Ahead of the 2026 Winter Olympic men’s hockey tournament, Team Canada’s players were asked by popular TSN-affiliated outlet BarDown to create their “Ultimate Team Canada Player.”
To do so, the players needed to select eight Canadian players they believed best fit the following categories: speed, hands, style, IQ, toughness, heart, clutch, and shot.
Washington Capitals winger Tom Wilson, representing Canada for the first time at the senior level, was one of the participating players in the survey. Wilson had an easy time picking Nathan MacKinnon for speed and Connor McDavid for hands, but admitted that he “might need some help” choosing a player who had the best on-ice style.
After being prodded to make a pick, Wilson tried to give Canadian citizenship to his good friend and longtime Capitals teammate, legendary Russian winger Alex Ovechkin.
“Can I put a Russian in there?” Wilson asked. “Ovi, with his tinted visor and yellow laces. Honorary [Canadian].”
Ovechkin is a hockey-style icon, particularly always opting for the flashy options earlier in his career. When he first arrived in North America, the NHL’s all-time leading goal scorer popularized wearing yellow skate laces, big chains, a mirror-tinted visor that made him look like RoboCop, and a distinctive jersey tuck only he could pull off.
Juxtaposed next to most Canadian and American players from his era, Ovechkin looked like a Lamborghini playing against a bunch of Honda Civics.
After moving past the initial style discussion, Wilson then proceeded to finish picking the rest of his “Ultimate Canadian” before eventually relenting and adding Wayne Gretzky’s name next to Ovechkin’s. “I’ll go Ovi/Gretz, the two GOATs,” Wilson said.
Tom Wilson’s Ultimate Team Canada Player
- Speed: Nathan MacKinnon
- Hands: Connor McDavid
- Style: Alex Ovechkin/Wayne Gretzky
- IQ: Steve Yzerman
- Toughness: Chris Pronger
- Heart: Jarome Iginla
- Clutch: Sidney Crosby
- Shot: Shea Weber
Wilson himself was also selected by some of his Canadian teammates for the toughness category, receiving recognition from a few Eastern Conference rivals he regularly faces.
“I’ll go, Wilson,” Florida Panthers center Sam Bennett said.
“Guy that scores 30 and be tough, gimme Willy,” Tampa Lightning winger Brandon Hagel answered.
“It doesn’t get much tougher than Willy, we’ll go, Tom Wilson,” Carolina Hurricanes forward Seth Jarvis said.
Wilson, who has already made himself at home in Milan, will get his first chance to show off that toughness at the Olympics against Czechia on Thursday.
The men’s tournament officially gets underway on Tuesday morning with Slovakia playing Finland and Sweden squaring off against the host Italian team.
