![\"Islanders](\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/new-york-islanders-center-bo-117064829_e7e2e0.jpg\")
Islanders forward Bo Horvat was named to Canada\u2019s Olympics roster. Dennis Schneidler-Imagn Images<\/p>\nBo Horvat is headed to Milan. <\/p>\n
And Matthew Schaefer can tentatively plan on getting a well-deserved rest in February.<\/p>\n
Horvat was named to Team Canada\u2019s 25-man Olympic squad Thursday, marking the first time he\u2019ll represent his country in best-on-best competition. <\/p>\n
Schaefer was left out of the eight-man defense corps, which was the exact same as the group Canada sent to the 4 Nations Face-Off last year.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf I get there, it\u2019d be a dream come true,\u201d Horvat said Tuesday before the announcement. \u201cAt the same time, if not, there\u2019s so many great hockey players in this country that we\u2019re gonna have a great team no matter what.\u201d<\/p>\n
Islanders forward Bo Horvat was named to Canada\u2019s Olympics roster. Dennis Schneidler-Imagn Images<\/p>\n
Canada did not name an official list of injury replacements, but it is believed Schaefer would be in the mix should one of the eight defensemen on the roster get hurt. <\/p>\n
Canada general manager Doug Armstrong said the decision will be based in part on the style of player who needs to be replaced, which is why a list isn\u2019t being released.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ll be honest. He wasn\u2019t on my radar at the start of the season, but his play is exemplary,\u201d Armstrong said of Schaefer. \u201cHe\u2019s a fantastic talent. He brings you out of your seat every night. He\u2019s got maturity on and off the ice. I was shocked at how quickly he worked his way into our conversations and that\u2019s a credit to him. And the Islanders are very lucky, and hockey\u2019s very lucky, to have a young player like that coming on the horizon.\u201d<\/p>\n
A year ago, Horvat was, at best, on the outskirts of the competition for a 4 Nations roster spot.<\/p>\n
He worked his way into the picture for the Olympics starting by playing in the World Championships this summer for Canada. <\/p>\n
That roster included Sidney Crosby, Macklin Celebrini, Nathan MacKinnon and Travis Sanheim, all of whom were named to the Olympic team, and Horvat finished the tournament with eight points in six games.<\/p>\n
![\"Islanders](\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/matthew-schaefer-48-new-york-118047954.jpg\")
Islanders phenom Matthew Schaefer did not make Canada\u2019s Olympics roster. Getty Images<\/p>\n
In 35 games \u2014 he was absent for five games due to injury this month \u2014 he\u2019s scored 21 goals, ranking ninth in the NHL. <\/p>\n
Many came in front of Canada\u2019s management team, which was frequently spotted watching Islanders games from the press box as it debated his inclusion.<\/p>\n
It looked for a period of time like Horvat and Montreal center Nick Suzuki would be fighting for one spot, but both ultimately were named to the roster. <\/p>\n
Panthers winger Sam Bennett, who played in 4 Nations, was a surprise exclusion instead.<\/p>\n
\u201cBo has a lot of the attributes we\u2019re looking for,\u201d Armstrong said. \u201cWe want to be able to play inside, get to the net. He\u2019s a player that played left wing with MacKinnon at World Championships last year. Can play multiple positions for us.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think of the players we selected, he\u2019s our highest [percentage] faceoff guy, so he adds that element to the selection process. Just an all-around good 200-foot player. Can touch both ends of the special teams if needed and has a multi-positional aspect that made him a very appealing player for us.\u201d<\/p>\n
If Horvat were viewed as having an outside shot before the season started \u2014 he was invited to Canada\u2019s select camp over the summer \u2014 then Schaefer would have had Buster Douglas-esque odds.<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t\t\t\tOn the ice from Long Island\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tSign up for Inside the Islanders by Ethan Sears, a weekly Sports+ exclusive.\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t\t\tThank you\n\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
The 18-year-old rookie\u2019s transcendent play, though, only got him as far as the bubble. <\/p>\n
With Canada taking all eight defensemen who played for it in 4 Nations \u2014 a group that built up trust in winning gold last February over the United States on Connor McDavid\u2019s overtime goal in Boston \u2014 it\u2019s not immediately obvious what Schaefer could have done to place himself on the right side of the cut line.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe reason going with the [same] eight [defensemen] was scouring, dialogue with the coaches, what did they like about the group?\u201d Armstrong said. \u201cI think we have great skill level. \u2026 I think we have a proper balance of players who have won at the NHL level, won at the 4 Nations and complement each other. And that was a big decision when I talked to Jon [Cooper, coach] and Pete DeBoer [assistant coach], who runs the D.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Bo Horvat is headed to Milan. And Matthew Schaefer can tentatively plan on getting a well-deserved rest in…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":384137,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5110],"tags":[3669,5,122,374,3328,159,5190,5189,4,2602,43],"class_list":{"0":"post-384136","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-york-islanders","8":"tag-bo-horvat","9":"tag-hockey","10":"tag-islanders","11":"tag-matthew-schaefer","12":"tag-new-york","13":"tag-new-york-islanders","14":"tag-newyork","15":"tag-newyorkislanders","16":"tag-nhl","17":"tag-olympics","18":"tag-sports"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nhl\/115817813503811622","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/384136","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=384136"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/384136\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/384137"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=384136"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=384136"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=384136"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}