The 2026 Milan Olympics wil feature NHL players in the Men's Ice Hockey competition for the first time since 2012. After a legendary 4 Nations Face-Off Championship Game, Canada and the USA both have gold medal aspirations. Former Team Canada GMs Wayne Gretzky and Steve Yzerman spoke with The Athletic's Pierre LeBrun about the pressure Doug Armstrong is under before the Olympics.
“The two pressure points are when you announce the team and then once the tournament starts,” Yzerman said. “As it should be for Canada, anything less than the gold medal is not a successful tournament. You watch all these World Juniors, and (when it’s) single-game elimination, anything can happen, as we saw in 1998 (Nagano Olympics), when I played. We were playing really well and lost in a shootout.”
“Any team that’s picked — you pick a team, I pick a team, Army (Armstrong) picks a team — it’s going to be a good team because Canada has so many good players. Hopefully you win, and if you don’t win, you didn’t pick the right team,” Yzerman continued. The Hall of Famer built the 2010 and 2014 Canada Olympic teams, both of which won Gold.
“I hate to say this, but I was at the condo I was staying in (in Salt Lake City) when the kid (from Belarus) scored against the Swedes,” Gretzky told LeBrun about the 2002 Olympics. “I think I almost jumped out of the balcony, I was so excited we didn’t have to face Sweden in that semifinal.”
The Canadians smoked Belarus and beat the US in Salt Lake in 2002 to win Gold. Gretzky's legacy was already solidified, but one more Gold Medal made it even better.
Doug Armstrong has a big act to follow after Canada's win at the 4 Nations. Can he build the right team to win another Gold for the Red and White?
