Team Canada’s roster for the 2026 Winter Olympics has been revealed, and not without a few decisions that will surely have people talking.

The roster is filled with players considered locks, like Edmonton Oilers captain Connor McDavid, Sidney Crosby, Nathan MacKinnon, Cale Makar, Brayden Point and Sam Reinhart, the six players who were initially named to the roster in June.

A pair of Oilers who were in contention for the roster were left off: forward Zach Hyman and defenceman Evan Bouchard.

Neither player was on Canada’s 4-Nations Face-Off roster for the tournament held earlier in the year, but each has shown a tremendous body of work in recent years that had them in contention. Hyman missed part of this season recovering from his wrist injury suffered during last years playoffs, but in his 21 games this season, has racked up 11 goals and 21 points — a point per game pace.

Bouchard, meanwhile, has developed into one of the league preeminent defenceman, scoring 39 goals and 186 points in 203 games since the start of the 2023-24 playoffs. He’s proven his worth in big situations, too, as in his 75 playoff games, he’s scored 20 goals and 81 points — a 1.08 point per game pace that’s tied for the best in NHL history with Cale Makar.

McDavid was the only Oilers player to be a lock for the roster, and it’s easy to see why, given the success he’s had in his 11 years in the NHL, scoring 385 goals and 1,151 points in 752 games. And to further solidify his spot, he went ahead and scored the Golden Goal for Canada at the 4-Nations Face-Off earlier this season.

There’s a number of new players on Team Canada’s roster who weren’t at the 4-Nations Face-Off. Macklin Celebrini, Bo Horvat, and Nick Suzuki all worked their ways onto the roster, replacing the likes of Seth Jarvis, Travis Konecny and Sam Bennett, as did goaltenders Darcy Kuemper and Logan Thompson, who replace Adin Hill and Sam Montembeault.

Team Canada GM Doug Armstrong said Wednesday that no players worked their way off the roster, but players rather made their way onto the roster. There’s a number of players that could still make the team as injury replacements, Armstrong added, and those players will need to remain in the Olympic testing program.

Zach Laing is Oilersnation’s managing editor, and The Nation Network’s news director. He also makes up one-half of the Daily Faceoff DFS Hockey Report. He can be followed on X at @zjlaing, or reached by email at zach.laing@bettercollective.com.