The United States will enter this year’s men’s hockey world championships in an unusual position: defending champion.
Team USA won a gold medal at the International Ice Hockey Federation tournament last spring for the first time since 1933.
Advertisement
This year’s team has only two returnees and will be less star-studded than the 2025 one The big exception is Florida Panthers forward Matthew Tkachuk, a two-time Stanley Cup winner and U.S. Olympian.
Some of the players from last year aren’t available because they were or are in the playoffs, such as Tage Thompson, Clayton Keller, Jackson Lacombe, Cutter Gauthier and Jeremy Swayman. Plus, there’s no Olympics as an incentive to suit up.
Here is the Team USA roster and some takeaways:
1 / 45
NHL awards finalists: Who’s up for 2025-26 regular season awards?
The NHL is announcing the finalists for the Hart Trophy and the other major awards. Here’s who is in the running (listed alphabetically):
1 / 45
NHL awards finalists: Who’s up for 2025-26 regular season awards?
The NHL is announcing the finalists for the Hart Trophy and the other major awards. Here’s who is in the running (listed alphabetically):
2 / 45
NHL awards finalists: Who’s up for 2025-26 regular season awards?
Jack Adams Award (coach) finalist: Tampa Bay Lightning’s Jon Cooper
3 / 45
NHL awards finalists: Who’s up for 2025-26 regular season awards?
Jack Adams finalist: Pittsburgh Penguins’ Dan Muse
4 / 45
NHL awards finalists: Who’s up for 2025-26 regular season awards?
Jack Adams finalist: Buffalo Sabres’ Lindy Ruff
5 / 45
NHL awards finalists: Who’s up for 2025-26 regular season awards?
Vezina Trophy (goaltender) New York Islanders’ Ilya Sorokin
6 / 45
NHL awards finalists: Who’s up for 2025-26 regular season awards?
Vezina finalist: Boston Bruins’ Jeremy Swayman
7 / 45
NHL awards finalists: Who’s up for 2025-26 regular season awards?
Vezina finalist: Tampa Bay Lightning’s Andrei Vasilevskiy
8 / 45
NHL awards finalists: Who’s up for 2025-26 regular season awards?
Lady Byng Trophy (sportsmanship) finalist: Montreal Canadiens right wing Cole Caufield
9 / 45
NHL awards finalists: Who’s up for 2025-26 regular season awards?
Lady Byng finalist: Los Angeles Kings’ Anze Kopitar.
10 / 45
NHL awards finalists: Who’s up for 2025-26 regular season awards?
Lady Byng finalist: Ottawa Senators defenseman Jake Sanderson
11 / 45
NHL awards finalists: Who’s up for 2025-26 regular season awards?
Ted Lindsay Award (most outstanding player) finalist: San Jose Sharks center Macklin Celebrini
12 / 45
NHL awards finalists: Who’s up for 2025-26 regular season awards?
Ted Lindsay finalist: Tampa Bay Lightning forward Nikita Kucherov
13 / 45
NHL awards finalists: Who’s up for 2025-26 regular season awards?
Ted Lindsay finalist: Edmonton Oilers center Connor McDavid
14 / 45
NHL awards finalists: Who’s up for 2025-26 regular season awards?
Masterton Trophy (perseverance) nominee: Anaheim Ducks goaltender Ville Husso
15 / 45
NHL awards finalists: Who’s up for 2025-26 regular season awards?
Masterton nominee: Boston Bruins defenseman Charlie McAvoy
16 / 45
NHL awards finalists: Who’s up for 2025-26 regular season awards?
NHL awards finalists: Who’s up for 2025-26 regular season awards?
Masterton nominee: Philadelphia Flyers left wing Garrett Wilson
35 / 45
NHL awards finalists: Who’s up for 2025-26 regular season awards?
Masterton nominee: Pittsburgh Penguins right wing Anthony Mantha
36 / 45
NHL awards finalists: Who’s up for 2025-26 regular season awards?
Masterton nominee: St. Louis Blues goaltender Jordan Binnington
37 / 45
NHL awards finalists: Who’s up for 2025-26 regular season awards?
Masterton nominee: San Jose Sharks goalie Laurent Brossoit
38 / 45
NHL awards finalists: Who’s up for 2025-26 regular season awards?
Masterton nominee: Seattle Kraken right wing Jordan Eberle
39 / 45
NHL awards finalists: Who’s up for 2025-26 regular season awards?
Masterton nominee: Tampa Bay Lightning defenseman Darren Raddysh
40 / 45
NHL awards finalists: Who’s up for 2025-26 regular season awards?
Masterton nominee: Toronto Maple Leafs defenseman Oliver Ekman-Larsson
41 / 45
NHL awards finalists: Who’s up for 2025-26 regular season awards?
Masterton nominee: Utah Mammoth right wing Clayton Keller
42 / 45
NHL awards finalists: Who’s up for 2025-26 regular season awards?
Masterton nominee: Vancouver Canucks goalie Kevin Lankinen
43 / 45
NHL awards finalists: Who’s up for 2025-26 regular season awards?
Masterton nominee: Vegas Golden Knights goaltender Akira Schmid
44 / 45
NHL awards finalists: Who’s up for 2025-26 regular season awards?
Masterton nominee: Washington Capitals left wing Alex Ovechkin
45 / 45
NHL awards finalists: Who’s up for 2025-26 regular season awards?
Masterton nominee: Winnipeg Jets center Jonathan Toews
Team USA world championships preliminary roster
Goaltenders
Defensemen
Forwards
Ryker Lee, Michigan State
Max Plante, Minnesota-Duluth
Matthew Tkachuk, Panthers
Team USA roster takeaways
Howard and Lohrei are the only returnees from last year.
Leonard and Hagens made up two-thirds of the top line for the gold medal-winning USA team at the 2025 world junior championships. The third linemate, Gabriel Perreault isn’t at this tournament.
Howard and Plante are the last two winners of the Hobey Baker Award.
When and where are the world championshps?
The tournament will be held from May 15 to 31 in Fribourg and Zurich, Switzerland.
Advertisement
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: USA world championships team has different look as it defends gold
