{"id":95154,"date":"2025-07-26T22:14:09","date_gmt":"2025-07-26T22:14:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/95154\/"},"modified":"2025-07-26T22:14:09","modified_gmt":"2025-07-26T22:14:09","slug":"dylan-strome-wants-tom-wilson-on-team-canada-for-2026-winter-olympics-hes-the-complete-package-which-is-why-i-think-he-should-be-on-that-team","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/95154\/","title":{"rendered":"Dylan Strome wants Tom Wilson on Team Canada for 2026 Winter Olympics: \u2018He\u2019s the complete package, which is why I think he should be on that team\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

The hockey world is exactly 195 days away from the 2026 Winter Olympics in Milano-Cortina, Italy, and Washington Capitals centerman Dylan Strome<\/strong> is adamant that Washington Capitals teammate Tom Wilson<\/strong> should be on Team Canada when the first puck is dropped.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s a special player with a unique combination of talents,\u201d Strome told NHL.com\u2019s Mike Zeisberger.<\/a> \u201cHe deserves to be there.\u201d<\/p>\n

Wilson, 31, has never represented his home country at the senior level, but did help Canada earn gold medals at both the World U-17 Hockey Challenge and the Ivan Hlinka Memorial Tournament in 2011. Strome, who has played alongside Wilson on Capitals\u2019 top lines since 2022, believes the Ontario native is continually overlooked despite owning every trait Canada\u2019s coaches would want on their roster.<\/p>\n

\u201cI watch him on a nightly basis and he\u2019s the complete package, which is why I think he should be on that team,\u201d Strome explained. \u201cHe\u2019ll beat you any way you want. He\u2019s intimidating out there, sure, but he doesn\u2019t get enough credit for his offensive skills.\u201d<\/p>\n

Many thought Wilson would hear his name called to join Canada at the NHL\u2019s 4 Nations Face-off<\/a> this past season, especially when he was on a career-high pace for goals and points, but the call never came.<\/p>\n

\u201cLeading up to [4 Nations], obviously I was a little bummed not to be part of it,\u201d Wilson told Zeisberger while at a charity golf tournament earlier in the week. \u201cAnd then, leading up to it, I was like, \u2018You know what? I\u2019ll enjoy the break and not think too much about it.’\u201d<\/p>\n

Wilson recorded a career-high 65 points (33 goals, 32 assists) this past season, and he\u2019s looking to build off that performance as the Olympics inch closer.<\/p>\n

\u201cObviously, it\u2019s a dream your whole life to be mentioned in that type of realm of the guys with that type of pedigree,\u201d Wilson continued. \u201cThere\u2019s a lot of really good superstar names, and just to be even in the mix is a huge privilege. I\u2019m just going to try and play as well as I can up until the final team is announced and put my name in the hat.\u201d<\/p>\n

At the 2022 Beijing Olympics, the medal podium was shockingly devoid of both Team Canada and Team USA. Both countries were only able to field teams with college players and non-NHLers, but that\u2019s changing this cycle. The league is permitting its players to participate for the first time since the 2014 Sochi Games and the 4 Nations competition, which Canada ultimately won in a dramatic overtime final<\/a>, served as a warmup to the Milan competition in February.<\/p>\n

\u201cAll I could think about is that I wished I was there. So much. So badly,\u201d Wilson told NHL.com about his thoughts while watching the 4 Nations Face-off from home.<\/p>\n

He found it especially tough to miss out on the epic brawls that broke out between Canada and the US just seconds into their round-robin matchup.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

\u201cThe way that started, I mean, it just added to how much I wanted to be in that game, be part of the team,\u201d Wilson lamented.<\/p>\n

Wilson is the NHL\u2019s active leader in penalty minutes (1,532), but he credits the talents and wisdom of Capitals teammates over his 12-year career for helping him develop from an enforcer into a key cog in the franchise\u2019s offensive wheelhouse. A balanced skill set that could make him an attractive pick for Canada\u2019s brass.<\/p>\n

\u201cConfidence is a big thing in our world, and seeing pucks go into the net definitely helps in that regard,\u201d Wilson said. \u201cOver my time in the NHL, I\u2019ve been blessed with some great coaches and teammates that helped give me more responsibility on the ice in each passing year. And for me, I think the biggest thing was just trying to take advantage of that.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was going to do whatever it took to make the league. I wanted to play in the NHL, and whether that was fighting a tough guy on the other team or chipping in on the penalty kill, I just wanted to do whatever it took. And then, when you play with world-class players like [Alex] Ovechkin, Nick Backstrom, TJ Oshie, Evgeny Kuznetsov, those guys helped me develop as a player and have helped me have a very cool run in my career.\u201d<\/p>\n

Team Canada is scheduled to hold an Olympic training camp in Calgary in August, and Wilson is widely expected to receive an invitation<\/a>. It\u2019ll be his first opportunity to impress the coaching staff, led by Tampa Bay Lightning bench boss Jon Cooper, before the 2025-26 NHL season gets underway.<\/p>\n

Canada announced the first six players named to its Olympic roster<\/a> in June. The list includes forwards Sidney Crosby (Pittsburgh Penguins), Nathan MacKinnon (Colorado Avalanche), Connor McDavid (Edmonton Oilers), Brayden Point (Tampa Bay Lightning), and Sam Reinhart (Florida Panthers), and defenseman Cale Makar (Avalanche).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The hockey world is exactly 195 days away from the 2026 Winter Olympics in Milano-Cortina, Italy, and Washington…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":95155,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[42],"tags":[293,62,67,132,68],"class_list":{"0":"post-95154","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nhl","8":"tag-nhl","9":"tag-sports","10":"tag-united-states","11":"tag-unitedstates","12":"tag-us"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/114921843444705681","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/95154","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=95154"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/95154\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/95155"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=95154"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=95154"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=95154"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}