Justin Faulk named captain of USA’s 2026 Men’s World Championship team
A veteran star is set to lead his country into battle this coming month.
On Sunday, USA Hockey revealed that defenseman Justin Faulk will be the captain of the United States men’s national team at the 2026 IIIHF Men’s World Championship. Ryan Lindgren and Mathieu Olivier have been named the alternate captains for this year’s squad.
Leading the way at the 2026 #MensWorlds 🫡
Faulk is set to lead a pretty talented group of players, though there isn’t a whole lot of medal-winning experience on the international stage. Matthew Tkachuk is the lone player who took home the gold medal at the 2026 Winter Olympics in Milan. Youngsters Mason Lohrei and Isaac Howard return from last year’s world championship team that won the gold medal, the country’s first in the men’s national tournament in 92 years.
Faulk is the only other player from Team USA this year to have won medals at the world championships, taking home the bronze medal in 2013 and 2015. He has appeared in three world championships, medaling twice. He also played for the United States at the 2014 Winter Games in Sochi, the last time NHLers were allowed to participate until Milan three months ago.
Falk is coming off a rather solid offensive season this year in the NHL, splitting time between the St. Louis Blues and Detroit Red Wings, posting 40 points in 77 games.
Lindgren will be making his senior national team debut this month. Lindgren has previously represented the United States at two IIHF World Junior Championships, winning gold in 2017 and bronze the following year. He also brought home a silver medal at the 2014 Under-17 World Hockey Challenge and bronze at the 2016 IIHF Under-18 Men’s World Championship.
This will be Olivier’s first experience playing for the U.S. in his entire hockey career. The veteran has spent the last four seasons in Columbus, scoring over 25 points in each of the past two years.
The U.S. will be competing in Group A in the tournament in Zurich, Switzerland, kicking things off with a matchup against the host nation on Friday. The Americans will also face Great Britain, Finland, Germany, Latvia, Hungary and Austria in the preliminary round.