Team Canada enters the 2026 men’s Olympic hockey tournament as a +100 favourite to win gold, but major questions remain surrounding the trio of goalies on the roster.

Canada is absolutely stacked with superstars like Connor McDavid, Nathan MacKinnon and Cale Makar, but there is no clear-cut option in net. Jordan Binnington, Logan Thompson and Darcy Kuemper are all fighting for the crease in Milan, but who gives Canada the best chance to win?

Let’s get into it.

You can also check out our full preview and score prediction for Canada’s tournament-opener against Czechia on Thursday.

Don’t forget to check out Sports Interaction’s complete list of Olympic hockey game odds, Olympic hockey futures and Olympic hockey specials and props.

Jordan Binnington

Binnington backstopped Team Canada to a win at last year’s 4 Nations Face-Off, but the 2019 Stanley Cup champion is having the worst statistical season of his career with a bloated 3.65 goals-against average and an ugly .864 save percentage. However, winning with Canada last year gives him an advantage.

“This is a completely different environment,” Binnington said in an interview. “It’s been in the back of our minds or in our minds for the last six to eight months-plus. The moment is here, and it’s about just letting go, playing free and playing your style.”

Logan Thompson

Thompson, who wasn’t on last year’s 4 Nations team, has the best numbers of Team Canada’s goalies this season as he ranks top-10 in the NHL in both GAA (2.45) and SV (.912). He won a Stanley Cup with Vegas in 2023, but he missed the whole playoff run because of an injury, so he’s still relatively untested in high pressure moments.

Darcy Kuemper

Kuemper hasn’t posted elite numbers, but he’s been solid with a 2.59 GAA and .900 SV this season. Like Thompson, Kuemper was left off the 4 Nations roster, but he does have big-game experience as Colorado’s starting goalie on their 2022 Stanley Cup championship team.

What does Jon Cooper say?

Head coach Jon Cooper hasn’t announced a starting goalie, but he did say he would use two different starters on Thursday against Czechia and Friday against Switzerland. He has also consistently said all three goalies are up to the task and deserve to be in Milan.

“Some of these guys may not go down as generational goaltenders, but they’re Stanley Cup winners,” Cooper said in an interview. “They have championship pedigree. They’ve made the big saves at the times they’ve needed to.”

Cooper has also been careful not to show his cards, praising all three goalies equally.

“I watched that [championship pedigree] in Darcy Kuemper in my own building in Tampa. I watched it in Jordan Binnington. I’ve watched Logan Thompson the last two years. Like, they’re as good as anybody, and what they’ve done for us not only last year but as teammates, I mean, we have all the faith in the world in them. I understand people have to write about stuff, but our guys go through a wall for them, and they do the same for us. To me, it’s not a story. I don’t know where it comes from.”

Who will Canada’s starter be?

As vague as Cooper has been about Canada’s starter, his practices have been fairly telling. For the most part, Binnington has held the net by himself at one end of the ice, while Thompson and Kuemper have shared a net at the other end.

That likely means Cooper will go with Binnington against Czechia and either Thompson or Kuemper against Switzerland.

This is an educated guess, but Thompson makes sense to go with against Switzerland as he’s clearly had a better year than Kuemper. Cooper could go with Binnington against Czechia and Thompson against Switzerland then decide if either goalie has distinguished themselves enough to earn the starters role through the rest of the tournament.