It's been nearly 12 years since an Olympic gold medal hung around Sidney Crosby's neck.
From scoring the golden goal in 2010 to leading his team back to the top in 2014, it seemed like this was just the beginning of what we'd see from the Cole Harbor, North Carolina star on the Olympic stage.
That's how these opportunities disappeared into thin air. NHL players did not participate in the 2018 Olympics due to a dispute between the league and the International Hockey Federation, mainly over who would foot the bill. Then the global pandemic delayed the NHL's return to Beijing in 2022.
Now, at 38, Crosby is finally back on the greatest international stage, poised for another golden moment. It is a foregone conclusion that he will become the captain of this team in Italy.
“Missing them and not knowing what was going to happen, and now knowing that we're finally coming back, that's motivation in itself,” Crosby said in an exclusive interview with CBC Olympics host Ariel Helwani earlier this year. “That's what I think about the most. I'm just making the most of this opportunity here.”
Sidney Crosby sits down with Ariel Helwani to talk about his motivation this season as the 2026 Winter Olympics approach, what it takes to compete for Canada on the world stage again and the untold stories of the iconic 2010 golden goal.
The three-time Stanley Cup champion will be joined on the Pittsburgh Penguins roster by two stars who dominated the NHL for several years but never made it to the Olympics: Nathan MacKinnon and Connor McDavid.
They form a forward group that should be Canada's strongest side when the team plays its first game on Feb. 12.
Like his fellow Nova Scotians, MacKinnon lifted the Cup. McDavid didn't. Over the past two seasons, he's come tantalizingly close, but not close enough.
The overtime win at the Four Nations earlier this year may have been the biggest goal of McDavid's career. Winning the Olympics will cement his legacy in the sport and he will finally have the chance to do so.
“Guys like him crave that pressure and crave being in that place,” Jeff Marek, host Leaf with Jeff Marek podcast on The Nation Network, says CBC Sports Hockey North on Wednesday.
While McDavid scored the winning goal against the USA in the 4 Nations, McLean Celebrini had to watch from home. Not this time. Celebrini will go to Italy.
The 19-year-old San Jose Sharks star was just three years old when Crosby scored the golden goal in 2010. At Milan they could be line partners.
Celebrini made his way onto that team by early December when Canadian management put together a list of 12 forwards who were locks. General manager Doug Armstrong personally broke the news to Celebrini on Wednesday morning.
Host Carissa Donkin and hockey analyst Jeff Marek react to the Canadian men's hockey team lineup for Milan Cortina 2026.
It was full circle last season when Armstrong met with Celebrini early in his rookie season before a game against Armstrong's St. Louis Blues. The GM told him that Celebrini wasn't on the radar of the Four Nations face-off at the time, but he was still preparing to compete in the Olympics.
That night, the teen put in a multi-point effort. The statement has been made.
“What McLean will be able to do is start the learning process while competing,” Armstrong told CBC Sports.
Versatility preferred by Canadian management
Missing from the lineup is Connor Bedard, Chicago's young star who was having a stellar season before an apparent shoulder injury sidelined him in early December.
Bedard was “very close” to making the team and his name was on the team until the very end.
But management preferred to select players to fill specific roles. That meant prioritizing the penalty-killing ability of Brandon Hagel and Anthony Cirelli over Bedard's stunning playmaking prowess, a decision that could come back to haunt Canada if scoring becomes an issue in Italy.
Versatile players such as Montreal Canadiens captain Nick Suzuki and six-foot-four Tom Wilson also had an advantage. The larger Wilson, who has been in good scoring and point form throughout his career year with the Washington Capitals, may have made the team at the expense of reigning Conn Smythe Trophy winner Sam Bennett.
Hockey Canada announces the Men's Olympic Hockey Team, with NHL players returning for the 2026 Winter Games.
“The game changes and the skill level changes, but where you score goals from rarely changes,” Armstrong said of best-on-the-best hockey. “It's in the hard, ugly blue paint areas, and no one enjoys going there more than Tom Wilson.”
Versatility is also what attracted New York Islanders forward Bo Horvat to the team. An ace at the faceoff dot, he can play all the way down the line. He will be a Swiss army knife for head coach John Cooper.
“No matter what they tell me to do, I’ll do it,” Horvath said Wednesday. “If it’s washing water bottles, I’ll do anything to be there.”
Newspaper headlines about Binnington are covered in question marks.
While there were a few additions to the forward group that didn't win at the 4 Nations, Hockey Canada decided to stick with all eight defensemen who competed in the tournament.
That included Drew Doughty, who would join Crosby as the team's only Olympic medalists. In addition to what he brings to the ice, the two-time Stanley Cup winner brings veteran experience and an understanding of what it takes to win at the highest level.
“He wants to win again,” Armstrong said. “He wears his passion on his sleeve and it’s infectious to everyone.”
This is a defensive group that Cooper and his staff are very familiar with. It is led by the best pairing of NHL defensemen in recent years: Devon Toews and Cale Makar.
Nineteen-year-old McLean Celebrini will join Sidney Crosby, Connor McDavid and Nathan MacKinnon on Canada's men's Olympic hockey team as NHL players return to winter games for the first time in more than a decade.
If there is one chink in Canada's defensive armor, it could be on the power play if Makar goes down due to illness or injury. Evan Bouchard, Jakob Chykrun and impressive rookie Matthew Schaefer remain at home and could provide additional insurance for Makar.
But the crease is a much bigger concern. If the forward group is Canada's superpower, then its goaltenders are its kryptonite.
Canada has Jordan Binnington, Logan Thompson and Darcy Kuemper on hand. All three won cups, and Thompson and Kuemper were among the top goaltenders in the NHL that season.
Binnington was strong for Canada in overtime of the Four Nations win over the United States, which played a role for Armstrong and his team despite a dismal season in St. Louis.
Gone are the days of Patrick Roy, Martin Brodeur and Carey Price being legitimate leaders in goal, goalies who showed up without question marks.
Armstrong may understand that Canada's weakness is in goal, but he is comfortable with the goaltenders who will represent Canada.
“I think it’s stronger than they think,” the general manager said.
Canada opens the tournament against the Czech Republic on Feb. 12 at 10:40 a.m. ET.
The gold medal game is scheduled for February 22.
