The 2026 Winter Olympics are just about a month away. It’ll mark the first time that NHLers take part in the games since 2014, and with that, participating nations have begun announcing their rosters. As is the case with these events, there are always snubs since each country has roster limits.
Evan Bouchard and Simon Edvinsson may be the most glaring snubs for Team Canada and Team Sweden, respectively. However, no snubs have caused more of a stir on social media than Team USA leaving Jason Robertson and Adam Fox off their Olympic roster. While Team USA GM Bill Guerin put together a good team, leaving Fox and Robertson at home is indefensible.
Team USA Has a Strong Team, But…
For those who missed it, here’s who Team USA is bringing to Milan for the Winter Olympics:
- Forwards: Matt Boldy, Kyle Connor, Jack Eichel, Jake Guentzel, Jack Hughes, Clayton Keller, Dylan Larkin, Auston Matthews, J.T. Miller, Brock Nelson, Tage Thompson, Brady Tkachuk, Matthew Tkachuk, Vincent Trocheck
- Defensemen: Brock Faber, Noah Hanifin, Quinn Hughes, Seth Jones, Charlie McAvoy, Jake Sanderson, Jaccob Slavin, Zach Werenski
- Goalies: Connor Hellebuyck, Jake Oettinger, Jeremy Swayman
Boldy, Eichel, Guentzel, Matthews, Hughes, and one of the Tkachuk brothers will give the Americans a formidable top six. The only team that’ll have a better top six is Canada, and that doesn’t come as a shock to anyone. They’re loaded.
However, even though the Americans will have a strong top six, it could have been even better with Robertson. It’s hard to see the argument for players like Miller, Nelson and Trocheck over Robertson. Miller is only on pace for 51 points this season, and though he was on the 4 Nations roster, it’s hard to say he’s more deserving of a place than Robertson.
Miller will play his role, likely in the bottom six, at the Olympics. However, the Olympics differ from the 4 Nations Faceoff, which was an NHL-sanctioned event. There will be IIHF rules in place for the Olympics, which could strip some of the physical nature of 4 Nations out of this tournament. Players like Miller, Nelson, and Trocheck may not be as important as they were a year ago at 4 Nations.
On defense, I assume Slavin and McAvoy will form the USA’s top pair, but their top four isn’t as strong as it could have been because they’re leaving Fox at home. You mean to tell me Seth Jones and Faber are better right-handed defensemen than Fox? Not on this planet or any other one.
Overthinking the Fox & Robertson Decisions
It isn’t hyperbole to say that Robertson is the best American winger in the NHL, even over Matthew Tkachuk. Robertson is having a fantastic season, with 24 goals and 48 points in 41 games for the Dallas Stars. That puts him on pace to finish with 48 goals and 96 points, and the counting totals aren’t flukes. I think we all know that.
Robertson has averaged 35 goals and 83 points per 82 games over the last three seasons, and the underlying metrics are among the best in the NHL. His play has been worth 7.9 wins above replacement (WAR) since the start of the 2023-24 season, ranking ninth in the NHL among all forwards, not just wingers. He’s in the 98th percentile in WAR among his peers, meaning he’s the elite of the elite:
There’s really no justification for leaving Robertson off the Olympic roster. We’ll never know what those discussions were among Guerin and the rest of the USA Hockey brass. I can imagine skating speed being one concern raised. Robertson is certainly not the best skater, but he makes up for it by being one of the smartest players on the ice.
Did Guerin and the rest of USA Hockey management think Robertson couldn’t check or play a defensive game? He’s one of the better two-way wingers in the NHL, so that argument doesn’t make much sense to me, either.
Guerin obviously had a certain mold that he wanted to create for this Olympic roster, but it still could have involved Robertson and leaving one of Miller, Nelson or Trocheck at home. The US has plenty more talent than they did last time NHLers participated in the Winter Olympics, and there’s no reason to bring players like Nelson or Trocheck over Robertson. Leaving the best American winger off the team is an indefensible decision, and I highly doubt Doug Armstrong and Canada would have done the same if Robertson were Canadian.
Related: Canada Announces 2026 Olympic Men’s Hockey Roster
Leaving Fox off the roster doesn’t look much better, either. If there’s a player who was unfairly maligned for his 4 Nations performance, it was Fox. He was not as bad as he was made out to be. In fact, he was probably one of the US’s best defensemen at the tournament.
Team USA outshot and out-chanced their opponents when Fox was on the ice, and the only two goals against that he was on the ice for came in the Final. Guerin said leaving Fox off the roster wasn’t about one play or the Final alone, but that’s somehow worse? If they’re looking at Fox’s total body of work and saying, “yeah, we don’t need that guy on our roster,” that’s a complete misevaluation.
There’s no argument that any of the other defensemen the US is taking to Milan are better than Fox, other than Quinn Hughes. Faber is nowhere near the defenseman people think he is, and I doubt he even makes the team if Guerin isn’t the GM of both Team USA and the Minnesota Wild. Like Robertson, this is an indefensible move by Guerin:
I know Guerin said it wasn’t about Fox’s performance against Canada in the 4 Nations Final, but it sure comes across that way. If that’s the reason, why aren’t Trocheck and Nelson being left off the roster, too? Because they weren’t any good in that game, either.
Can the US still medal at the Winter Olympics? Absolutely, but they’re far from a shoo-in for gold. They probably wouldn’t have been the favorite to win the tournament even with Robertson and Fox, but they’d be a lot closer to the Canadians than you might think. The US is still bringing a good team to Milan, even a great one, but it could have been better. Guerin big-brained it by leaving Robertson and Fox off the roster for inferior players, and it could end up costing them a shot at gold.
