With the medal front-runners at the upcoming 2026 Winter Olympics now having revealed their rosters, it's a great time to examine which teams have the advantage at forward, in net and on defense.
The medal favorites at the upcoming 2026 Winter Olympics have announced their rosters in the past week.
It's a great time to break down which teams have the best players at each of the three key positions.
These are, of course, this writer's opinions, but on paper, it's readily apparent to us which teams have the advantage in goal, and at forward and on defense. With that said, let's get to it.
Forward
The Best Team: Canada
The Players: Connor McDavid, Nathan MacKinnon, Sidney Crosby, Macklin Celebrini, Brad Marchand, Sam Reinhart, Mitch Marner, Anthony Cirelli, Tom Wilson, Brandon Hagel, Bo Horvat, Brayden Point, Mark Stone, Nick Suzuki
The Skinny: The American team also has a superb group of forwards, with players like Auston Matthews, Jack Hughes, Jake Guentzel and the Tkachuk brothers all giving them ample depth up front.
However, the U.S. doesn't have the same degree of world-class talent at forward that Canada has – particularly when it comes to McDavid, MacKinnon and Crosby.
The Canadians have so much forward talent, the players they didn't pick could probably be ahead of certain American, Swedish and Finnish players. But Canada can hurt you in a number of ways, while also having defense-minded players such as Cirelli and Horvat, preventing opponents from scoring.
Thus, while it's a relatively close call to pick the Canadian forwards over the American forwards, we think the choice is clear – and the choice is the same group of forwards who led Canada to a championship at last year's 4 Nations Face-Off.
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Defense
The Best Team: USA
The Players: Brock Faber, Quinn Hughes, Zach Werenski, Noah Hanifin, Seth Jones, Jake Sanderson, Charlie McAvoy, Jaccob Slavin
The Skinny: This category is a reversal of the forward area, with the U.S. defense corps narrowly beating out the Canadians' group of D-men.
The Canadians have the best blueliner in the world in Cale Makar, but the Americans are so deep on 'D,' they left off Adam Fox, who would definitely be ahead of Canadian blueliners Drew Doughty and Thomas Harley.
Team USA's defensemen have the ability to hurt you on offense with crafty, creative forces, including Hughes, Werenski and Sanderson. But the Americans also have solid defensive defensemen, including Slavin and two-way blueliner McAvoy, to lean on.
And think, we haven't yet mentioned phenomenal defensemen Faber and Jones. America's D-men can do it all, and their overall depth gives them the nod as having the top defense corps at the Winter Games.
Sweden's Olympic Men's Hockey Roster Choices Leave Big Questions
Team Sweden announced its Olympic men's hockey roster on Friday, and some key players were left off.
Goalies
The Best Team: USA
The Players: Connor Hellebuyck, Jeremy Swayman, Jake Oettinger
The Skinny: The Americans have the NHL's reigning most valuable player in Hellebuyck, as well as Bruins stalwart Swayman and Stars starter Oettinger to lean on.
It's a relatively close call giving the American goalies the nod as the top group at the Games, as Team Sweden has two excellent goalies in Minnesota Wild teammates Filip Gustavsson and Jesper Wallstedt, as well as Jacob Markstrom as their de facto No. 3 option in net.
That said, America has the best netminding depth of any Olympic team, and should Hellebuyck falter at any point, the U.S. will be able to turn to Oettinger or Swayman as elite options to hold things down between the pipes. The American goalies also have the benefit of playing behind the top group of defensemen, but even if that weren't the case, we'd still be choosing the U.S. goalies as the best trio.
It's true that none of the American goalies have a Stanley Cup championship, the way two of Canada's three goalies do – Jordan Binnington backstopped the Blues to the Cup, while Logan Thompson was injured when Vegas won. But that's not the fault of the U.S. netminders. They've got talent to spare, and their depth is better than that of any other country.
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