Olympic men’s hockey welcomes NHL players for the first time since 2014, and we couldn’t be happier. We get to see Connor McDavid and Nathan MacKinnon on the same team. We get a worldwide best-on-best tournament, something we’ve been craving for more than a decade. Also important: We get to see two superstar sets of brothers take the ice together: The Hughes brothers and Tkachuk brothers are both on Team USA's roster at the 2026 Milan-Cortina Winter Olympics.
Team USA hasn’t featured two sets of brothers since the 1960 gold medal team, when the Christian and Cleary families made history. Now, that rare dynamic returns, and so do gold medal expectations.
Matthew and Brady Tkachuk at a glance
- The Tkachuk brothers are reuniting after setting the tone at the 2025 4 Nations Face-Off.
- They’re expected to skate together on the top line again, likely with Jack Eichel or Auston Matthews at center.
- Their role isn’t just scoring, it’s also establishing physical dominance (without fighting).
- If they stay healthy, their edge and intensity could be the difference between silver and gold in Milan.
Unlike the Hughes brothers, the Tkachuk brothers were able to connect at last year’s 4 Nations Face-Off. They are a modern-day version of Fulton Reed and Dean Portman from the Mighty Ducks movies. They are incredibly skilled but not afraid to fight. They do it without headshots (for the most part), and they are the type of player that every single team is looking for.
Last year, Matthew Tkachuk’s injury before the 4 Nations final against Canada really impacted the U.S.'s chances to win. Even with him playing less than half of his normal minutes, the Canadians still needed overtime to win. They lost the previous matchup with the U.S., where the Tkachuk brothers set the tone with opening face off fights seen around the world.
Aside from that, the Tkachuk brothers have missed each other on every opportunity to play together. Their age difference — two years apart— made it impossible to play on the same World Juniors or U18 World Juniors teams. And Matthew Tkachuk plays too long in the playoffs for them to make it to the IIHF World Championships together as part of Team USA. Many think that Brady and Matthew Tkachuk will one day play together, whether that’s in Florida, Ottawa or elsewhere, but for now, they have to appreciate these Olympic moments for what they are.
Where the Tkachuk Brothers sit on the Team USA rosters
The Tkachuk brothers are going to be tied at the hip this entire tournament. Head coach Mike Sullivan isn’t going to separate them unless drastic measures are needed. The only question is who should be their center.
Conventional wisdom says the choices come down to Jack Eichel and Auston Matthews, the two top centers on Team USA. There’s really no wrong answer here, as they are two of the best centers in hockey. It just depends on which line needs a little more edge.
At the 4 Nations, Eichel was the team’s center. It appears that’s where we’re starting again. During the first practices in Milan, Sullivan kept that line together. We imagine Eichel plays the style that’s closer to what the Tkachuk brothers need.
The Tkachuk brothers' role in securing a gold medal
Team USA has the easiest route to the gold medal game. The qualifying round games against Germany, Latvia and Denmark shouldn’t provide much of a fight the other way. They have the clearest path to a number-one seed in the knockout round, giving them another easy matchup before taking on one of the middle-of-the-pack teams like Sweden, Finland or Switzerland.
Team USA is also so stacked, the Tkachuks won’t need to be stars in each of these games. They will need to set a standard of physicality in each game, but where it’s most important is in the semifinals and beyond. Heck, we could see Sullivan rest the Tkachuks in the final round robin game just to keep everyone healthy.
If/when they play Canada, that is when the Tkachuk brothers will have to do their worst. As we said before, Matthew Tkachuk got hurt in the last 4 Nations Face-Off, which impacted his value in the championship game. If they can stay healthy, their brutality can change who wins the gold medal. They are that important to this team.