NHL Back In the Olympics!

I can't really say today's announcement that NHL players will be returning to the Olympics in six months after not playing at the PyeongChang Games was a surprise.  I just needed to wait for it to be official before I could actually get excited about it.  But now the I's have been dotted, the T's have been crossed, and we're once again set to have the Olympic hockey tournament we deserve.

Again, none of this came as a surprise.  It's been unofficially official for a while.  The NHLPA worked 2022 and 2026 Olympic participation into the CBA.  They built an Olympic break into the schedule.  They put the All*Star Game in Las Vegas so that it's a shorter flight to China.  Hell, they even named NHL coaches as coaches of the national teams!

There's an opt-out in the deal with the IOC and IIHF, so there's still a slight chance that they won't go, but that seems unlikely.  If playing in the Olympics was important enough to the players for them to put it into the new CBA, they'll do everything they can to go to Beijing.  So, I think it's safe to say they'll be there.  Which is the best thing for the sport.

The hockey tournament in PyeongChang was fine, but it wasn't the type of tournament we've grown accustomed to.  It was more like a World Championship.  Nothing against the IIHF World Championships.  It's just not the quality of the typical Olympic tournament, where every country has all of its NHL talent available.  It's truly a best vs. best competition.

In PyeongChang, however, not having NHL players put several teams at a disadvantage.  Canada, the U.S. and Sweden obviously still had enough quality players to put together a competitive roster, but they were either minor leaguers, amateurs or former NHL players.  That's how you end up with Germany winning a silver medal.  Meanwhile, the KHL did shut down for the 2018 Olympics, so Russia (sorry "OAR") had an NHL-caliber roster full of KHL players.  They were the gold medal favorites for a reason, and they backed it up by winning gold.  (Fun fact: "Russia" has never technically won Olympic gold in men's hockey.)

Let's not forget the other glaring fact about the NHL's absence from PyeongChang--it'll be eight years between Olympic appearances for the league.  Which means some players who would've made the 2018 roster missed out on what could've been their only Olympic shot, especially if they don't make the team in 2022.  Likewise, 2018 would've been the first Olympics for players like Connor McDavid and Auston Matthews.  It was a huge missed opportunity to not have those young, dynamic, exciting players wearing their National Team jerseys on the biggest stage in sports!

McDavid and Matthews are safe bets to make their Olympic debuts in Beijing.  But who will join them?  Now that NHL participation is set, we can start to ponder that question.  And the U.S. roster will look vastly different than it did in 2014.  A few familiar names will return from Sochi, but eight years is a long time.  And I predict there will be a lot of new faces wearing the red, white and blue in China.

Of course, there's always the possibility of COVID opt-outs, but I don't see there being too many.  These guys have been in a bubble before, especially if they played in the 2020 Stanley Cup Playoffs.  And, more importantly, they want to be there.  The honor of being selected to their nation's Olympic team will trump any concerns they might have.  If they're selected, they won't turn it down.

So who makes it?  I'm only gonna focus on the U.S. right now, and, like I said, there will be a lot of different names than the last NHL-based U.S. Olympic roster.  It'll be extremely competitive for a number of spots, too.  In fact, I had such a hard time narrowing it down to 23 that I easily could've had two quality teams.

Goalie is perhaps the most interesting position on the roster.  They can only take three, so it's really a choice between the veterans with Olympic experience (Jonathan Quick, Ben Bishop) or the young guys who'll be key figures on Team USA moving forward (Spencer Knight, Thatcher Demko).  The starter, however, should be easy.  I didn't realize he's American but Winnipeg's Connor Hellebuyck is by far the best U.S.-born goalie in the NHL right now.

Defense looks like it could be a real strength.  In fact, there are so many good, young American-born defensemen, that narrowing it down to seven will be a challenge.  Reigning Norris Trophy winner Adam Fox of the Rangers should be a lock, as should Washington's John Carlson and Seth Jones of the Blackhawks (it's weird that he's not in Columbus anymore).  The other four, however, are anybody's guess.

It's kind of the same thing with the forwards.  The only locks figure to be Matthews, Jack Eichel and Johnny Gaudreau, all of whom would've made the team in 2018 but will instead be Olympic rookies this time around.  I say you name Pat Maroon to the team, too, just to see if his Stanley Cup mojo carries over.  I'd also think some of the Olympic vets return to bring their experience to what should be a young roster.  That's good news for Patrick Kane, T.J. Oshie and Phil Kessel.

As for the remaining forwards, you really could just pick names out of a hat and not really go wrong.  Because, like I said, some of my Olympic alternates would be no-brainers for any other country (well, except maybe Canada).  I tried to balance my roster, though.  I didn't want all scorers.  Because that's not how you win in the Olympics.  You want players who'll accept being fourth-liners or the tough guy.

With that in mind, here are the 23 players who made the cut for my 2022 U.S. Olympic men's hockey roster (2014 Olympians have an asterisk, 2010 & 2014 Olympians have two asterisks):

Goalies -  Ben Bishop (DAL), *Jonathan Quick (LA), Connor Hellebuyck (WPG)
Defensemen - Brandon Carlo (BOS), Charlie McAvoy (BOS), Seth Jones (CHI), Zach Werenski (CBJ), Adam Fox (NYR), Justin Faulk (STL), *John Carlson (WSH)
Forwards - **Phil Kessel (ARZ), Jack Eichel (BUF), Johnny Gaudreau (CGY), Tyler Johnson (CHI), **Patrick Kane (CHI), Brock Nelson (NYI), Chris Kreider (NYR), Jake Guentzel (PIT), Pat Maroon (TB), Auston Matthews (TOR), *Max Pacioretty (VGK), *T.J. Oshie (WSH), Blake Wheeler (WPG)

A lot of NHL experience, but not a lot of Olympic experience, which is not unexpected when you go eight years between Games.  But, still, it would be a pretty strong team.  The strongest?  Probably not.  Not when Canada can choose any 23 NHL All-Stars they want and the best goalie, Andrei Vasilevskiy, is Russian.  Capable of winning a medal, though?  Absolutely!

And, as another fun little nugget, the U.S. and Canada are in the same group.  Do they schedule that game for Monday morning/Sunday night so NBC can have it be their Super Bowl lead-out program?  You know there are plenty of Americans who wouldn't be opposed to that!