Olympic Stock Watch: Who’s making a late push before Dec. 31 roster deadline?
It’s almost time for the 2026 Olympic men’s hockey team GMs to put down their pencils. The calendar has reached December, and the 12 Milano Cortina Winter Games rosters, consisting of 22 skaters and three goaltenders each, must be finalized by Dec. 31.
Chances are, the brass for most nations have significantly pared down their lists and have only a handful of decisions left to make. But the competition isn’t over, especially among the deepest teams. Which players have forced tough decisions by flourishing or struggling over the first couple months of the 2025-26 NHL season?
It’s time for the final Olympic Stock Watch. We’re exclusively looking at players from the Big Four countries – Canada, USA, Sweden and Finland – as the other teams have NHL talent pools shallow enough that it’s difficult for their top athletes to play their way off their teams.
Disclaimer: ‘Stock Up’ players cannot have made their 4 Nations Face-Off teams, and ‘Stock Down’ players must have made their 4 Nations Face-Off teams.
STOCK UP
Macklin Celebrini, C, San Jose Sharks (Canada)
The kid has made it almost impossible to leave him behind at this point. Celebrini’s 40 points slot him second in the NHL in scoring behind only Colorado Avalanche superstar Nathan MacKinnon. Celebrini is showing arguably a higher ceiling as a scorer than was originally perceived when he went first overall in the 2024 Draft, and his non-stop motor and competitiveness haven’t gone anywhere, meaning he doesn’t only fit on a scoring line. Those traits, plus the strong impression he made at the World Championship last spring, give him the edge over Connor Bedard in my mind. Why not take both? Canada could, but Celebrini’s two-way game is a bit more developed, and Bedard makes less sense on a non-scoring line. My gut says we don’t see both phenoms make the cut for Canada – only one of them.
Jakob Chychrun, D, Washington Capitals (Canada)
Chychrun has earned plenty of attention so far this season for his goal-scoring prowess in D.C.; he leads all NHL defensemen with 10. But Chychrun is playing elite all-around hockey, to the point he’s forcing himself into the Norris Trophy conversation. According to some metrics, Cale Makar is the only defenseman to have outplayed Chychrun this season, so how could Canada leave Chychrun off the team? Not only can he wire the puck and add size to the blueline, but he can play the left or right side.
Seth Jones, D, Florida Panthers (USA)
Jones never would’ve sniffed this list even 10 months ago, but so much has changed since then. He excelled post-trade to the Panthers and lifted his first career Stanley Cup in 2024-25. This season, he’s been vitally important to a team decimated by injuries. He logs more than 23 minutes a night, and he and Niko Mikkola have formed one of best play-driving pairs in the NHL. With American righties Charlie McAvoy and Adam Fox recovering from medium-term injuries, Jones would make for a nice insurance policy given his sublime skating, minute-munching ability and long reach. As a bonus: he could reunite with former longtime Columbus Blue Jackets pairing mate Zach Werenski.
Jesper Wallstedt, G, Minnesota Wild (Sweden)
Jacob Markstrom, Linus Ullmark and Filip Gustavsson have formed the pecking order pretty much every time Uffe Bodin and I project the Tre Kronor roster. But, sheesh, Gustavsson isn’t the best goalie on his own team right now. Wallstedt has outplayed him, outplayed Markstrom and Ullmark, outplayed almost every goalie on Earth so far this season. Wallstedt leads the NHL in save percentage and shutouts and ranks among the league leaders in goals saved above expected per 60. He carries truly elite prospect pedigree, meaning his stellar play could reflect a breakout rather than a fluky hot streak. How can you justify leaving him off Team Sweden at this point? Working against him is the small sample size, so he’ll have to make every last start count between now and Dec. 31 to play his way onto the team.
(As an aside: Canada’s Logan Thompson is in a similar situation, playing well enough not just to make his team but start for his team but, unlike Wallstedt, Thompson appears to be blacklisted by Hockey Canada because of a reportedly frosty relationship with his former Vegas Golden Knights head coaches, Bruce Cassidy and Pete DeBoer, who happen to be Canada’s assistant coaches.)
Tom Wilson, RW, Washington Capitals
Post 4 Nations, the pugnacious Wilson represented the eye-roll-inducing reactionary pick after Canada fought a bloody war against USA across two unforgettable games. Today: Wilson will always be one of the meanest players of his generation, but is he also earning his spot on merit? He’s averaging better than a point per game, he’s on pace to flirt with 50 goals, and when you add in the fact he can really move for a big man and change games with devastating hits, he’d make quite the fourth-liner or “break glass in case of emergency” bench forward.
Other stock-up players: Matthew Schaefer (Canada), Emil Heineman (Sweden), Connor Bedard (Canada), Cutter Gauthier (USA), Mackenzie Blackwood (Canada), Wyatt Johnston (Canada), Scott Wedgewood (Canada), Logan Thompson (Canada), John Tavares (Canada), Bo Horvat (Canada), Oliver Kapanen (Finland), Jason Robertson (USA), Cole Caufield (USA)
STOCK DOWN
Sam Bennett, C, Florida Panthers (Canada)
Playing in three consecutive Stanley Cup Finals, plus the 4 Nations last year, Bennett has logged so much hockey of late, and he really labored to start this season, perhaps feeling the weight of trying to replace top center Aleksander Barkov on the depth chart after he tore his ACL and MCL during training camp. Bennett is heating up, and the poor start might have simply been a small sample size at play, but Bennett only barely made the 4 Nations team last year, don’t forget. He was healthy scratched the first game. Two of the top three scorers in the NHL right now are Canadian forwards who didn’t make last year’s team. Could the slow start have squeezed Bennett out? Maybe Canada brings one of Bennett or Wilson but not both blunt instruments.
Adam Fox, D, New York Rangers (USA)
I still don’t understand the Fox-is-bad discourse. The 4 Nations tourney wasn’t his best, fine, but, uh, that was four games. What about all last season, plus this season, in which Fox and Vladislav Gavrikov have arguably been the best all-around play-driving duo in the NHL? Team USA coach Mike Sullivan is also Fox’s bench boss with the Rangers now. That said, whispers had indicated Fox was potentially on the outside looking in, and that was before he landed on long-term injured reserve with an upper-body injury. His Olympic availability isn’t in jeopardy, but could the time off allow another roster candidate to shine more and usurp Fox?
Travis Konecny, RW, Philadelphia Flyers (Canada)
Konecny played on the 4 Nations squad and even tied for the Team Canada scoring lead at the 2025 World Championship. But his game hasn’t popped this season – he scored just five goals by the end of November – and when you’re a projected fourth-liner, even a mini slump could break a tie between you and piping-hot player X or Y. While Konecny has a tenacity to his game, Canada may opt for better defensive forwards and/or brawnier ones for their checking lines.
J.T. Miller, C, New York Rangers (USA)
Miller is 32 years old. The Americans have half a dozen younger forwards trying to kick down the door and earn roster spots for Milan. Miller has struggled this season. His body language and post-game scrums have made poor impressions at times. We know at least one 4 Nations forward has “played his way off the roster,” per my colleague Anthony Di Marco. Maybe it’s Miller? He simply hasn’t been Olympic-level good this season, and he’s been perpetually banged up.
Sam Montembeault, G, Montreal Canadiens (Canada)
We could put Jordan Binnington in this space, too, but Binnington’s spot on the team is still safe given he was Canada’s starter en route to the 4 Nations crown last year. Montembeault was the No. 3, and he’s been one of the league’s worst goaltenders this season. Binnington, Montembeault and Adin Hill were the only netminders even invited to Canada’s summer orientation camp, but with half a dozen Canadian goalies outplaying them, plus Hill being injured, it stands to reason someone will force a goalie out. Montembeault would likely be the one to go, assuming Hill’s health co-operates.
Other stock-down players: Filip Gustavsson (Sweden), Jordan Binnington (Canada), Colton Parayko (Canada)
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