Panthers have mixed emotions on Canada roster for Olympics

MIAMI -- The Florida Panthers had mixed emotions the day after Team Canada announced its 25-player roster for the Olympic Winter Games Milano Cortina 2026.

Forward Brad Marchand made the cut, but forward Sam Bennett, who won the Conn Smythe Trophy as most valuable player of the 2025 Stanley Cup Playoffs, was a surprise omission. Forward Sam Reinhart was named to the roster in June when each country announced its first six players.

“I mean, it’s an incredible feeling; it’s the highest honor you can have in the game,” Marchand said on Thursday after the Panthers practiced at loanDepot park before playing the New York Rangers at the 2026 Discover NHL Winter Classic on Friday (8 p.m. ET; HBO MAX, truTV, TNT, SNW, SNO, SNE, TVAS).

The power of that feeling has left players across the NHL on the edge of their seats since the rosters were submitted Wednesday, the deadline set by the International Olympic Committee for the 12 countries participating in the tournament, which will run Feb. 11-22.

Canada was the first to reveal its roster on Wednesday. The United States, Finland and Sweden will each name its roster Friday, and the other teams will follow next week.

Players from each of those countries who believe they are on the bubble are sweating out the announcements.

Bennett was on the bubble for Canada and didn’t make it, a decision that can’t be easy to accept, especially after he played an integral role when Canada won the 4 Nations Face-Off last season. He ranks fourth on the Panthers this season with 29 points (13 goals, 16 assists) in 39 games.

“It's tough; there isn’t much you can say,” Reinhart said when asked about Bennett. “He’s someone that has put so much into it. You can sit here and say that so many guys have earned their way on it.

“It’s out of our control at the end of the day. I will say I have played with him for years, and he’s a guy that you will go to war with any day of the week.”

Florida coach Paul Maurice was just as blunt.

“He’s won two Stanley Cups, he was part of the 4 Nations, he won the Conn Smythe and, in my opinion, in the last 27 games, has been playing the best hockey of his career,” Maurice said. “Team Canada has got a hell of a team.”

The exclusion from a lifelong dream is cruel but comes with the territory of being an elite-level hockey player. It’s about dreaming big and accepting the disappointment that is part and parcel of such lofty aspirations.

Several players involved in the Winter Classic are awaiting calls from their national federations to learn their fates for this Olympic cycle.

Panthers defenseman Seth Jones is hoping for good news from U.S. general manager Billy Guerin before the roster is revealed Friday on the Today Show on NBC. Rangers defenseman Adam Fox said after practice Thursday he received a call from Guerin that he did not make the cut.

New York forwards Vincent Trocheck and J.T. Miller are also in contention for Team USA. For Team Sweden, it is Florida defenseman Gustav Forsling and Rangers forward Mika Zibanejad. For Finland, it’s Panthers forwards Anton Lundell and Eetu Luostarinen, and defenseman Niko Mikkola.

Florida center Aleksander Barkov was named to Team Finland’s roster in June but will miss the tournament after undergoing knee surgery in September. Panthers forward Matthew Tkachuk, who is close to making his season debut after offseason core surgery, was among the first six announced by the U.S. He wore a noncontact jersey at practice Thursday and will not play in the Winter Classic.

But for Marchand, who leads Florida this season with 45 points (23 goals, 22 assists) in 38 games, the call from Team Canada has made this week extra special.

The 37-year-old has been dreaming of being on this stage for more than a decade. He was invited to Canada’s camp ahead of the 2014 Sochi Olympics but didn’t make the cut, then watched helplessly after the NHL did not send players to either of the next two Games.

Now, finally, he gets the opportunity to do what he has thought about since he was a boy growing up in Nova Scotia. He gets to wear the maple leaf in an Olympic tournament, follow in the footsteps of his childhood idols, as well as players he called teammates and opponents throughout his career.

“There’s some incredible tournaments that have been put together -- the World Cup and the 4 Nations -- but trying to replicate the Olympics, that will never happen because of the history and what that means to individuals in the country,” Marchand said.

“You can tell the excitement that has been around it ever since they announced we are going to be able to go back. There is just such a tremendous amount of pride to be a part of that. It’s a pretty incredible feeling.”