Blackhawks’ Blashill on Bedard’s Olympic snub: ‘He’s a big-time winning hockey player’

When the Canadian men’s hockey roster was announced Wednesday for February’s 2026 Milano Cortina Winter Olympics, discussion sparked about which players were surprise inclusions, and which were shocking omissions. There perhaps was no more notable snub than Chicago Blackhawks center Connor Bedard.

The 2023 first-overall pick has 19 goals and 25 assists for 44 points in 31 games this season, tied for the 16th in the NHL in scoring despite missing Chicago’s last eight games with a shoulder injury. His 1.42 points per game is fifth best in the NHL.

It would’ve been tough for Bedard to make a stronger case for a spot on the Canadian roster with his play this season. On Thursday, Blackhawks head coach Jeff Blashill made some comments suggesting the exclusion of his star player was possibly misguided.

“I have a ton of respect for how hard these decisions are,” Blashill said. “Honestly, Canada, the U.S., Sweden, you have a lot of really good players that you’re going to ultimately leave off these teams. The one thing I would say is, I don’t think the rest of the league knows how good of a two-way winning hockey player Connor has become.”

Ben Pope

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Jeff Blashill had some things to say about Connor Bedard being left off Team Canada:

6:04 PM · Jan 1, 2026

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One might assume Bedard was passed over due to his current injury, but according to Team Canada’s general manager Doug Armstrong, that’s not the case.

“Not a lot, quite honestly,” Armstrong said during the post-announcement press conference when asked if Bedard’s injury played into his omission.

It’s hard to say Bedard, who is still just 20-years old, is too young for this team when 19-year-old Macklin Celebrini cracked the roster.

Blashill seems to have identified the main reason Bedard was left off, suggesting he’s mistakenly viewed as a one-dimensional, offense-only player.

“The reason why I know he’s a big-time winning hockey player is when he was in our lineup, we were one point out of the wild card, and since then we’re 1-6-1,” Blashill said. “You don’t have that impact if you’re just a point getter. You only have that impact if you’re a true two-way kind of winning player, and that’s what he’s become.”