group got together and we had to jot down a number of how many guys do you think would be different from the 4 Nations for the Olympics, and it varied from each guy,' Armstrong said. 'And now we're adding two more players.'
As Armstrong noted, some players who didn't make the 4 Nations ended up as leading scorers on their respective NHL teams the rest of the season, including Robert Thomas from his Blues team. But many strong candidates have pushed up their stock.
'There's a lot of players that have got our attention and are going to push,' he said. 'And there's guys from 4 Nations that want to keep their spot. It's still a long ways away, but we're going to get out and scout and do our job and monitor all these players.
'I also think being able to hold off longer to name the roster will benefit all the countries.'
The extra four weeks — the 4 Nations roster deadline was Dec. 4 — will be especially huge for Canada and the U.S., teams with deeper talent pools.
'We're going to use that extra time for sure,' Armstrong said.
Canada: Sidney Crosby, Cale Makar, Nathan MacKinnon, Connor McDavid, Brayden Point, Sam Reinhart
Czechia: Lukas Dostal, Radko Gudas, Martin Necas, Ondrej Palat, David Pastrnak, Pavel Zacha
Denmark: Frederik Andersen, Oliver Bjorkstrand, Nikolaj Ehlers, Lars Eller, Jesper Jensen Aabo, Jonas Rondbjergz
Finland: Sebastian Aho, Aleksander Barkov, Miro Heiskanen, Esa Lindell, Mikko Rantanen, Juuse Saros
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France: Yohann Auvitu, Pierre-Edouard Bellemare, Jules Boscq, Hugo Gallet, Jordann Perret, Alexandre Texier
Germany: Leon Draisaitl, Philipp Grubauer, Lukas Reichel, Moritz Seider, Tim Stützle, Nico Sturm
Italy: Damian Clara, Diego Kostner, Thomas Larkin, Daniel Mantenuto, Tommy Purdeller, Luca Zanatta
Latvia: Rodrigo Abols, Uvis Balinskis, Zemgus Girgensons, Elvis Merzlikins, Arturs Silovs, Teodors Blugers
Sweden: Rasmus Dahlin, Victor Hedman, Adrian Kempe, Gabriel Landeskog, William Nylander, Lucas Raymond
Switzerland: Kevin Fiala, Nico Hischier, Roman Josi, Timo Meier, Nino Niederreiter, Jonas Siegenthaler
Slovakia: Erik Cernak, Martin Fehervary, Simon Nemec, Martin Pospisil, Juraj Slafkovsky, Tomas Tatar
United States: To be announced at 1 p.m. ET
(Top photo of Sam Reinhart and Brad Marchand: Bruce Bennett / Getty Images)
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