<p>The reigning best-on-best Olympic champions have revealed the first six players to their roster to the 2026 Olympics in Milan, Italy.</p>



<p>Forwards Connor McDavid, Sidney Crosby, Nathan MacKinnon, Sam Reinhart and Brayden Point, along with defenseman Cale Makar, were announced as the first six players to be joining Canada’s roster at the tournament.</p>



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<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="550" data-dnt="true"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Introducing Canada's six preliminary players for the <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/MilanoCortina?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#MilanoCortina</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Olympics?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Olympics</a>! <a href="https://t.co/p5lD2SlORj">pic.twitter.com/p5lD2SlORj</a></p>— NHL (@NHL) <a href="https://twitter.com/NHL/status/1934642337109454972?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 16, 2025</a></blockquote><script async="" src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
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<p>All six players return to the team from their performance at the 4 Nations Face-Off, which saw Canada beat the United States 3-2 in overtime to win the tournament.</p>



<p>Much like the initial six players named to the 4 Nations Face-Off, Canada has elected to not name a goaltender early on in the process due to their talent pool at that position being much more wide open. Jordan Binnington, Adin Hill and Sam Montembeault were named to the 4 Nations Face-Off team, with Binnington playing in all four games for Canada.</p><div class="injected-ad injected-video" data-nn-ad-tech-injection-count="0" data-nn-ad-tech-max-gap="130" data-nn-ad-tech-current-gap="154"></div>



<p>While Canada isn’t the defending Olympic gold medal-winning team, with Finland winning it in 2022, they have won the last four instances of best-on-best action, including the 2010 and 2014 Winter Olympics, the 2016 World Cup of Hockey, and the 4 Nations Face-Off.</p>



<p>Canada will play in Group A alongside Czechia, France and Switzerland, with the tournament taking place from Feb. 11-22 in Milano, Italy.</p>



<p>McDavid, MacKinnon, Crosby and Makar’s selections should be of no surprise to anyone, with all four players still being some of the best players in the game, and certainly the best Canada has to offer. While Crosby isn’t quite at the same level as the other three at this point in his career, his legacy with Canada at the international stage has earned him an open invitation to any international tournament.</p><div class="injected-ad" data-nn-ad-tech-injection-count="1" data-nn-ad-tech-max-gap="130" data-nn-ad-tech-current-gap="136"></div>



<p>Reinhart and Point were the two picks a bit more up in the air as far as being selected for the preliminary roster, but they certainly shouldn’t be surprises on the team. In the last five seasons, only Mitch Marner has more points than Point’s 373 and Reinhart’s 364 among the non-core four for Canada.</p>


Team Canada forwards Connor McDavid (97) and center Sydney Crosby (87) before the 4 Nations Face-Off ice hockey championship game against the United States at TD Garden