{"id":468325,"date":"2026-02-23T16:38:37","date_gmt":"2026-02-23T16:38:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/468325\/"},"modified":"2026-02-23T16:38:37","modified_gmt":"2026-02-23T16:38:37","slug":"nhl-players-whose-legacies-changed-most-at-the-olympic-mens-hockey-tournament","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/468325\/","title":{"rendered":"NHL players whose legacies changed most at the Olympic men\u2019s hockey tournament"},"content":{"rendered":"

Red Light newsletter\u00a0\ud83c\udfd2\u00a0| This is\u00a0The Athletic\u2019s\u00a0hockey\u00a0newsletter.\u00a0Sign up here<\/a>\u00a0to receive Red Light directly in your inbox.<\/p>\n

Good morning to everyone except whoever decided to hand out stuffed animals to hockey players who\u2019ve just lost the biggest game of their lives. Read the rink, guys.<\/p>\n

Before we get going, a sincere thank you for following along with our coverage throughout the Olympics. The men\u2019s tournament was the first time NHL players participated since 2014, and it lived up to the hype \u2014 as did the women\u2019s tournament. You can read our Olympic hockey coverage here<\/a> and the rest of our Olympic coverage here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

\n Jack Hughes scores the game-winning goal to win the gold medal in overtime against Canada on Sunday in Milan. (Jamie Squire \/ Getty Images)<\/p>\n

New Golden Goal\ud83e\udd47 USA slays the dragon<\/p>\n

They finally did it. Almost 30 years after their only other best-on-best win, the Americans have finally climbed back to the top of the mountain<\/a>. And while that 1996 World Cup win was a nice building block, this feels more like the finished product. Olympic gold, at the expense of their greatest rival, with the whole world watching. Just what they\u2019d been building toward for decades.<\/p>\n

Time will tell just how much Jack Hughes\u2019 OT winner<\/a> seeps into the American sports consciousness, and whether it sticks to the same degree the \u201cMiracle on Ice\u201d has. That\u2019s a tall task, but it will hold some space, with the goal providing a simple and emphatic exclamation point on a team win. At the very least, it gives every American kid in a driveway or on a shinny rink a moment to emulate. And having it come from a guy who\u2019d just had his teeth knocked out<\/a>? Nice touch, hockey gods.<\/p>\n

Hughes will get the highlights, but the real hero was Connor Hellebuyck. He finished the tournament with a tidy .956 save percentage and 1.18 goals-against average and saved his best for last, making 41 saves in the gold medal game. He even got an assist on the winning goal, which actually feels like showing off if you ask me.<\/p>\n

Did Team Canada get goalied? Sure it did, but that was always a big part of the plan for any Team USA win. Goalies are part of the team, and one nation has most of the best ones these days. When that country wins thanks to its goalie, it\u2019s not a fluke, it\u2019s destiny. And this time, destiny said it was finally time for the Americans to have their moment.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

\n Connor Hellebuyck makes a save on a shot taken by Devon Toews in the third period. (Jamie Squire \/ Getty Images)<\/p>\n

Who stood out?<\/p>\n

One of the best parts of international best-on-best hockey is watching guys you know from the NHL redefine the way fans see them. The Olympics may be the only time in a player\u2019s career that he can rewrite his story so emphatically in just a few short weeks.<\/p>\n

So, who pulled that off at this year\u2019s event? Glad you asked. Here are eight names who\u2019ve done the most to change how they\u2019re viewed.<\/p>\n

Connor Hellebuyck<\/p>\n

He was: A great regular-season goalie with a reputation for fading when the lights shine brightest. Just can\u2019t win the big one.
\nBut now he\u2019s: Won that big one<\/a> and won it emphatically. Hellebuyck was the undisputed hero of yesterday\u2019s win, playing the game of his life to turn aside a relentless Canadian attack long enough for Jack Hughes to find the winner.<\/p>\n

Macklin Celebrini<\/p>\n

He was: The emerging superstar-in-waiting who didn\u2019t look out of place as the third wheel on Canada\u2019s mega-line with Connor McDavid and Nathan MacKinnon.
\nBut now he\u2019s: Forget about emerging or waiting, Celebrini used the tournament to declare that his superstar era is already here<\/a>. He led the star-studded Canadian team in goals and looked like its most dangerous player for long stretches. Not bad for a teenager we weren\u2019t even sure would make the team.<\/p>\n

Juraj Slafkovsk\u00fd<\/p>\n

He was: The No. 1 draft pick who was shaking off any lingering bust talk while establishing himself as a solid top-six contributor.
\nBut now he\u2019s: A young power forward who\u2019s looked dominant at two Olympics<\/a>, including one that was played best-on-best. And after a strong first half in Montreal, maybe now he comes back with a well-earned chip on his shoulder.<\/p>\n

Bill Guerin<\/p>\n

He was: Just the latest Team USA GM to galaxy-brain his way into taking too many penalty-killers and faceoff specialists at the expense of skill and offense. Good luck outscoring Canada when you leave your scorers at home.
\nBut now he\u2019s: The guy who got the mix just right<\/a>. Credit where it\u2019s due, Guerin built a team that was designed to beat Canada 2-1, and that\u2019s exactly what it did. With perfect penalty-killing, including yesterday\u2019s long five-on-three, to go with domination in the faceoff circle, the formula worked just the way it was meant to.<\/p>\n

Juuse Saros<\/p>\n

He was: That goalie who used to be good, and has a contract that mistakenly still thinks he is.
\nBut now he\u2019s: Coming off of a tournament where he was arguably the best human goaltender, trailing only Hellebuyck. He was the only goalie to play six games and went .940 through the tournament to lead Finland to bronze<\/a> (while nearly upsetting Canada for the right to play for even more).<\/p>\n

The Hughes brothers<\/p>\n

They were: Those other brothers from Team USA. You know, the ones who don\u2019t have a podcast<\/a> and an instinct to know where the cameras are at all times.
\nBut now they\u2019re: The brothers who actually did something on the ice in this tournament. And did they ever, with Quinn scoring the OT winner<\/a> against Sweden and Jack etching his name into history<\/a> with yesterday\u2019s snipe.<\/p>\n

Auston Matthews<\/p>\n

He was: Any debate about Matthews these days feels a lot like talking politics, in that everyone starts at the endpoint they\u2019ve already decided on and then works their way back through whatever facts seem to help. But you know the drill: He\u2019s yet another guy who you just can\u2019t win with, certainly not when he\u2019s your so-called leader.
\nBut now he\u2019s: A winner, at least on the international stage<\/a>. And he was no passenger in this tournament, tying for the Team USA lead in scoring among forwards while making several standout defensive plays in the final.<\/p>\n

Jordan Binnington<\/p>\n

He was: The guy who was going to definitely take the blame if Canada didn\u2019t win.
\nBut now he\u2019s: The guy the Edmonton Oilers should be trading for before the playoffs start. No? Too dramatic? Maybe. So, let\u2019s just say he\u2019s the owner of back-to-back strong performances in best-on-best tournaments and a guy who\u2019s earned his big-game label<\/a>, and leave it at that. (But seriously, get on the phone, Stan Bowman.)<\/p>\n

We\u2019ll leave the list there and won\u2019t worry too much about any of the players who may have gone the other way. Sam Bennett, Clayton Keller, Tom\u00e1\u0161 Hertl and Jesper Bratt, among others, can thank me later.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

\n Jack Hughes. (Elsa \/ Getty Images)<\/p>\n

Trivia Time<\/p>\n

Yesterday\u2019s OT goal was the second game-winning goal of the tournament for Hughes; he also got credit<\/a> for the GWG against Slovakia in the semifinal. Can you name the only other American NHLers to score multiple Olympic winners?<\/p>\n

Hints: Both players are now retired but were teammates on Team USA in 2010 and 2014. They were good, though neither is in the Hall of Fame. One of them had a dad who played for Team Canada at a reasonably well-known international event. And the other one might best be known for fighting Canadians.<\/p>\n

Answer below.<\/p>\n

Coast to Coast<\/p>\n

\u2709\ufe0f President Donald Trump has invited the U.S. men\u2019s hockey team to tomorrow night\u2019s State of the Union address in Washington, D.C. Here\u2019s the latest<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\ud83d\udd25 Where were you when Team USA won gold<\/a>?<\/p>\n

\ud83c\udde8\ud83c\udde6 What lessons can Canada take from this crushing loss? For one, the World Championships might matter more than we think<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\ud83d\udc27 Arpon Basu writes about Sidney Crosby missing what was probably his final Olympic game<\/a>. In Pittsburgh, Josh Yohe writes that Crosby\u2019s NHL career deserves a better ending<\/a> than his Olympic career.<\/p>\n

\ud83c\udf99\ufe0f \u201cThe Athletic Hockey Show\u201d was live after the men\u2019s gold medal game as Max Bultman, Sean Gentille, Jesse Granger and Mark Lazerus (from Milan) reacted to Team USA\u2019s win<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\ud83e\uddc2 A Canadian fan put a rare Jack Hughes hockey card up for sale after yesterday\u2019s game and ended the listing by writing \u201cI hate you, Jack Hughes<\/a>.\u201d Fair.<\/p>\n

\ud83e\udec2 Chris Pronger has played in Olympic gold medal games, in playoff overtime games and in the Stanley Cup Final. Even he was stressed out<\/a> yesterday.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

\n Team Canada players with their silver medals and stuffed animals. (Gregory Shamus \/ Getty Images)<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, Up North<\/p>\n

\ud83c\udf41 Canada in crisis?<\/p>\n

For the first time since 1998, Canada is coming home from an NHL-attended Olympics without a gold medal from either the men or women.<\/p>\n

Both national teams won silver, which is to say they failed. That\u2019s just the way it goes up here, where any major best-on-best tournament is gold or bust.<\/p>\n

The last time this happened, back in 1998, the country went into crisis mode, convening a national summit on the state of the game in August 1999. Wayne Gretzky had just retired, joining Mario Lemieux on the sidelines. There was a very real feeling that the sport was slipping away.<\/p>\n

Now, over a quarter-century later, it\u2019s happened again, only worse because it\u2019s Team USA winning twice. So, should Canadians be strapping in for another round of crisis? Is it time to start booking space for another summit? Do we need to take a long hard look in the national mirror and have a brutally honest discussion about how it\u2019s not our game anymore?<\/p>\n

Arpon Basu took a look at this question in a column yesterday, and reached basically the same answer<\/a> I do: No. Don\u2019t be silly.<\/p>\n

First, let\u2019s have a little context here. The 1999 freakout came on the heels of not just the Nagano flameout, but also a loss in the 1996 World Cup. Canada hadn\u2019t won a best-on-best since 1991, which felt like forever.<\/p>\n

Today, even through the sting of two gold medal losses, the situation isn\u2019t the same. Canada\u2019s men are one year removed from a best-on-best win at the 4 Nations and had won three of the last four Olympic tournaments with NHL players. The women had won gold in five of the last six.<\/p>\n

That makes 2026 feel more like a blip than a catastrophe. Maybe it doesn\u2019t stay that way, and we end up looking back on the last two weeks as a true passing of the torch, the event where Team USA pulled out in front to stay. It could happen.<\/p>\n

But if you were looking to overreact, you probably would have liked to have seen some more emphatic results. Both gold medal losses came via three-on-three overtime, with the men dominating most of their game and the women leading late into theirs. Losses are losses, and there are no style points at this level, so close shouldn\u2019t cut it. The Americans won both games, and they don\u2019t count any less for being close. They could have gone either way? Sure, but they didn\u2019t.<\/p>\n

All of that makes for good reason to be disappointed. It\u2019s not a reason to overreact, or to get all performative. High expectations can be a curse, but they have to be earned. Canada has earned the pressure through years of success.<\/p>\n

Now, the Canadians have to start down the difficult path of earning it all back. They\u2019ll need some big wins to do it. And sure, maybe some time spent looking in the mirror. But a summit? A national conversation? A country in crisis? Settle down, eh.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

\n Gold medalist Zach Werenski of the Columbus Blue Jackets. (Steph Chambers \/ Getty Images)<\/p>\n

Oh, right\ud83d\udcc5 Back to the NHL<\/p>\n

Hoo boy, is it ever going to be tough to go back to the NHL regular season, which resumes on (checks schedule) Wednesday, I guess. Do you remember what was happening with all that? Be honest, we\u2019re all in the same boat.<\/p>\n

The good news is that you\u2019ve still got a few days to get yourself back into regular-season shape. So, here\u2019s my incredibly condensed list of what you need to know:<\/p>\n

Teams have between 23 and 27 games left to play. The season ends April 16.<\/p>\n

The hottest team in the league going into the break was the Columbus Blue Jackets, who\u2019ve won seven straight to move within four points of a wild-card spot.<\/p>\n

Also red-hot: the two Eastern Division leaders, with the Tampa Bay Lightning at 8-1-1 in their last 10 and the Carolina Hurricanes at 8-0-2. In the West, the Minnesota Wild are 8-1-1 and have won five straight to move ahead of the Dallas Stars for second in the Central, while the Anaheim Ducks are back in a wild-card spot thanks to an 8-2-0 run.<\/p>\n

A few of the contenders have gone cold, most notably the Colorado Avalanche, who\u2019ve looked mortal after seeming unbeatable in the first half. The Vegas Golden Knights are just 3-5-2 in their last 10 but still lead the Pacific as the Oilers spin their wheels.<\/p>\n

Anyone thinking about tanking had better move quickly, because the Vancouver Canucks have opened up a seven-point \u201clead\u201d for last place, while also shutting down their starting goalie for the season. The New York Rangers are sure trying, though.<\/p>\n

And finally, we\u2019re less than two weeks from the trade deadline, which is March 6 this year. That\u2019s next week! And speaking of trades, the Olympic freeze is over as of last night.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

\n Zach Parise. (Harry How \/ Getty Images)<\/p>\n

Trivia Answer<\/p>\n

The two other Team USA players to have multiple game-winning goals at the Olympics are Zach Parise and David Backes.<\/p>\n

Parise, whose father J.P. represented Canada at the legendary 1972 Summit Series, had two winners in 2010: against Switzerland in the quarterfinal and Finland in the semifinal (pictured above). He also scored the dramatic last-minute goal that sent that year\u2019s gold medal game into overtime.<\/p>\n

Backes, whose memorable pre-Olympic fight tour in 2010 saw him take on Canadians\u2019 Jonathan Toews, Corey Perry and Rick Nash over the course of two weeks, had winners against Switzerland in the 2010 prelim and against the Czechs in the quarterfinal.<\/p>\n

\ud83d\udceb Love Red Light? Check out The Athletic\u2019s other newsletters<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Red Light newsletter\u00a0\ud83c\udfd2\u00a0| This is\u00a0The Athletic\u2019s\u00a0hockey\u00a0newsletter.\u00a0Sign up here\u00a0to receive Red Light directly in your inbox. Good morning to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":468326,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[5,54125,4,2602,18],"class_list":{"0":"post-468325","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nhl","8":"tag-hockey","9":"tag-mens-olympic-ice-hockey","10":"tag-nhl","11":"tag-olympics","12":"tag-winnipeg-jets"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nhl\/116120932539572953","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/468325","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=468325"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/468325\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/468326"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=468325"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=468325"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=468325"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}