Tom Wilson believed to have taken Travis Konecny’s roster spot on Team Canada for 2026 Winter Olympics
Tom Wilson’s torrid start to the 2025-26 NHL season reportedly has him set to compete for a gold medal at the 2026 Winter Olympics in Italy.
NHL insider and writer from The Athletic, Pierre LeBrun, wrote Thursday that he believes Canada will swap Wilson in on their roster for Travis Konecny of the Philadelphia Flyers. Konecny played two games for Canada in their successful run to the 4 Nations Face-Off championship.
“There are probably two or three spots open from 4 Nations, including one extra forward spot for the bigger Olympic roster: The forwards who weren’t at 4 Nations in the conversation are Macklin Celebrini, Bo Horvat, Tom Wilson, Nick Suzuki, Wyatt Johnston, Mark Scheifele, and [Connor] Bedard,” LeBrun wrote. “Can’t take them all. Tough decisions.
“And who do you take out from the 4 Nations roster? I think Team Canada will likely swap in Wilson for Travis Konecny.”
Canada’s decision makers, including general manager Doug Armstrong, are set to convene in Florida for a series of meetings starting this weekend. The gathering’s purpose is to solidify most of the roster headed overseas in February before the December 31 roster submission deadline.
According to LeBrun, the management group wants to come out of the meetings with around 70 percent of players decided, meaning there will be only seven or eight spots still being debated up until the final days. Wilson will likely be in that final batch of players.
The 31-year-old winger is the top scorer on the Washington Capitals, who currently lead the NHL’s Eastern Conference. In 28 games this season, Wilson has recorded 16 goals and 30 points, putting him on pace for a career-best 47 goals and 88 points.
Konecny, who is six inches shorter and 33 pounds lighter than Wilson, has 22 points (6g, 16a) in 26 games for the Flyers this season. Unlike Wilson, he is not one of Philadelphia’s top penalty-killing forwards and is far less physical. He had 76 points (24g, 52a) in 82 games for the Flyers last year.
The need for a physical, checking-line forward might be amplified by concerns about the size of the ice for the Games. One of Canada’s assistant coaches, Pete DeBoer, recently revealed that the ice in Italy will likely be smaller than regulation NHL dimensions.
“The ice surface, it looks like it’s going to be smaller than NHL rink standards [by] it looks like three or four feet,” DeBoer said. “I don’t understand how that happened.”
Wilson, the NHL’s Third Star of the Week last week, has had several strong showings in front of important figures working for Hockey Canada, including Armstrong and head coach Jon Cooper. The Capitals’ alternate captain is expected to be one of three key Caps competing for spots on Canada’s final roster, with goaltender Logan Thompson and defenseman Jakob Chychrun being the other two.
The men’s ice hockey tournament will start with preliminary games on February 11, with the gold-medal game scheduled for February 22. Canada won gold at the 2014 Games in Sochi, Russia, the last to involve NHL player participation.
