Could Bryan Rust make Team USA?

Looking at Rust’s chances for the Olympics

Team USA GM Bill Guerin talked about what it would take for the players he was picking to make the Olympic roster next year.

“You just look at the hockey sense, the ability to play in tight games, tight areas,” Guerin said. “You look back at 4 Nations, one thing we took away is there’s no room out there; you have to play in tight hockey games, have to be highly competitive, and I think these six players represent that.”

USA Hockey has at times been focused more on the “right” players than the best ones — who can forget bringing Justin Abdelkader, Brandon Dubinsky and James van Riemsdyk over Phil Kessel in 2016? But a player like Bryan Rust might fit as a role player who can also add skill.

The countries all named their first six players yesterday.

One area that could put Rust behind the proverbial 8-ball is that he did not participate in the 2025 World Championships. Rust had a good reason not to want to continue his season in Europe, his wife delivered a baby in late April. But that event will help others make their claim by showing up.

“We had a bunch of guys show up for the World Championship team and produce our first gold there in 90-something years, guys who have put themselves in a much better spot because of that,” Guerin said. “We have to start from scratch again and rebuild the team.”

Forwards like Clayton Keller, Tage Thompson and Logan Cooley were left off 4 Nations and helped USA win that elusive WC gold in May. That will help them.

Rust’s career-best 65 point season put him 15th among American forwards in the NHL last season, and his 31 goals ranked ninth.

Here’s a look at essentially the incumbents for the Olympic roster, based on last season’s 4 Nations.

Guerin might be claiming that he’s starting from scratch, but it would be difficult to imagine that many of the above don’t already have a fairly firm hold on Olympic spots. Injuries and first half of 2025-26 could change a few of those situations. Chris Kreider was a somewhat controversial pick, he could find himself pushed to the bubble area. Kyle Connor dropped into healthy scratch territory and could also be a player left behind next time. Vincent Trocheck, 32, played 10 minutes per game in most of the tournament but offers usage as a center. Brock Nelson, 34, adds some size, center and leadership (wearing an A on his jersey for some of the games) could be another player on the bubble depending on how next season goes. Besides those handful of names, all the others like Boldy, J. Hughes, Larkin, Guentzel and Miller are probably in good shape to join Eichel, Matthews and the Tkachuk bros assuming they retain health.

That makes for a crowded list, even before considering names right there in the mix like Thompson, Keller and Cooley (let alone a rising star like Will Smith, who shined at Worlds). Rust isn’t a spotlight player or absolute star on his NHL team like some of those alternatives.

But if Guerin wants to prioritize “high compete”, as he says, a player like Rust might start to make some sense. Rust is a familiar face and favorite for USA coach Mike Sullivan. Rust could be used in a PK role that some of the bigger stars might not be suited for. The unmentioned aspect is that the US and Canada often build rosters around matching up for one another – that’s a reason a 97-point scorer like Connor can get marginalized within games and stars like Alex Debrincat and Cole Caufield are left behind when the role isn’t quite right or available for them to fit into the bigger team concept.

It would take another great season in 2025-26 to stay on the radar, and maybe some bad luck along the way for a countryman or two, but Rust fits the mold for the US if they’re looking for a roleplayer who can at least be better all-around player than the Abdelkader/Dubinsky types that they love to add. It’s not a sure thing or amazing bet to make at this point but that also speaks to the depth of USA Hockey these days that players as good as Rust, Thompson and Keller could all be fighting for one spot to go to Italy to represent their country.