Carlson wouldn’t make the team now, let alone 4 years from now.
Slavin is currently the best US LD, my guess is he’s still on this roster by 2026, and definitely miles ahead of Skjei.
Hughes certainly ahead of zegras.

Who the heck on this team is going to kill penalties. I think some more grit would be needed on the fourth line.

this looks like a team of selfish showboaters. I do not like the way the offensive personal looks, even tho it is highly talented.

Carlson makes the team more or less by default. Literally no other RHD unless you put Faulk in, who I think is worse. I had Slavin in originally, but he’s not having a very good year and Skjei has been way better. The only reason I have Zegras ahead of Hughes is because of the Chemistry with Terry and I also just kinda wanted to create a midget line. For the PK, both Tkachuk brothers would kill penalties, as would Tage Thompson and Jack Eichel. Keep in mind this is solely judging this season as it’s hard to predict how any of these players do come 2025-26.

Guentzel probably makes the team since he's so versatile and can play with anyone.

Also Kane.

Carlson I don’t think would be able to skate with these guys but as of right now maybe.

Carlson kinda stinks these days. If he’s not on the PP, pretty useless having him on the roster. He wouldn’t sniff the PP on this team, so here are guys that are better than him at 5 on 5:
Pesce
maybe Faulk
Maybe Seth jones
Carlo
Marino
Justin holl might be getting there
Trouba

Those are just the right shot guys off the top of my head. He’s soft and an absolute turnstile. Not a good fit for a third pair guy with no PP time.

Seth Jones and Jacob Trouba? Carlson will be 36

Also where are Guentzel and Miller?

Slavin not having a good year, now that’s a joke if I ever heard one. Thank you, I really needed the laugh.

Mattias Samuelsson is American

Cool. He’s nowhere near that conversation yet.

There are other teams other than the Sabres btw

I mean, you mention Justin holl.

This is for a team more than 3 years from now.

A USA defensmen who plays 22:34 minutes a night at age 22 probably deserves to be atleast mentioned

Playing 22 a night for a banged up blue line that’s producing some horrible results. Unless he’s out there with dahlin he’s not exactly producing quality minutes. Maybe he gets there, but he isn’t in the discussion yet. That’s not a knock on him, it’s just reality.

He has played top pairing minutes since last year, at age 21, not due to the blue line being banged up. The poor results happened when HE was hurt

We are 13-2-2 when Samuelsson plays and 3-12 when he doesnt

It ain’t because of him. Might be whoever he bumped out of the lineup, but his level of play hasn’t been national team level

Says the guy who mentioned Justin holl.

It's a 2026 team, everything is a projection and I made a reasonable one. I didn't even say he's on the team, I said he deserves to be mentioned

You completely botched everything about his time on ice and impact.

I already said I agree that he could get there by 26, but there’s a long enough list ahead of him that he isn’t in the conversation yet.

Sample size is super small and it isn’t that good

Isn't Samuelsson strictly a LD? I thought this conversation is about RD.

I do NOT want Seth Jones so much as sniffing an USA Olympic Team. He’s awful and both his regular and underlying numbers show that. Don’t really see much in Justin Holl either. The rest could make strong cases and perhaps Trouba or Marino get the spot over Carlson, but I already have Faulk on here so he doesn’t really matter much.