By the time the 2026 Winter Olympics arrive in February, it will have been 12 years since NHL players last touched Olympic ice.

However, after skipping the 2018 Games in PyeongChang and the 2022 edition in Beijing, the NHL will be in Italy as the men’s tournament kicks off on Feb. 11.

Tasked with getting Canada back on top of the podium for the first time since 2014 is general manager Doug Armstrong, who also helmed Canada to gold at the 4 Nations Face-off in February.

Armstrong was also an assistant general manager in both the 2010 and 2014 Olympics under Steve Yzerman and served as GM for the Canadian squad that won gold at the 2016 World Cup of Hockey.

On June 16, Armstrong named the first six players to his Olympic roster in forwards Connor McDavid (Edmonton Oilers), Sidney Crosby (Pittsburgh Penguins), Nathan MacKinnon (Colorado Avalanche), Sam Reinhart (Florida Panthers) and Brayden Point (Tampa Bay Lightning) as well as defenceman Cale Makar (Avalanche).

With the amount of depth at Canada’s disposal, Armstrong says the 4 Nations tournament gave them a lot to work with but tough roster decisions remain.

"Quite honestly they're all relatively tough, just having the depth that we have in our country of players,” Armstrong told NHL.com. “It's just making sure we get the best players that are also the best teammates that work well together. That's why the 4 Nations gives us some idea and some synergy.

“But there's players that didn't play on that 4 Nations team that will certainly make the Olympics, so it's just about putting a team together that is a team in every sense of the word."

Canada beat the United States for gold at the 4 Nations as McDavid scored the overtime winner. In their first matchup at the tournament, the two countries fought three times in the first nine seconds of the game as Matthew Tkachuk and Brandon Hagel dropped the gloves off the opening face-off with fights involving Brady Tkachuk vs. Sam Bennett and Colton Parayko vs. JT Miller also breaking out in the next two shifts.

The tournament showed Armstrong how he wants his team to go look going into Italy.

“The way that we tried to put this group together with skill and speed, I don't think we're going to deviate a lot from that,” said Armstrong. “Playing the U.S., they brought a style of play that isn't likely to transfer to the Olympics as far as the fighting, but the overall style of play will transfer ... the physical play and the strong nature. I think we learned a lot about how we want to put our team together, and how the other teams are putting theirs together also."

Of the 25 players that helped Canada win Olympic gold in 2014, seven are active including Crosby, John Tavares, Matt Duchene, Jonathan Toews, Jamie Benn, Corey Perry and Drew Doughty while defenceman Alex Pietrangelo, who was originally named to the original 4 Nations roster before withdrawing, announced on June 30 he is stepping away from hockey due to injuries.

With the NHL passing on the last two Olympics, best-on-best hockey has not been readily available for the current generation of players like McDavid and MacKinnon at the professional level. While a number of these players have skated at the annual World Championships in the spring, many NHL players are too busy with the Stanley Cup playoffs or pass on it after a long NHL season.

"Obviously the tournament itself was fantastic for hockey," Armstrong said of the 4 Nations. "I learned quickly what it means to play for your country, what the players put into that. It's been a long time since we've done that. The level of competition ... the skill level and pace, that's something you just don't see in the NHL every night.

"It's going to be a great tournament moving forward to the Olympics and putting some of those things in place that we saw there, whether it be synergy with players or observing the other teams on how they're going to compete. It was eye-opening in a lot of ways."