Being left off the 2025 NHL 4 Nations Face-Off roster doesn't mean Chicago Blackhawks forward Connor Bedard is out of the running to represent Team Canada during the 2026 Winter Olympics.
Team Canada general manager Don Sweeney called Bedard part of the "next wave of future great players" on Thursday when discussing the decision not to invite him to the tournament.
"When we went through the process as a management group of building the best team to compete in February, with certainly an eye towards what the next wave of future great players is going to look like... Connor certainly falls in that category," Sweeney said, per NHL.com's Mike Zeisberger. "We know the special qualities he has."
Sweeney told reporters that Team Canada had "built out a database" with players who weren't ready for 4 Nations but could potentially play in the Olympics, per the Daily Faceoff's Matt Larkin.
"We're going to have to continue to have those stack up on top of each other year, the next year and a half, and make really hard decisions," Sweeney said.
Bedard, the reigning Calder Trophy winner, is off to a relatively slow start to his sophomore NHL season with 19 points (five goals, 14 assists) in 26 games.
"You kind of sleep in the bed you make, and I obviously haven't been too happy with the start of the year," Bedard told TNT on Wednesday about not being named to Canada's 4 Nations roster.
Bedard added, "You can try to use something like that for a little motivation. Just keep going, keep working hard, keep trying to get better, and that's what I'm going to do, for sure."
Sweeney will serve as assistant general manager to Doug Armstrong during the 2026 Milano Cortina Olympics.
He noted in a Wednesday appearance on Sportsnet that the ultimate decisions regarding the 2026 roster would be left up to Armstrong.
"We just felt that we weren't going to push aside anybody that deserved, and had earned, an opportunity to play in this event now," Sweeney said. "We were tasked to put together the best team we could put together now, for this event, with an eye towards tracking, in specific, several of the players and other guys that were so close to making this team."
Sweeney added that there is still a chance, should there be injuries to any members of the 4 Nations roster over the next several months, Team Canada could call up one of the players on the fringe of the roster.
Bedard, who led all rookies with 22 goals and 61 points last season despite missing 14 games with a broken jaw, may need to increase his production with Chicago in order to get that call. He has been held to two goals in his last 17 games for the struggling Blackhawks, who headed into Thursday with an NHL-worst 8-16-2 record.
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