Zach Werenski should have been one of the first six players named to team USA for next year's Olympic Games

The 12 teams competing at the 2026 Olympic Games have started announcing their rosters today. Each country is selecting six players ahead of this summer, with the remainder to be named at a future date. Team USA announced their picks this afternoon, a list that does not include Blue Jackets defenseman Zach Werenski.

I get that Zach will almost certainly make the team and be a big part of it. He should, anyway. After all, he was a big part of team USA at the 4 Nations Faceoff. Big enough to lead the entire tournament in scoring. He also helped lead the Americans to a World Championship this spring; their first since 1933.

All of this after capping off an 81 game season where he scored 23 goals and 82 points. He led the Jackets in scoring by 8 points, and finished second in the Norris Trophy race behind only Colorado's Cale Makar. And yet, he's still somehow passed over for this honor from team USA.

It's not that the players on here aren't deserving of being on the Olympic squad. All of them should be on the final roster. Auston Matthews is undoubtedly the most talented scorer team USA will have. Jack Eichel played extremely well in a starring role for the Americans at the 4 Nations Faceoff. And, Matthew Tkachuk is arguably the best two-way winger in all of hockey right now. This trio all makes sense.

But, while Quinn Hughes is a terrific player and he does have a case for being there, should he be on this list ahead of Werenski? He finished third - just behind Zach - in the Norris Trophy race this year, playing in only 68 games. Had he been healthy, it was probably a toss-up between him and Werenski for second place in the Norris running.

The problem is: he didn't stay healthy. You can call me biased if you want, I'll admit to that. But, Werenski stayed healthy and had a better season than Quinn this year. Part of playing at the highest level in a short tournament, is having the ability to absorb checks and play through it. The only argument I'll accept here is that these two both should be on this list. But, that would leave off another guy (Jaccob Slavin) who probably deserves mention as well.

Where the real had scratching begins, is with Charlie McAvoy and Brady Tkachuk. I would argue that both should have been left off of this preliminary group in favor of Zach Werenski and someone else. Maybe that someone else should be Jaccob Slavin.

Don't get me wrong, both of them are great players and they deserve a spot on the team. McAvoy is a legitimate #1 defenseman in the NHL, and on what has been a great team. But, this season he was limited to just 50 games because of an injury/infection suffered at the 4 Nations Faceoff. In those 50 games, he scored 23 points. This is well off of his career average 0.61 points per game pace.

The younger Tkachuk scored 29 goals and 55 points for the Ottawa Senators this season. That tied him with Troy Terry for 104th in the NHL in scoring - one point ahead of Adam Fantilli. Yes, Brady (a forward) had fewer points than Zach Werenski (a defenseman) had assists this year; and he still gets one of the first 6 spots for team USA.

Bizarre, to say the least. Hopefully Zach keeps proving everyone wrong. I have a hunch he'll lead team USA in ice time at the Olympics, despite being snubbed on this list.