Five NHL players who desperately need to deliver at the Olympics
The Olympics offer an unparalleled platform to quickly rebrand a reputation.
To capture gold, a team must win at least three straight elimination games. The big moments are magnified. The entire hockey world is watching. And if last year’s 4 Nations Face-Off was a pre-dinner cocktail, then the 2026 Olympics is fine wine that’s been aging for 12 long years. Everyone wants a taste.
We’re counting down the five NHL superstars (and one country) that most desperately need to deliver Olympic gold.
Each of our frustrated five has a long history of failure in critical games. All five will be comfortably into their 30s by the 2030 Games in the French Alps. That means there are no guarantees of a second Olympics in a prominent role or in good health.
Will Milano Cortina 2026 be the road to reputational redemption? Or will the disappointment endure?
5. Charlie McAvoy, USA
Age: 28
NHL Team: Boston Bruins
The Past: Never meeting team expectations. A playoff participant each of his first eight seasons, McAvoy only knows a high bar in Boston. At age 21, he suffered a heartbreaking Game 7 loss at home in the Stanley Cup Final to St. Louis. He was minus-two in 26:02 of ice time. Four years later, McAvoy’s 2022-23 Bruins famously went 65-12-5 for a record 135 points, only to blow a catastrophic 3-1 series lead to Florida in the first round. At 4 Nations last February, McAvoy suffered a shoulder injury that led to a serious infection and season-ending surgery. He was forced to watch the overtime loss to Canada.
Biggest choke job in NHL history. For people saying Tampa getting swept in 19 you're wrong. That was bad but they didn't have 3 chances to close out a team. Maybe Red Wings losing in 94 to the Sharks but I think 2022-2023 bruins take the cake
The Quote: “[4 Nations] cost me my season. It cost me my sanity, in a lot of ways. None of this has been easy and I get emotional when I talk about it. It was an incredible experience and I waited my whole life to be a part of something like that, but the way that it ended, the aftermath of it, and what I had to go through, it cost me a lot more than I was willing to give…” — April 2025
The Present: On arguably the best American men’s team ever assembled, McAvoy’s slated to play an important role for coach (and father-in-law) Mike Sullivan. If not, future family dinners might be weird. But while his point totals look great this season, it’s been a mirage. McAvoy’s favorable on-ice shooting percentages are masking poor defensive play. With the Bruins in an uncertain retool, the Olympics may be McAvoy’s moment.
The Future: While he’s only 28, McAvoy’s an old 28. He logs heavy minutes and continues to battle heavy injuries as a warrior for Boston teams always in win-now mode. As a result, McAvoy’s topped 70 games just twice in nine seasons. Jaccob Slavin is USA’s only defenseman 30 or older, meaning McAvoy will be in tough to remain a top-eight American defender in 2030.
4. Mitch Marner, Canada
Age: 28
NHL Team: Vegas Golden Knights
The Past: 0-6 in Game 7s. Zero goals, two assists, minus-seven. While Marner escaped from his hometown team last summer, his postseason legacy remains. If we count the winner-take-all Game 5 shutout loss against Columbus in the 2020 play-in, it’s 0-for-7. Marner visibly shrunk in these big games. Sample size aside, his trademark confidence, dangles, and body language wilted time and time again. Toronto‘s Game 7 aggregate result in the Marner era? Outscored 25-9.
The Quote: “I don’t have any thoughts on that right now. I mean, pretty devastated with what just happened… Yeah, devastated. I’ve always enjoyed this team and this city, like I always said.” — May 2025
The Present: Marner’s production is down away from Auston Matthews, but Marner has played superb defensively in Vegas. For a player long known as a playoff choke artist, Marner was clutch for Canada at 4 Nations. He called game in the opener in Montreal with a roof-raising wrist shot in overtime against Sweden. In the title game, he set up Sam Bennett’s game-tying goal, then ladled a perfect pass to McDavid to bury the Americans. Would a second big-time international performance squash his critics?
The Future: A strong, two-way play driver, Marner is a Swiss army knife that can move around a lineup and play special teams. Hailing from a country with waves of forward depth, no Canadian is assured a recurring best-on-best role, though. It’s a big few months for Marner — a chance at Olympic gold and a fresh playoff slate with the ultra-aggressive Golden Knights this spring.
3. Elias Pettersson, Sweden
Age: 27
NHL Team: Vancouver Canucks
The Past: A promising window shattered. In Pettersson’s eight seasons, the Canucks have only made the postseason twice. A dismal showing for a flawed but once-talented core. ‘Petey’ hardly deserves all the blame. He was productive (18 points in 17 games) in the 2020 playoffs and played hurt in 2024’s seven-game loss to Edmonton. But since those 2024 playoffs, Petterson (29 goals in 116 games) has vanished — a microcosm of the franchise’s rapid fall from grace.
The Quote: “I truly believe we’ll be back here.” — May 2024
The Present: Pettersson’s words after the Canucks’ playoff elimination are haunting. 22 months after winning the Pacific Division with 109 points, Vancouver is dead last in the NHL. The team is on its fourth coach in five seasons. The fracture between Pettersson and J.T. Miller eventually shattered. Miller was dealt. Franchise player Quinn Hughes was traded in December. And Pettersson, a 102-point scorer in 2022-23, has played at an unthinkable 57-point pace the last two seasons. Life comes at you fast.
The Future: Two seasons into an eight-year, $92.8-million contract, Pettersson will be difficult to move. On a franchise thin on young talent, Vancouver is charitably a half-decade from contention. If Pettersson plans to achieve team success during his prime, it will have to be internationally. Once a key face of the Swedish program’s future, the 27-year-old badly needs to launch a career revival in Italy.
2. Connor Hellebuyck, USA
Age: 32
NHL Team: Winnipeg Jets
The Past: Three consecutive playoff flops. Per MoneyPuck‘s Goals Saved Above Expected (GSAx), Hellebuyck’s last three postseason runs are not pretty: worst in NHL (2023); worst in NHL (2024); 23rd out of 28 goalies (2025). We’re talking about the best goaltender in the world here. In his last 23 playoff starts, Hellebuyck has only kept it under three goals on five occasions. It’s simply not a level of goaltending that the Jets could expect to contend with in the postseason.
The Quote: “I’m not going to go and tell you I don’t want to be better. I absolutely need to be better if we’re going to win.” — May 2024
The Present: Hellebuyck is hardworking, accountable, and durable. There’s much to love about his game. Given an injury and Winnipeg’s struggles, he’s not arriving to the Olympics in peak form, however. But a near-decade of regular-season dominance and a stellar showing at 4 Nations (.932 save percentage) means it will be Hellebuyck’s net to lose. There are serious demons to exorcise for the reigning Hart Trophy winner.
The Future: With three Vezina Trophies and an MVP, Hellebuyck’s a future Hall of Famer. But his Jets are down to a 10% chance of a playoff spot per HockeyStats.com. Hellebuyck’s signed in Winnipeg through 2031 on a team that increasingly looks like its contention window has slammed shut. He’ll be approaching his 37th birthday by 2030, so this may be Hellebuyck’s last gasp to start at an Olympics.
1. Auston Matthews, USA
Age: 28
NHL Team: Toronto Maple Leafs
The Past: Inability to score in big games. Much of what’s written above about Marner applies equally to long-time bestie Matthews. The three-time Rocket Richard Trophy winner has not scored in six Game 7s, either. In fact, Matthews has just four goals in his last 23 playoff games. Shooting 4.3% over that span is terrible luck, sure. But in a sport where “finding a way” is king, Matthews’ navigation system has been permanently off when it’s mattered most.
Canada captain: • 20 playoff series wins • 3 Stanley Cups • 2 Conn Smythe trophies • 2 Olympic golds • Golden goal scorer • 4 Nations winner • 2016 World Cup winner (and MVP) USA captain: • 1 playoff series win • Captain of the team that is synonymous with losing
[Note: Matthews actually has two playoff series wins.]
The Quote: “That’s part of life. It’s not always going to work out in your favor. You know, for me, like, it sucks, but there’s nothing that I can do to fix that now. It’s about trying to just get better and be better as we move forward here for this team.” — February 2025
The Present: That was Matthews after the 4 Nations loss. One year later, his team’s chance at redemption is here. Matthews had primary assists on both of his team’s goals that night and nearly ended the game twice in overtime. He didn’t wilt in the moment. But it still wasn’t enough. Matthews heads into the Olympics in a familiar place… under fire. His Leafs are fading from the playoff picture and injuries and inconsistency have limited his all-world sniping (26 goals in 51 games).
The Future: Captaining USA to gold won’t completely erase a decade of postseason failure. But the relief would be immense for Matthews. Despite the big-game pain, his work ethic and patience have never wavered. At 28, Alex Ovechkin faced much of the same criticism. It worked out okay for him. With Toronto’s future murky at best and a third spin as ‘Captain America’ doubtful without gold, nobody needs to deliver over the next two weeks more than Matthews.
Also considered: J.T. Miller (USA); William Nylander (Sweden); Bo Horvat (Canada); Jack Hughes (USA); Jaccob Slavin (USA); Sebastian Aho (Finland); Connor McDavid (Canada); Jake Oettinger (USA)
Bonus: USA
It’s been an objectively ugly 30-year run for the Americans in best-on-best play. USA’s landmark 1996 World Cup title was supposed to bring a seismic shift in hockey’s world order. In many ways, it did. The share of Americans in the NHL has grown steadily for decades. On paper, USA is rivalled only by Canada today. But high-stakes hockey is played on ice, not paper. And there’s no sugarcoating how reliably multiple generations of Americans have buckled on the biggest stages.
Here’s USA’s showing in the last eight best-on-best competitions:
| Year | Event | Finish | Notes |
| 1998 | Olympics | 6th | Lost quarter-final to Finland; trashed rooms |
| 2002 | Olympics | 2nd | Lost gold medal game to Canada |
| 2004 | World Cup | Semi-finalist | Lost semi-final to Finland |
| 2006 | Olympics | 8th | Lost quarter-final to Czechia |
| 2010 | Olympics | 2nd | Lost gold medal game to Canada (OT) |
| 2014 | Olympics | 4th | Lost semi-final to Canada |
| 2016 | World Cup | Not ranked | 0-3 record; didn’t advance from group play |
| 2025 | 4 Nations Face-Off | 2nd | Lost championship game to Canada (OT) |
Will USA’s breezy competition in pool play — Denmark, Germany, Latvia — allow them to ease into the event? Or will a soft schedule make it difficult to crank the dial for three straight must-win games? There are many individual players desperate for team success at the 2026 Olympics. But it may be the Americans as a hockey power that are most desperate to mute three decades of best-on-best flops.
Data from Hockey-Reference; NHL.com; Natural Stat Trick
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