Last month, Minnesota general manager Bill Guerin chose Quinn Hughes, bringing the star defenseman to the Wild in an effort to produce big wins in May and even June. On Friday, in his role as Team USA’s general manager for the upcoming 2026 Winter Olympics, Guerin chose Hughes again.
The American roster which will seek the nation’s first gold medal since the 1980 Miracle On Ice will include three players with whom Guerin is quite familiar, with Hughes, defenseman Brock Faber and forward Matt Boldy headed to Milan and Cortina for the games.
Faber, who is from Maple Grove, was among four Minnesotans picked for the squad, which is quite similar to the 4 Nations Face-Off roster Guerin put together a year ago. That team brought home a silver medal after falling to Canada in overtime of the title game. Other Minnesotans headed to the Olympics include Colorado forward Brock Nelson (Warroad), Tampa Bay forward Jake Guentzel (Woodbury) and Dallas goalie Jake Oettinger (Lakeville).
More than anything, Guerin said, the U.S. was looking for a similar chemistry to what they saw in the Team USA locker room and on the ice at 4 Nations 11 months ago.
“I liked the way we played. Everybody was together. Everybody played the right way, adhered to the game plan,” Guerin said in a Zoom call with reporters on Friday morning. “But the biggest thing for me, I think, was the chemistry. The chemistry allowed the guys to play the way they did.”
The trio of Americans from the Wild will see several teammates chasing gold in Italy. Team Sweden will include goalies Filip Gustavsson and Jesper Wallstedt, defenseman Jonas Brodin and forward Joel Eriksson Ek. There had been some hope that Marcus Johansson, having a superlative season for the Wild, would be named to the Swedish roster. He was not.
Wild center Nico Sturm will play for Team Germany, giving Minnesota eight NHLers in the Games. There is a chance that a few Wild minor-leaguers could be named to national teams as well. Defenseman David Jiricek, who has split time between Minnesota and Iowa, is a candidate for Team Czechia.
Hughes, who came to the Wild in a December trade, will be looked upon to bring some of the same attributes to the Americans as are currently being seen on the Minnesota blue line.
“His skating is fantastic, his ability to help us get out of our own zone and to move the puck up the ice as quick as possible by either skating it or moving it quickly,” Guerin said. “He always seems to be one step ahead. I know what he’s done for our Wild team and I think it’s been incredible.”
Team USA head coach Mike Sullivan was asked if he will continue to pair Hughes and Faber, as the Wild do, but replied that nothing it etched in stone.
In addition to Guerin’s work picking the team, Wild head coach John Hynes will be an assistant for Sullivan — currently the head coach of the New York Rangers — and three members of the Wild medical team will be in Italy, as well.
Among those who opened some eyes but did not make the team were defenseman Adam Fox and forward Jason Robertson, who is currently one of the top American scorers in the NHL. Guerin did not entertain questions about specific players and why they were not selected.
“Those guys are all great players, too,” he said, noting that if statistics alone were the only criteria for making the roster, there would be no need for a general manager. “I understand that, but we have to make a team.”
Former Gophers star Matthew Knies, who skated for Team USA at the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing, also was left off the roster.
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