Two of the Vancouver Canucks' American stars are heading to Team USA's Olympic orientation camp next week. One of them is no surprise; one might be.
Quinn Hughes is a lock to make Team USA as one of the best defencemen on the planet. In fact, he's already been named to the team as part of the "first six" announced back in June.
The player whose participation at the camp might be a bit more of a surprise is Conor Garland. But it shouldn't be.
Introducing the 44 players who will attend the U.S. Men's Olympic Orientation Camp 🇺🇸
— USA Hockey (@usahockey) August 19, 2025
Details: https://t.co/lWC0ZT1AJc pic.twitter.com/16FT49FRgP
One might expect that a couple of other Canucks might have been among the 44 players invited to camp over Garland. Brock Boeser has a 40-goal season under his belt and still had more goals and as many points as Garland this past season in fewer games. Then there's Thatcher Demko, who is just one year removed from being the runner-up for the Vezina Trophy as the best goaltender in the NHL.
But hockey is very much a "what have you done for me lately" type of sport, especially when you're looking at a short tournament like the Olympics. Boeser and Demko have far too many question marks attached to their recent resumés to give USA Hockey confidence.
Boeser may have a 40-goal season, yes, but that's the only time he's even broken 30 goals, and there's a perception that he's a one-dimensional player: if he's not scoring, what is he contributing? On a team that's going to have goalscorers in abundance, including the likes of Auston Matthews, Jake Guentzel, Kyle Connor, Tage Thompson, and Clayton Keller, it's hard to see how Boeser would carve out a spot on the roster.
Meanwhile, Demko has more question marks than a Socratic dialogue. Demko missed most of the 2025-26 season while recovering from an unusual injury that forced everyone in Vancouver to learn what a "popliteus" is, limiting him to just 23 games in which he posted an ugly .889 save percentage.
There's stiff competition in net: Connor Hellebuyck has won the last two Vezina Trophies and even won the Hart Trophy this past season, but Team USA also invited Jeremy Swayman, Jake Oettinger, and Joey Daccord to camp.
That's not to say that Boeser and Demko couldn't play themselves into Olympic contention. If Boeser goes off in the first few months of the season and scores goals by the bushel, he could make Team USA's decision awfully difficult, while Demko could easily re-establish himself as one of the top two American goaltenders with Hellebuyck if he can stay healthy.
Garland, on the other hand, has less to prove.
Over the past four seasons with the Canucks, Garland has been remarkably consistent, averaging around 20 goals and 50 points each season. More than that, he's proven to be a versatile two-way forward, playing solid defensive hockey while pushing puck possession up ice.
At the 2025 World Championship, Garland helped Team USA win the gold medal, putting up five goals and ten points in ten games from the top line, including a team-leading three game-winning goals. He was also consistently one of the first over the boards on the penalty kill, which is arguably more important than his scoring when it comes to making the Olympic team.
Garland's versatility as a winger who can play up and down the lineup makes him attractive to the USA Hockey brass, who can feel comfortable putting him in a bottom-six role or elevating him to a top-line role as a complementary winger.
There's no guarantee, of course, that Garland will make the Olympic team. There's a lot of competition in the forward ranks, and Garland will need to once again have a strong season for the Canucks. But he's got a shot.
