Guerin sets tone for USA ahead of 2026 Olympics: 'We have to win'
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United States general manager Bill Guerin is setting a clear expectation for the team he will build for the upcoming 2026 Olympics in Italy.
"We have to win," Guerin told Aaron Vickers of NHL.com. "We have to win another one of these. It's been since 1996. We just have to find a way."
Guerin was a forward on the 1996 World Cup of Hockey team that last claimed gold for Team USA at a best-on-best tournament. The United States finished second at the 4 Nations Face-Off earlier this year and has silver medals from Vancouver 2010 and Salt Lake City 2002, falling to Canada in the final of each of those events.
The United States did break through for a gold medal the IIHF world hockey championship in May, their first win at the tournament in 92 years.
Jack Eichel, Auston Matthews, Brady Tkachuk, Matthew Tkachuk, Charlie McAvoy and Quinn Hughes were the first six players named to Team USA's roster in June. Hughes was forced to miss the entire 4 Nations Face-Off due to injury, while McAvoy exited the tournament with an injury after two games.
While Guerin has plenty of star power to choose from, he's looking to avoid building an All-Star team and instead build a complete team to fight for the gold medal.
"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," Guerin said. "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."
Team USA will play Latvia in their Olympic opener Feb. 12 followed by Denmark and Germany on Feb. 14 and 15, respectively in Group C. All 12 teams will be ranked after the preliminary round with the group winners and the second-place team with the best record qualifying for the quarter-finals directly and the other eight teams playing a qualification round to advance.