Breakdown of the Men’s U.S. Olympic Hockey Roster

The United States Men’s Ice Hockey roster will not include star NHL players such as Patrick Kane, Phil Kessel, and Auston Matthews because of the NHL’s decision to continue the regular season during this year’s Winter Olympics.

This has shocked the United States hockey fan base given that the United States, along with Canada, had the greatest potential to win the gold this year with a seemingly young and talented roster.

The Winter Olympics will look like it did in the 1980’s with colleges, some AHL, KHL, junior leagues, and alternate professional leagues supplying players for many teams.

The United States’ team consists of these college and junior league players, and no one knows how the Olympics will turn out given this roster. Usually, Canada, Russia, and the United States have a slanted chance of medaling, but now the world’s best players aren’t going to be there.

Teams will rely heavily on sound coaching because many players are young and do not bring as much talent and experience to the table. These Olympics will have a striking similarity to the World Cup of Hockey in that some of the college players have been drafted already. Additionally, there will not be any dominant players like Sidney Crosby or Connor Macdavid stealing the show and it is a big chance for players to gain recognition.

The U.S. team has four players who are still on college teams, some of which have already been drafted into the NHL. These players are late round picks, meaning that the top tier draft picks were likely told to sit the Olympics out to reduce risk of injury and commit to their future in the NHL. This is apparent in the observation that zero draft picks before No. 50 were chosen to be on the Olympic squad.

The outcome of this Olympic trial is very much up in the air and its effects on the game of hockey have yet to be seen.