{"id":396287,"date":"2026-01-07T21:34:10","date_gmt":"2026-01-07T21:34:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/396287\/"},"modified":"2026-01-07T21:34:10","modified_gmt":"2026-01-07T21:34:10","slug":"hutson-caufield-staying-focused-on-canadiens-after-being-left-off-usa-olympic-team","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/396287\/","title":{"rendered":"Hutson, Caufield staying focused on Canadiens after being left off USA Olympic team"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Montreal Canadiens<\/a> will send four players to the Olympics for the 2026 Winter Games in Milano-Cortina. <\/p>\n

Captain Nick Suzuki<\/a> will represent Team Canada, Juraj Slafkovsky will be a key piece for Slovakia, Alexandre Texier<\/a> will play for France, while rookie Oliver Kapanen<\/a> was named to team Finland.<\/p>\n

Two notable Olympic omissions from the Canadiens\u2019 roster are leading goal scorer Cole Caufield<\/a> and defenceman Lane Hutson<\/a>, who were left off Team USA<\/a> when general manager Bill Guerin<\/a> announced the roster last week<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Both players are in the midst of impressive seasons that have the Habs (23-16-6) sitting in third place in the Atlantic Division and seventh in the NHL with 52 points.<\/p>\n

\u201cNot so concerned about it. I\u2019ve got a job to do here,\u201d Hutson said on being left off the team. \u201dThere are a lot of great guys here to play with, so I\u2019m just focusing on that.\u201d<\/p>\n

The 21-year-old native of Holland, Mich., is producing at a point-per-game pace in his second NHL season. Hutson has already set a new career high in goals (seven) and has added 35 assists. His 42 points rank third among all NHL defencemen, trailing only Cale Makar<\/a> (48) and Zach Werenski<\/a> (45).<\/p>\n

Hutson, the reigning Calder Trophy winner, did not receive a call from Guerin and doesn\u2019t know if he will be considered as an injury replacement, but says he\u2019s still excited for the tournament.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ll still be into it. It\u2019s pretty special to watch. Obviously, you dream of being there and hopefully I can get there one day,\u201d Hutson said. \u201cI didn\u2019t expect to be on the roster, but you never know what can happen. I\u2019m ready if they need me.\u201d<\/p>\n

Caufield, 25, is on pace for the best season of his career as he\u2019s recorded 20 goals and 40 points through 42 games. The Mosinee, Wis., native has international experience with Team USA, having suited up at the World Championships in 2024 where he scored four goals and had eight points in eight games. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt sucks. It\u2019s a tough feeling but you\u2019ve got to move on and do what you can do here,\u201d Caufield said on Wednesday. \u201cLittle bit of both [frustration and disappointment]. You obviously want to be on that team. It\u2019s a tough team to make and I wish them all the best in the tournament.\u201d <\/p>\n

Unlike Hutson, Caufield did receive a phone call from Guerin prior to the roster announcement but was also not told if he will be considered as a reserve.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ll keep that between us. Those conversations are private,\u201d Caufield said of his call with Guerin. \u201cIt\u2019s a good thing he called. It\u2019s respectful. It\u2019s the second call he\u2019s made to me. A lot of respect for him and what he\u2019s done.\u201d<\/p>\n

With the weight of the Olympic roster selection behind them, Hutson and Caufield said that their focus will continue to be on helping the Canadiens build on an already impressive season, starting with Wednesday\u2019s home game against the Calgary Flames<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think you can always take something like that and use it as motivation. It\u2019s going to power me even more,\u201d Caufield said. \u201cIt\u2019s disappointing at first, but at the end of the day I have one of the best jobs in the world and I can\u2019t complain about that. Of course I\u2019ll be watching, but the focus stays here in finding ways to win every night.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI guess, thank you for being mad,\u201d Hutson laughed as he addressed the fans who believe he should have made the roster. \u201cWe\u2019ve got things to do here. I\u2019m just happy to be playing and be a part of this team.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Montreal Canadiens will send four players to the Olympics for the 2026 Winter Games in Milano-Cortina. Captain…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":396288,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[4759,41181,5,33169,33168,4],"class_list":{"0":"post-396287","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nhl","8":"tag-apple-news","9":"tag-cole-caufield-sports-hockey-player-player-nhl-api-8481540","10":"tag-hockey","11":"tag-lane-hutson-sports-hockey-player-player-nhl-api-8483457","12":"tag-montreal-canadiens-sports-hockey-team-team-nhl-api-8","13":"tag-nhl"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nhl\/115855967206208384","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/396287","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=396287"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/396287\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/396288"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=396287"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=396287"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=396287"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}