Blackhawks' Blashill calls out Hockey Canada for Connor Bedard Olympic snub

Chicago Blackhawks head coach Jeff Blashill thinks Hockey Canada made a huge mistake leaving off Connor Bedard from the recently announced roster.

Blashill came to the defense of his star player, who is currently on the IR with a shoulder injury. Blashill feels Bedard can help Canada win a gold medal, and be a huge reason for their success, much like he's seen in Chicago this season.

I have a ton of respect for how hard these decisions are. Honestly, Canada, the U.S., Sweden, you have a lot of really good players that you’re going to ultimately leave off these teams. The one thing I would say is, I don’t think the rest of the league knows how good of a two-way winning hockey player Connor has become. The reason why I know he’s a big-time winning hockey player is when he was in our lineup, we were one point out of the wild card, and since then we’re 1-6-1. You don’t have that impact if you’re just a point getter. You only have that impact if you’re a true two-way kind of winning player, and that’s what he’s become.

Jeff Blashill on Connor Bedard not making Team Canada's Olympic roster:

"I don't think the rest of the league knows how good of a two-way winning hockey player Connor has become."

His full answer was perfect. The stat cards and defensive metrics used to show a player's… pic.twitter.com/RN5ShqOqmC
— BHF (@BlackhawksFocus) January 1, 2026

Bedard is expected to return to the lineup in the next few days, and would have been long ready to the Canadian lineup in February. There's still an outside chance he gets selected as an injury replacement, but as you can see from Blashill's comments, the Blackhawks coach feels Canada made a huge mistake.

Along with Bedard, Sam Bennett, Seth Jarvis, Mark Scheifele, and Matthew Schaefer are all players who many have questioned why they're weren't originally selected. Especially Bennett, who was a star for Canada at the 4 Nations Faceoff, and followed that up by winning another Stanley Cup with the Florida Panthers, and taking home the Conn Smythe award as playoff MVP.

As for Bedard, he's taken huge strides with his game this season in all three zones and continues to put up points, scoring 19 goals and 44 points in just 31 games this season.

Do you think Canada made a mistake? Let us know in the comments.