Connor Bedard's skates carved slow circles on the Blackhawks practice ice the morning after Canada's roster dropped. Five goals in 26 games. The 2024 NHL Rookie of the Year—the kid who was supposed to save Chicago, who was anointed as the Next One before he could legally sip alcohol—left off Team Canada for the Olympics.
His statement on the omission was diplomatic, almost rehearsed: "There's disappointment for sure. Everyone in Canada would want to be on that team... They've got tough decisions to make, so obviously you respect that." But you can read between those carefully chosen words. There's no hard feelings, he says. There's just a 19-year-old phenom watching the Olympics from his couch while Canada's fourth-line veterans chase gold in Milan.
Milan Nears
That's the thing about Olympic roster decisions—they're career-defining moments disguised as press releases. NHL players return to the Olympics for the first time since Sochi 2014, and the weight of these snubs will follow players for years. Finland arrives as defending champions after their historic maiden gold in Beijing 2022, when they went undefeated and beat the Russian Olympic Committee 2-1 in the final.
As the Olympics near, punters are beginning to do their research, outlining their favorites to impress in Milan. Luckily for them, they will also have a new favorite outlet to place their bets with as the much-anticipated Ozoon sports Canada site prepares to launch. The new outlet will provide betting on all of North America's favorite sporting events and is expected to coincide with the Olympics getting underway. But which players won't feature prominently on their site after glaring omissions that will continue to sting for some time? Let's take a look.
Seth Jarvis and the December That Destroyed Everything
It isn't just young Connor Bedard who has been overlooked by Team Canada. Seth Jarvis helped the Great White North claim the 4 Nations Face-Off last February. He had 19 goals in 34 games for Carolina, sitting in the top 10 in league scoring. He was one of the NHL's premier defensive wingers—the kind of two-way player international tournaments are built around. Then December 19th happened.
Twenty seconds into overtime against Florida, Jarvis got tripped at full speed and careened into the goalpost. His midsection absorbed everything. He crumpled on the ice, clutching his ribs, and the Olympic dream died right there. He was placed on injured reserve the next day. Week to week. Games are slipping by while Hockey Canada finalizes its list.
When the snub became official, Jarvis didn’t sugarcoat it. He admitted the injury “certainly didn’t help,” but also said he felt he’d shown enough to belong. Then the line that lingers: he “supposed” he hadn’t played well enough and had to accept it. That’s not just disappointment. That’s a player realizing the injury gave the decision-makers cover.
Would he have been cut anyway? We’ll never know. But that collision with the post didn’t just bruise ribs—it ended an Olympic bid that looked locked in a month earlier.
Adam Fox and the Lobbying That Failed
Picture this: Mike Sullivan coaches the Rangers. He’s also coaching Team USA at the Olympics. Chris Drury runs the Rangers front office and has a voice inside USA Hockey. Adam Fox won a Norris Trophy. He’s Sullivan’s power-play quarterback, Drury’s cornerstone.
None of it mattered.
Fox got cut. Seth Jones took his spot. The decision came down to brutal math and timing. Fox went minus-5 across three games at the 4 Nations Face-Off and was on the ice for Connor McDavid’s tournament-winning overtime goal. On top of that, he’d been a healthy scratch multiple times with the Rangers this season while he tried to work back from injury and uneven form. For a player whose game is built on poise and puck control, every turnover suddenly looked louder with USA Hockey executives in the building.
Sullivan lobbied. Drury lobbied. They knew what Fox at his best looks like. They also knew he wasn’t there yet. In the end, USA Hockey took the safer résumé. Jones arrived with a fresh Stanley Cup ring and the kind of recent big-game reputation that plays well in a selection meeting. Veteran, size, minutes-eater, penalty killer. The message was clear: past Norris votes mattered less than who you’ve been lately.
The Jason Robertson Snub
Jason Robertson leads all American players in scoring this season. Forty-eight points. Twenty-four goals. Since the 2022–23 season, he’s outscored every other American in the NHL. And USA Hockey general manager Bill Guerin left him at home.
The explanation was the oldest cliché in the book: “We’re putting together a team, not just a group of individuals.” Translation in this context: they prioritized veteran role players over pure offensive firepower. J.T. Miller made it. Vincent Trocheck made it. Robertson, the most productive American forward in the sport, will be watching from Dallas.
Then there’s Lane Hutson. Montreal’s rookie defenseman is leading all American defensemen in scoring and sits near the top of the league among all blueliners. He wasn’t even invited to the September selection camp. That snub was so glaring his Manitoba-born father openly mused about whether Lane might be better off representing Canada someday. For a federation that’s long worried about losing dual nationals, that’s playing with fire.
Sweden’s Injury Apocalypse
Sweden entered this Olympic cycle as a legitimate favorite. Deep down the middle, high-end skill on the wings, elite defense, and goaltending that could steal a game. On paper, it looked like their best chance in years.
Then the injuries started.
Leo Carlsson needed surgery on his left thigh and was handed a three-to-five-week recovery window that basically slammed the Olympic door shut. Jonas Brodin suffered a lower-body injury on January 12 and is looking at six to eight weeks out. Both are out of Milan, full stop. That alone would hurt. But Sweden’s problems go way beyond two names.
William Nylander is dealing with an injury that’s forced hard conversations in Toronto about whether he can risk playing. Gabriel Landeskog is still working his way back and is not close to his old self. Erik Karlsson is on injured reserve and racing the clock to be cleared, talking a brave game about being ready while medical staff quietly hedge. Joel Eriksson Ek and Philip Broberg have their own issues. It’s less a depth chart than an infirmary list.
Coach Sam Hallam has tried to keep it together publicly, calling Carlsson and Brodin “amazing players and amazing people” and saying he feels their pain but trusts Sweden’s depth. That’s what a coach has to say. Behind the scenes, this is an emergency. Every injury forces another role change, another call to a player who figured he was on the bubble, another system tweak to cover what just walked out the door. Sweden still has enough talent to scare anyone. But the margin for error that existed six months ago is gone.
At the Olympics, we will be aware of various missing faces, players who should be there representing their countries, although that’s not likely to dent the excitement for most of the punters, who will be eagerly watching to see how the chosen ones perform and take things to the next level.