Panthers’ Seth Jones named to United States Olympic roster, joining Matthew Tkachuk
Seth Jones is officially an Olympian.
The Florida Panthers’ defenseman was named to the United States’ 25-man roster for the 2026 Winter Olympics. The announcement was made Friday morning on the “Today Show.”
Jones joins star Panthers winger Matthew Tkachuk on the U.S. roster. Tkachuk was one of the first six players announced in June as part the United States’ team. The men’s hockey tournament will take place in Milan from Feb. 11 to 22. Panthers president of hockey operations Bill Zito and head equipment manager Teddy Richards are also part of Team USA for the Olympics.
Jones’ stock has risen dramatically the past nine months since being acquired by the Panthers in a March 1 trade with the Chicago Blackhawks. He was integral in Florida’s run to a second consecutive Stanley Cup, producing nine points (four goals, five assists) while posting a plus-minus rating of plus-11 and averaging 25:30 of ice time in 23 playoff games.
He took part this offseason in Team USA’s orientation camp in August as part of the short list of potential candidates for the roster.
“Probably six or seven months ago, my name probably wasn’t in there,” Jones said in September. “I’m grateful that I came to a situation where my game could really open back up and try to play to the best of my ability. I’m happy that my name is kind of in that list at the moment. I think it’s up to me to play — obviously, I want to play a great team game but play to the best of my ability to try to make that team. It’s a major honor to be a part of the Olympics and Team USA. Hopefully, I get a chance to do that again.”
His performance since then helped formally secure his spot. This season, Jones leads the Panthers in average ice time (24:01, 19th most ice time per game in the NHL) and has 24 points (six goals, 18 assists) in 39 games entering Florida’s Winter Classic game against the New York Rangers on Friday. Jones runs the Panthers’ top power-play unit and is integral on the penalty kill as well.
Jones and Tkachuk aren’t the only Panthers players set to compete in the Olympics.
Forwards Brad Marchand and Sam Reinhart are playing for Canada.
Three Panthers are on the roster for Finland: Forwards Anton Lundell and Eetu Luostarinen plus defenseman Niko Mikkola. Panthers captain Aleksander Barkov was one of Finland’s initial six players named to the roster, but he won’t be able to play because he’s still recovering from surgery following a training camp knee injury that required surgery to repair the ACL and MCL. Additionally, Panthers assistant coach Tuomo Ruutu will be an assistant coach for Finland.
Defenseman Gustav Forsling is on Sweden’s roster, while assistant coach Myles Fee will be Sweden’s video coach.
And defenseman Uvis Balinskis is playing for Latvia.
This story was originally published January 2, 2026 at 8:35 AM.
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