On Tuesday morning, USA Hockey announced its roster for its Olympic Orientation Camp. It included a lot of the typical suspects, including Auston Matthews, Jack Eichel, the Hughes brothers, and the Tkachuk brothers. 

It even included Chicago Blackhawks legend Patrick Kane, who has previously participated in the Olympics with Team USA. This is a good opportunity for Kane to give himself a chance to make the roster after being left off the 4-Nations Face-Off team. 

Of the current Chicago Blackhawks, both Frank Nazar and Alex Vlasic made the camp. They are bubble players for the roster, but they endeared themselves by playing very well earlier in the summer at the IIHF World Championships, where they won Gold. 

USA Hockey (@usahockey) on X Introducing the 44 players who will attend the U.S. Men's Olympic Orientation Camp 🇺🇸 Details: https://t.co/lWC0ZT1AJc

Nazar and Vlasic, although they each had a cup of coffee to different extents before 2024-25, showed that they belonged in the NHL last year. 

Vlasic, a defenseman with a bit of offensive flair, had four goals and 26 assists while playing against the opposition's top players regularly. 

As for Nazar, he had 12 goals and 14 assists for 26 points in 53 games played. He started to produce at a high level in the final six weeks of the season, which has folks excited to watch him in 2025-26. 

At the World Championships, Nazar was one of Team USA's three best and most productive forwards. Vlasic's role was to keep the other team's best players off the scoresheet, and he was exceptional. 

This is a well-deserved invite to camp for both of them. Whether they end up making the team or not remains to be seen, but they will gain high-level experience practicing with all the elite talent that USA Hockey is bringing. These two will help help their hockey country in one way or another over the next handful of years. 

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