For the first time since 2014, NHL players from the United States will be competing at the Olympic Games. Team USA's opening matchup of the 2026 Milan Cortina Games is against Latvia, a team that features several current and former NHL players as well. The U.S. is led by arguably the strongest collection of talent to ever represent the country in international best-on-best competition, including a 1-2 punch of Auston Matthews and Jack Eichel at center, do-everything defensemen like Quinn Hughes,
Jones was moved to long-term injured reserve Monday after he sustained an upper-body injury in the first period of the Panthers' 5-1 loss to the New York Rangers in the Winter Classic on Jan. 2. The 31-year-old Jones was initially considered to be out on a week-to-week basis. But the decision to move him to LTIR raised questions about whether he would be healthy before the United States men's national team plays its first game at the Olympics on Feb. 12 against Latvia in Milan.