Really? 2 Oilers Stars Didn’t Even Make Writer’s Olympic Snub List

If you thought the Olympic roster snubs were already getting ridiculous, somehow it got worse. Much worse for fans of the Edmonton Oilers. Forwards Ryan Nugent-Hopkins and Zach Hyman didn’t just miss Team Canada for the 2026 Milano Cortina Olympics — they didn’t even crack Matt Larkin’s Olympic All-Snub Team for Daily Faceoff. Sure, it’s just one writer’s opinion, but what the heck are we doing here?

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Larkin’s All-Snub exercise was meant to be fun, and to his credit, it nails a lot of obvious omissions. Connor Bedard. Seth Jarvis. Jason Robertson. Adam Fox, even Edmonton’s Evan Bouchard. All defensible choices. But when you step back and look at who didn’t even make the cut for a fake team made up entirely of players left off real Olympic rosters, the absence of Nugent-Hopkins and Hyman jumps off the page.

Why No Ryan Nugent-Hopkins?

Nugent-Hopkins is not flashy. He’s not the sexy pick. What he is, is one of the NHL’s more elite two-way centers, who can also play wing with the best player in the world. His numbers are excellent, he kills penalties, can be the swing man on the NHL’s top power play, is absolutely beloved by Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl, and plays every role you ask of him at a high level.

He’s versatile enough to play on any line for Team Canada, can play in all situations, and is defensively responsible enough to be trusted in tight games. If Team Canada wanted a Swiss Army Knife for its Canadian roster, RNH is basically the prototype. You don’t leave that off your second-best version of this team.

But, because he’s older, has had seasons where he wasn’t a point-per-game player, and is on a team with McDavid and Draisaitl, his impact is often overlooked.

Why No Zach Hyman?

Zach Hyman is somehow still treated like a system passenger, even though he’s one of the most reliable goal scorers in the NHL. Hyman scores at five-on-five. He scores on the power play. He wins puck battles, goes to the dirty areas, and plays with an edge that Canada supposedly values so much in international tournaments. You want net-front chaos, and the ultimate team guy? That’s Zach Hyman’s entire brand.

As for why he might not be included on the all-snub team? Maybe it’s because McDavid wouldn’t be on that roster, and one of the reasons Hyman would have been considered for the first team is to give McDavid his linemate and winger to ensure McDavid goes off offensively.

Larkin’s All-Snub Team Just Snubbed the Oilers

As five different writers make their own snub team, you’ll get five different rosters. In Larkin’s case, however, the wild part is that Larkin’s snub team includes plenty of players with legitimate warts — injury concerns, defensive issues, or perceived stylistic flaws. Yet two of the most consistent, playoff-proven forwards in the league didn’t even get an honorable mention. At some point, this stops being about roster fit and starts feeling like reputation inertia.

Best-on-best hockey is back, and that’s great. But when players like Nugent-Hopkins and Hyman can’t even make a hypothetical list of “players we messed up by leaving off,” it raises a bigger question: is there a bias against the Oilers and how close they’ve gotten in the NHL, but not been able to win it all?

Because if those two aren’t even worthy of a snub, something’s gone sideways.

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