{"id":455757,"date":"2026-02-12T16:24:18","date_gmt":"2026-02-12T16:24:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/455757\/"},"modified":"2026-02-12T16:24:18","modified_gmt":"2026-02-12T16:24:18","slug":"team-usa-decides-to-start-connor-hellebuyck-for-2026-winter-olympics-opener","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/455757\/","title":{"rendered":"Team USA decides to start Connor Hellebuyck for 2026 Winter Olympics opener"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>MILAN \u2013 Team USA isn\u2019t overthinking its last line of defense.<\/p>\n<p>Connor Hellebuyck was tabbed as the starting goalie for the United States\u2019 first game of the men\u2019s 2026 Winter Olympics <a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2026\/02\/09\/sports\/team-usa-banking-on-bond-to-lead-the-way-to-mens-hockey-gold\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">ice hockey tournament<\/a> Thursday against Latvia.<\/p>\n<p>After backstopping Team USA to a second-place finish at the 4 Nations Faceoff last February, Hellebuyck is getting first dibs on the net in his Olympic debut.<\/p>\n<p><img style=\"aspect-ratio:1.47550432;display:block\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" data-modal-image=\"38467694\" width=\"871\" height=\"590\" src=\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/connor-hellebuyck-37-jeremy-swayman-120784579.jpg\" alt=\"Connor Hellebuyck (left), Jeremy Swayman (middle) and Jake Oettinger on the practice ice for Team USA at the Olympics on Feb. 9, 2026.\" class=\"wp-image-38467694\"  \/>Connor Hellebuyck (left), Jeremy Swayman (middle) and Jake Oettinger on the practice ice for Team USA at the Olympics on Feb. 9, 2026. Getty Images<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHe\u2019s obviously an elite goalie,\u201d head coach Mike Sullivan said after morning skate Thursday.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe think we have three elite goalies. We have ultimate confidence in all three guys. These decisions aren\u2019t easy, but we made a decision to start with Connor and we\u2019ll go from there.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>2026 WINTER OLYMPICS<\/p>\n<p>Hellebuyck, the NHL\u2019s reigning Hart and Vezina Trophy-winner, owns a .900 save percentage and a 2.79 goals-against average (GAA) with the Jets through 36 starts this NHL season<\/p>\n<p>Last year, Hellebuyck led the NHL in wins (47), shutouts (8) and GAA (2.00).<\/p>\n<p>Starting in three of four total games at 4 Nations, including the championship against Canada, the 32-year-old netminder posted a .932 save percentage and a 1.59 GAA for Team USA.<\/p>\n<p><img style=\"aspect-ratio:0.66699219;display:block\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" data-modal-image=\"38467700\" width=\"394\" height=\"590\" src=\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/connor-hellebuyck-37-team-united-120736892.jpg\" alt=\"Connor Hellebuyck #37 of Team United States takes part during training on day two of the Milano Cortina 2026 Winter Olympic games at Milano Santagiulia Ice Hockey Arena on February 08, 2026 in Milan, Italy. \" class=\"wp-image-38467700\"  \/>Connor Hellebuyck will start Team USA\u2019s opener vs. Latvia. Getty Images<\/p>\n<p>With the Bruins\u2019 Jeremy Swayman and Stars\u2019 Jake Oettinger serving as alternative options, Sullivan wouldn\u2019t exactly say if he was looking to get more goalies in the mix or if it was Hellebuyck\u2019s net to lose.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI think the way we\u2019re going to approach it is, and this is just based on my own experience, that in tournaments like this \u2014 where things happen fast, they\u2019re not very long \u2014 performance really matters,\u201d Sullivan said. \u201cAnd so, we\u2019re going to try to make decisions with every position that gives us the best chance to win.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"MILAN \u2013 Team USA isn\u2019t overthinking its last line of defense. Connor Hellebuyck was tabbed as the starting&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":455758,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[377],"tags":[5,4211,2310,2602,43,3255,18,2787,31286],"class_list":{"0":"post-455757","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-hockey","8":"tag-hockey","9":"tag-italy","10":"tag-mike-sullivan-nhl","11":"tag-olympics","12":"tag-sports","13":"tag-team-usa","14":"tag-winnipeg-jets","15":"tag-winter-olympics","16":"tag-winter-olympics-2026"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nhl\/116058592127734991","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/455757","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=455757"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/455757\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/455758"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=455757"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=455757"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=455757"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}