Matthew Knies left off Team USA roster despite career year

Friday morning came with the announcement of Team USA's Olympic roster as GM Bill Guerin was keeping his cards close to his chest as to who he was bringing aboard for the 2026 Winter Games, although we already had the first six players named.

Auston Matthews, Matthew Tkachuk, Brady Tkachuk, Quinn Hughes, Jack Eichel, and Charlie McAvoy were all previously appointed, but the question became then: who is going to join them?

Well, we now know and it seems like Matthew Knies has been left of the list despite his fantastic start to the season, and it puts an end to his goal of making the Team USA roster

There's no doubt the roster is absolutely loaded with premier talent and the American squad is going to have a genuine shot at bringing home the gold.

However, it's a bit shocking to see Knies left off considering how well he's played this year. He has 36 points in 37 games (11 goals, 25 assists) so the offense is there, but it's his physicality and ability to close the gap fast that's impressive.

He's 6'3, 230 pounds and moves like lightning and hits light a freight train. He's Team USA's version of Tom Wilson minus the dirty aspects, and there's a huge need to have that type of physical edge especially in international competition.

Strictly going off offensive numbers, Knies should easily have made it over names like J.T. Miller (22 points in 35 games) and Vincent Trocheck (22 points in 28 games). Even Brock Nelson, part of a dominant Colorado team, has 30 points in 39 games but is 10 years the senior of Knies.

There's already a ton of new faces making the Olympics for the first time, so why not add a 23-year old who has proven he can impact the game at both ends of the ice?

For a game that relies on speed and utilizing the open ice, adding a lot of slower and older players isn't exactly a great idea especially when you have players like Cole Caufield and Knies being left off.

There's still a chance the team uses Knies as a reserve in case of injury and he should be one of the first names looked at in case of emergency.