Macklin Celebrini among final selections for men's Olympic hockey roster

MINNEAPOLIS — The selections are in for the Canadian men’s Olympic hockey team.

The Canadian Olympic Committee and Hockey Canada unveiled the 25-player roster on Wednesday morning at the Renaissance Minneapolis Hotel in Minnesota, where the national junior team is competing in the world junior championship.

Headlining the roster are Connor McDavid, Nathan MacKinnon, Sidney Crosby and Cale Makar, players that were named to the team back in June.

“We’re not building this team to beat any one team,” said general manager Doug Armstrong. “We want to build a roster that can compete with against anybody.”

Team Canada’s management leaned heavily on its previous best-on-best experience, as 19 of the original 25 players selected for February’s 4 Nations Face-Off return for Canada’s Olympic roster, including all eight defencemen and goaltender Jordan Binnington.

Ultimately, the Olympic roster came down to four new forwards and two new goaltenders.

Up front, the splashiest addition was San Jose Sharks forward Macklin Celebrini, who is top-three in NHL scoring this season as a 19-year-old sophomore.

Armstrong, who was also the general manager for Canada’s 2016 World Cup of Hockey and 4 Nations teams, said he met Celebrini early in his rookie season last year to introduce himself.

“I said: ‘You’re not on the radar likely for the 4 Nations, but the Olympics are coming up and we’re going to watch you,'” Armstrong said. “And he proceeded to have four points that night. Since then, he’s really taken off … His resume is shorter, but it’s extremely filled for his age.”

Montreal Canadiens forward Nick Suzuki is another key addition down the middle, piecing together a second straight point-per-game NHL campaign.

“The pressure being the captain of the Montreal Canadiens is at a different level,” Armstrong said. “And what impresses me about Nick is his ability to compartmentalize all of that and still be a top player every night.”

New York Islanders forward Bo Horvat, enjoying a strong offensive start to the season, and Washington Capitals forward Tom Wilson, on pace for a career year in goals and points, are the two other new adds.

“Bo has a lot of the attributes we’re looking for,” Armstrong said. “He’s a player that played left wing with MacKinnon at the world championship last year. He can play multiple positions for us. Of the players we’ve selected, he’s our highest faceoff guy.”

Armstrong said the management group’s “last major meeting” happened in early December, when they reached a consensus on 12 forwards, seven defencemen and two goalies. From that point, he said, head coach Jon Cooper was a driving force in selecting the remaining four players.

“(Cooper) and his coaching staff have been invaluable in telling us the type of players they needed,” Armstrong said. “It’s very difficult, because there are so many worthy players here. And I can just say one thing: Not one player played their way off of this team. Just 25 guys that played their way on.”

Falling out of the picture from last season’s 4 Nations forward corps are Travis Konency, Seth Jarvis and Sam Bennett.

Joining Binnington in net are the Los Angeles Kings’  Darcy Kuemper and Washington’s Logan Thompson, replacing Adin Hill and Samuel Montembeault from the 4 Nations roster.

“Jordan Binnington’s resume speaks for itself,” said Armstrong, Binnington’s general manager in St. Louis. “I think what everyone saw from him at the 4 Nations cemented his legacy for this tournament … In the NHL, his numbers aren’t where he would like them to be this year, and working for the St. Louis Blues, I would agree. But also, I don’t think the St. Louis Blues have put a product in front of him that we should be proud of.”

As for the selections of Kuemper and Thompson, there wasn’t much debate.

“We didn’t spend a lot of time talking about the goaltending,” Armstrong said. “But that group was extensive, and we believe that the three we named have earned that right.”

Possibly the largest omission from the roster was Chicago Blackhawks forward Connor Bedard, who has 19 goals and 44 points in 31 games this season on a team with limited talent surrounding him.

“His name was right there to the last second,” Armstrong said. “There were a number of players that have come right down to the wire.”

Two other players on the outside looking in include Winnipeg Jets forward Mark Scheifele, who is top-10 in league scoring, and Islanders rookie defenceman Matthew Schaefer, who has proven himself among the league’s elite this season.

Armstrong said he didn’t want to delve too deeply into the cases of players who didn’t make the cut, but Schaefer was an exception.

“I’m going to be honest with you, he wasn’t on my radar at the start of the season,” he said. “I was shocked at how quickly he worked his way into our conversation.”

Armstrong shared that his management group has compiled a standby list in case of injuries, but did not disclose how long that list is.

Canada’s first game in Milan, Italy, is scheduled for Feb. 12 against Czechia.

It will be the NHL’s first return to Olympic competition since 2014.

Forwards (14)

Connor McDavid*
Nathan MacKinnon*
Sidney Crosby*
Sam Reinhart*
Brayden Point*
Macklin Celebrini
Anthony Cirelli
Brandon Hagel
Bo Horvat
Mitch Marner
Brad Marchand
Mark Stone
Nick Suzuki
Tom Wilson

Defence (8)

Cale Makar*
Josh Morrissey
Colton Parayko
Travis Sanheim
Shea Theodore
Devon Toews
Drew Doughty
Thomas Harley

Goalies (3)

Jordan Binnington
Darcy Kuemper
Logan Thompson

* – players named to the team in June 2025