Marchand, Reinhart named to Canadian Olympic Team, Bennett Misses Out

Two Florida Panthers will be wearing the Maple Leaf in Milan.

Brad Marchand was named to Team Canada for the 2026 Winter Olympic Games on Wednesday.

His teammate in Florida Sam Reinhart will also be at the Milano Cortina games for Canada. He was one of the six players named to the team’s preliminary roster last June.

Both were part of Team Canada’s gold medal winning roster at last winter’s 4 Nations Face-Off in Montreal and Boston. This will be the first Olympic Games for all of them.

Reinhart was Canada’s utility player at 4 Nations and can be expected to assume a similar role in Milan. He had 4 assists in 4 games at the tournament and played on the star-studded top power-play unit.

“It’s an incredible honor,” Reinhart said at last summer’s Canadian Olympic Orientation Camp after being named to Team Canada. “You talk about the flag. You talk about the Maple Leaf. The jersey. It’s something different and something you can’t replicate with any other sweater.

“You got the support of the country. You got that energy, that passion. When you think of Canada you think of hockey. So to be able to have that opportunity to represent the countries is something you never take for granted.”

Last year’s Selke Trophy runner-up should be used in all situations again at the Olympics.

Marchand wasn’t a member of the Florida Panthers yet when he played for Canada last February. He was still captain of the Boston Bruins.

He had one goal in the opening game of the tournament, giving the Montreal crowd something to cheer for early on. Later in the tournament he was paired up with future Panthers teammate Sam Bennett on an “in your face” checking line for the Canadians.

Marchand’s somewhat surprising reemergence as a legitimate star last postseason, putting up 20 points (10-10-20) in 23 Stanley Cup Playoff games, and his unbelievable start to the 2025-26 season with the Panthers, where leads the team in goals, assists and points (23-22-45) 38 games into the season, made it hard for Canada’s brass to leave the 37-year-old off the roster.

“It’s been a huge motivating factor for almost 15 years now,” Marchand said regarding the Olympics back in September. “Ever since I kind of had a taste back in ‘14 — going to that [Olympic] camp, being on that shorter list, it has been the thing that I wanted to accomplish the most and be part of.”

2025 Conn Smythe winner Sam Bennett was a member of Canada’s 4 Nations team but was not one of the 25 named to Team Canada’s Olympic roster.

Bennett was a healthy scratch for Canada’s first game at 4 Nations, but was inserted into the lineup for the remainder of the tournament, and he made it count. In his first shift of the tournament, he dropped the gloves with Brady Tkachuk at the Bell Center, just seconds after his Panthers teammate Matthew Tkachuk did the same for Team USA on the opening puck drop.

His impact also showed up on the score sheet. In the gold medal game, Bennett scored a huge tying goal in the second period to make it 2-2 when he put a puck upstairs on Connor Hellebuyck. This would end up being the final goal of regulation for either side, with the game going to overtime.

Canada will kick off Olympic play on Feb 12 against Czechia from Milano Santagiulia Ice Hockey Arena in Milan.