{"id":386600,"date":"2026-01-04T00:14:07","date_gmt":"2026-01-04T00:14:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/386600\/"},"modified":"2026-01-04T00:14:07","modified_gmt":"2026-01-04T00:14:07","slug":"robertson-of-stars-felt-he-was-good-enough-to-make-u-s-olympic-team","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/386600\/","title":{"rendered":"Robertson of Stars felt he was ‘good enough’ to make U.S. Olympic team"},"content":{"rendered":"

Jason Robertson<\/a> was disappointed that he wasn\u2019t named to the United States team for the Olympic Winter Games Milano Cortina 2026 on Friday, but the Dallas Stars forward remains focused on his strong season.<\/p>\n

It’s the second straight year the 26-year-old hasn\u2019t been selected for international competition. He was not chosen to play for the U.S. at the 4 Nations Face-Off last February, either.<\/p>\n

\u201cI thought that this year was different than last year,\u201d Robertson said after practice Saturday. \u201cObviously last year I didn\u2019t think I was good enough. Now I think I [am] and it\u2019s their choice, their decision and that\u2019s it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Robertson is in the midst of a productive season with 48 points (24 goals, 24 assists) in 41 games, second on the Stars behind forward Mikko Rantanen<\/a>, who will play for Finland the Olympics and has 56 points (16 goals, 40 assists) in 40 games. Robertson is first in points among United States-born players in the NHL this season and tied for eighth overall. He is also tied for fourth with 24 goals.<\/p>\n

He had 80 points (35 goals, 45 assists) in 82 games last season.<\/p>\n

\u201cObviously it hurts your ego,\u201d Robertson said of the decision, \u201cbut I\u2019m not going to change the way I play and [am] happy to keep doing what I\u2019m doing.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think I just strive to be the best whenever I can be and it so happened this year was the Olympic year. I mean, that\u2019s not going to stop me from doing that the rest of the season.\u201d<\/p>\n

Explore NHL.com’s Coverage of the Olympic Winter Games Milano Cortina 2026<\/a><\/p>\n

Robertson said he didn\u2019t know if he\u2019s on the standby list of players who could be added to the team in the event of injuries.<\/p>\n

Stars coach Glen Gulutzan said he was surprised Robertson wasn\u2019t selected.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s our player and our guy and you\u2019re hoping for him,\u201d Gulutzan said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s not one coach of the 32 of us who doesn\u2019t think their guy should be on the team. There\u2019s not one of us in the League. I heard the comments in Chicago just the other night (coach Jeff Blashill on forward Connor Bedard<\/a> not making Canada\u2019s roster) and I think the same thing (about Robertson). I would\u2019ve loved to have seen him on it. He\u2019s been so good for us. I\u2019d hate to be making those decisions, but I thought obviously he should be on there.\u201d<\/p>\n

So did Dallas goaltender Jake Oettinger<\/a>, who will represent the U.S. at the Olympics.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s the most pure goal-scorer I\u2019ve ever played with,\u201d he said of Robertson. \u201cHis hockey IQ is off the charts. He drives me nuts in practice but that shows you, because he\u2019s putting a lot by me. It\u2019s fun battling him because he makes me better, too.<\/p>\n

\u201cObviously, I wish he was going over there, but [it\u2019s] not my decision and he\u2019s a hell of a player, and I don\u2019t think that\u2019s going to change anything for him. He\u2019s going to continue to dominate and show he\u2019s one of the best in the world.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Jason Robertson was disappointed that he wasn\u2019t named to the United States team for the Olympic Winter Games…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":386601,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[433],"tags":[49,48,448,82],"class_list":{"0":"post-386600","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nhl","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-canada","10":"tag-nhl","11":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/386600","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=386600"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/386600\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/386601"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=386600"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=386600"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=386600"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}