United States GM Guerin says ‘we have to win’ at 2026 Olympics

NHL players will participate in the Olympic Winter Games Milano Cortina 2026 this February, the first time since 2014 the best players in the world will be on the Olympic stage. NHL.com will post a story each Monday to count down to the 2026 Olympics. Today, a sit-down with Team USA general manager Bill Guerin:

Bill Guerin understands one color matters for the United States entry at the Olympic Winter Games Milano Cortina 2026.

Gold.

"We have to win," Guerin said. "We have to win another one of these. It's been since 1996. We just have to find a way."

The United States, which won its first IIHF World Championship since 1933 in May, has not finished first in a best-on-best international tournament since Guerin was a forward with the U.S. at the 1996 World Cup of Hockey.

He's now the general manager for the Americans at the 2026 Olympics, the first time NHL players will participate at the Games since Sochi in 2014. The men's tournament will start with preliminary games Feb. 11, with the gold-medal game set for Feb. 22.

"I just have good memories, lots of experience to kind of fall back on," said Guerin, who won silver at the 2002 Salt Lake City Olympics and competed at the 1998 Nagano Olympics and 2006 Torino Olympics. "I've had a big win in 1996, but there was also some disappointment, so I know what, in my mind, what went wrong in tournaments we didn't succeed in.

"That's where I think my playing experience can help me. In the end, we just need our players to buy in and assume roles and play a team game. We're getting that."

The process is underway.

Six players were named to the preliminary roster for Team USA on June 16: forwards Jack Eichel (Vegas Golden Knights), Auston Matthews (Toronto Maple Leafs), Brady Tkachuk (Ottawa Senators) and Matthew Tkachuk (Florida Panthers), and defensemen Charlie McAvoy (Boston Bruins) and Quinn Hughes (Vancouver Canucks).

Each was selected for the 4 Nations Face-Off, where Team USA lost to Canada in overtime of the championship game. Hughes could not participate because of an oblique injury.

"I think we're very happy with the way the guys performed at the 4 Nations," Guerin said. "The buy-in was incredible. We can start there, but we have to account for injuries and things like that. Everybody might not be available. We don't know. So we have to go through the whole thing again knowing that we have a good foundation."

Guerin discussed lessons learned at the 4 Nations Face-off and what to expect at the Olympics with NHL.com.

What did you learn from the process of the 4 Nations and what you saw out of the team and individual players?

"Honestly? First of all, the game is so good right now. It's not an All-Star Game. It is best-on-best, and that means offense, defense, special teams, all those things. Everything's important. The margin for error is very, very slim."

After going through that process and having that 4 Nations experience, is there anything you might change in your approach to building your Olympics roster?

"The 4 Nations ... we knew the schedule, we knew who we were going to play, right? We knew we were going to play Sweden, Finland and Canada. Now we don't know who we're going to match up against. I guess you really just have to figure out how you want your team to play, and go with that, not worry so much about the other teams."

How difficult a temptation is it to not just build an All-Star team and see what happens?

"I mean, that's it. You have to fight the urge, you know? We're in such a good place right now with the American player pool and we have so many guys to choose from that it does make it tough. We left some really good players off of the 4 Nations team, and we're going to have to do the same thing with the Olympic team. But we're going to take the guys we feel are going to give us the best chance to win. It doesn't always come down to points. It comes down to fit and role and all that stuff. But it's tough."

How did you deal with the discourse that Player X or Player Y was snubbed when you create a roster for a team?

"You feel bad for the guys that don't make it because they probably could've. That's just kind of the way it is. I hated making the calls at the end to the guys that weren't making the team and were having great years. But that's why I'm in this position. I make the final decision, but I go through it with my staff. But those calls are no fun to make."

What's the biggest debate or where are you having the most issue when trying to get down to your final roster with the pool that you have?

"It's in the best spot it's ever been. I would say that one of the biggest things ... sometimes we're talking about guys we don't really know as people, and that's such a big part of it. When you have your NHL team you can make decisions on a guy's character and this and that. We don't really have that information, necessarily. We don't have that time spent with them. That's a big reason I [went to the World Championship this time], to get to know some of these guys and see how they operate and know their personalities a little bit. That's really important."

What did the 4 Nations do for hockey in the United States?

"I think it was huge. I think it opened up a lot of eyes how great the game is, how exciting it can be, and when we have best-on-best and it's Canada and the U.S. going at it, I think people just saw how great the game is and how entertaining and fun it can be. Honestly, I couldn't believe it. I thought it was amazing. It was a great experience. It was a great tournament. It did a lot of good for the game in this country."