Well, by now, if you are an American hockey fan with a pulse, you have likely seen that the USA Olympic roster has been announced, and people aren’t too thrilled to see a few key names heading to Italy in February. While the info leaked a few days prior, it doesn’t lessen the sting for Stars fans in particular, and you can’t blame them. Former Dallas Star Bill Guerin and the USA Hockey Committee have seemingly taken the Herb Brooks approach of picking the best players, but the right players.
Jason Robertson has been an absolute scoring machine in the 2025-26 NHL season. As of December 29th, Robo led all American-born skaters in scoring. Yes, that includes every single player selected on the USA roster for the 2026 Olympic team. The question that everyone is asking is simply, why? Why not Robertson? What has Robo not done to convince the committee to select him to represent America in the Olympics? Let’s take a quick look.
If you have been watching the rise of Jason Robertson, a few things stand out. Robo will never win fastest skater at an NHL All-Star Game. It’s something that has stood out to me personally for his entire career. Whether it is technique or ability, Robo isn’t fast. That being said, Robo doesn’t need to be. Robo finds his way to the slot or sees openings outside the dots, and Robo capitalizes on each opportunity. A prime example is one of the numerous turnaround goals Robo scores regularly, where Robo seemingly whips around at the snap of a finger and delivers the puck to the back of the net. See below for one of many examples.
Another reason for the snub could be due to a lack of physicality. The Four Nations tournament in 2025 showed us one thing above all: these players wanted nothing more than to lay everything on the line for their countries. A strong presence is desperately needed on the ice for any national-represented games being played. The thing is, Robo doesn’t need that as part of his game. He has proven that he can make up for a lack of physicality by creating chances on the offensive end, but when Robertson sees a chance to create offense by throwing the body around, he does.
We could go on and on about how this snub and the seemingly similar snubs of guys like Cole Caufield or Adam Fox are going to be the make-or-break difference in the USA winning gold for the first time since the Miracle on Ice in 1980, but for a team picking the right guys and not the best guys and you have eight silver medals and one bronze medal to show for it in over 30 years? I guess that just leaves us all scratching our heads a bit after the roster was revealed.
Surely, Bill Guering has something to say about it, right?
Oh. Nevermind.
The Morning Skate 