Antoine Keller is the first Washington Capitals-affiliated player to be officially named to their nation’s roster for the 2026 Winter Olympics.

The 21-year-old goaltender was selected Tuesday as one of 24 players for France’s roster headed to Italy in February. Keller, born in Dijon, France, was the Capitals’ seventh-round pick in the 2023 NHL Draft.

Keller is one of three goalies on the roster, joined by Julian Junca and Martin Neckar. He will likely serve as backup to Junca in the tournament.

Keller was set to play the 2025-26 season in North America within the Capitals’ organization but agreed to mutually terminate his AHL contract with the Hershey Bears after playing just four games for the ECHL’s South Carolina Stingrays. He then signed a one-year deal with HC Ajoie of the Swiss National League, where he has made nine appearances.

In his four ECHL games, Keller was 2-2 with a 3.54 goals-against average and a .881 save percentage. In his nine Swiss outings, he is 4-4-1 with a 3.43 goals-against average, a .900 save percentage, and one shutout.

Keller has previously represented France at both the junior and senior national team levels, serving as a backup during France’s Olympic qualifying efforts and appearing in four games during the 2025 World Championship. In one of his appearances at the World Championship last May, he was named France’s top player after making 47 saves in a 4-3 overtime loss to Finland.

Former Capitals winger and Hershey Bears’ Calder Cup champion, Pierrick Dubé, was not selected to the French roster. Dubé, a native of Lyon, France, started this season with the KHL’s Traktor Chelyabinsk, recording 14 points (7g, 7a) in 21 games before being traded to SKA Saint Petersburg, where he has just two assists in seven games. KHL teams are not yet obligated to release their players for the Games, which could have impacted Dubé’s candidacy.

The French men’s and women’s hockey teams qualified for the 2026 Games because Russia remains banned from all international hockey competition. The continued bans come as part of sanctions imposed following the nation’s illegal military invasion of Ukraine in 2022.

France has participated in 10 Olympic tournaments in their history, last qualifying for the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City, Utah. Their best finish is fifth overall, achieved in 1924 and 1928, while their lowest finish was fourteenth, in 1968 and 2002.