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Greg Wyshynski, ESPN
Team 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 objectives 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 Game this season, to higher put together him for the 2026 Olympic match in Italy.
But Bedard has struggled in his second NHL season, with 5 objectives in 26 video games after scoring 22 objectives in 68 video games as a rookie. He has 19 factors for the Blackhawks as properly.
Sweeney, who’s the overall supervisor of the Boston Bruins, mentioned that Bedard is a part of “the following wave of nice gamers” for Canada however one who wants to realize expertise earlier than making the leap to the nationwide workforce.
“It’s his second time across the league. There’s some challenges related to that. He’s working by that, in a state of affairs the place he will get all the eye doable from the very best gamers that he is enjoying in opposition to every evening,” mentioned 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 workforce, and Team Canada coach Jon Cooper each anticipated Bedard would push for a roster spot in 2026.
They additionally mentioned the 4 Nations Face-Off roster, which options only one participant born after 1998, was constructed for this match somewhat than as a take a look at run for the 2026 roster.
“We constructed this workforce to win the 4 Nations. The Olympics remains to be a yr away. Are there gamers which might be going to develop and take strides in that point? There’s no query,” mentioned Cooper, the top coach of the Tampa Bay Lightning. “Especially a few of these youthful gamers the place your growth continues. That’s simply going to make choices harder.”
Sweeney mentioned that is why Team Canada had a “wider lens” in taking a look at gamers like Bedard who won’t be prepared for the 4 Nations match however might make the minimize in 2026.
“We needed to determine gamers which might be going to undertaking out down the highway. Players which may not essentially be able to push any person out of a job that we felt had earned it at this level,” he mentioned. “We’re going to must proceed to have these [players] stack up on high of one another within the subsequent yr and a half and make a extremely onerous determination on a number of rising gamers. We’re extremely enthusiastic about them, however we could not lose sight of the truth that we have been constructing a workforce for February.”
It’s not unprecedented for Canada to go away a younger phenom off its nationwide workforce roster. Sidney Crosby was left off the Canadian Olympic workforce 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 workforce regardless of scoring 51 objectives as a 19-year-old in his second NHL season.
Meanwhile, 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 Team USA on the 4 Nations Face-Off.
