The 2026 Winter Olympics are in a little over a month, and teams must submit their final rosters by Dec. 31, with official announcements coming shortly after.
The teams have already announced their initial six roster players, and one Buffalo Sabres player was included in that group: defenseman Rasmus Dahlin, who is set to represent Sweden. With that being said, there are a few more Sabres players who have a chance to represent their countries in the upcoming Olympics.
Tage Thompson: Team USA
Tage Thompson is an interesting player for Team USA because he was not selected for the 4 Nations team last season, but since then, he has been on a mission to ensure Team USA may have no choice but to include him on their roster.
Thompson scored the “golden goal” in May at the 2025 IIHF World Championship to help Team USA win the tournament, demonstrating his ability to help his nation win.
Thompson has 18 goals, 14 assists, and 34 points in 38 games this season. An offensive threat with one of the best shots in the world, he would provide more offensive playmaking ability for Team USA. He has earned the right to play for his country at the 2026 Olympics, but whether he makes it depends on how Team USA structures its roster. Will they deploy skill players across all four lines, or fill the bottom six with grinders?
Alex Tuch: Team USA
Unlike Thompson, Alex Tuch has a much lower chance of making the final roster, but it’s not zero. He would be the perfect bottom-six player for Team USA.
This season, Tuch has recorded 31 points in 37 games (12 goals, 19 assists). He would provide significant depth during the tournament as he can not only produce offensively, but can also perform defensively.
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He is excellent on the forecheck, plays a full 200-foot game, and would be one of the team’s top penalty-killing forwards. Tuch can do it all, but if he is on the team, I would be shocked if Thompson does not also make the roster, As previously stated, both Tuch and Thompson making the roster will depend on how USA’s management group wants to construct the roster.
Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen: Team Finland
Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen is almost a slam-dunk choice. Not necessarily because he’s an elite goaltender, but mainly because Finland has limited options. Outside of Vancouver Canucks goaltender Kevin Lankinen and Nashville Predators goaltender Juuse Saros, Luukkonen would arguably be the team’s second choice in net.
Luukkonen has been inconsistent for most of the season, failing to post a save percentage (SV%) of .900 or better in consecutive games until he did so in his last two games during the Sabres’ current nine-game winning streak.
This season he has a record of 6-5-1, a goals-against average of 2.58, and an SV% of .897. He’s been better for the Sabres lately, which could strengthen his case to be the team’s number-two goaltender rather than the third, given that Lankinen has been far worse than Luukkonen.
As of right now, I would give the edge to Saros to be Finland’s starting goaltender for the Olympics because of his track record, but if Saros continues to struggle in January and Luukkonen continues to play as he has in the last two games, Luukkonen could make a case to be starter.
I don’t see any other players really making a strong case to represent their countries for the Sabres. Although I would support Mattias Samuelsson on Team USA, given his career season, the projected defense group is already so stacked that there is no way he could get in over players like Jaccob Slavin or Seth Jones.
