EDMONTON — Connor McDavid says the Olympic experience finally feels real after the Edmonton Oilers center was named to Team Canada on Wednesday for the 2026 Cortina Games in Milan.
“As a player, I'm just excited about the fact that everything is becoming more real, the team joining, the team being announced, the Olympics are getting closer, getting more and more real every day,” said McDavid, who missed the 2022 Olympics after the NHL decided not to participate.
McDavid said one of the six players added to the roster over the summer still has weight.
“Everyone wants to earn their spot, so I'm incredibly honored to be on this team,” McDavid said Wednesday after the Edmonton Oilers' morning skate before their game against Boston. “It's an incredible honor to represent my country at the Olympic Games, the biggest sporting event in the world. An incredible honor.”
The NHL's leading scorer said he was disappointed Edmonton teammates Zach Hyman and Evan Bouchard did not make the list.
“I know how much he wanted to be on this team,” McDavid said of Hyman, his teammate who missed the first two months of the season with a wrist injury. “He did everything he could to come back, maybe too early, just to give himself a little more chance to take off. And he played great. It's disappointing.”
With the selection process complete, McDavid said the focus now shifts to upcoming opportunities.
“I'm excited about it, the guys here are excited, Leon (Draisaitl, who will play for Germany). It's a great opportunity for us, something we've never done before,” he said.
The only change McDavid didn't face before last winter's Four Nations was preparing his game to peak in February, rather than April, for the NHL playoffs. That means looking for ways to improve a game that has already been moving at a breakneck pace in recent weeks in the middle of the season.
“You have to find a way to peak in February that is unique in that sense,” he said. “I haven't had that experience before; last year it was a new experience. You go from a sleepy regular season game, midseason, to being in what's like Game 7 of the playoffs a couple of days later.”
“It's going to be the same thing this year. It's really important that the guys improve their games and obviously I personally feel like I'm trying to do that too. Make sure my game is in good shape before the Olympics.”
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Dec. 31, 2025.
