As Tom Wilson prepares for the 2025-26 campaign, he has motivation outside of his job with the Washington Capitals.

The Toronto native is hoping to put his best foot forward as Team Canada’s management team deliberates which players they will send to Milano, Italy for the 2026 Winter Olympics.

Despite being a key contributor on a Capitals team that finished with a 51-22-9 record, which was good for second best in the NHL, Wilson found himself on the outside looking in when Canada's 4 Nations Face-Off  team was put together.

This year he's looking to prove he belongs on the roster and represent his country at the highest international level.

"Making Canada's Olympic team is a huge motivation for me, it's something this summer that I'm really focused on," Wilson told TSN1050's First Up on Monday. "It's a big, huge, and massive deal and just to have your name in the mix and have people talking about it is a huge privilege. I'll just work as hard as I can, put my head down, and put in the work and hopefully I'll throw myself a good chance."

Wilson recorded 33 goals and 65 points in 81 games while providing his trademark physical style of play as his Capitals had a 20-point improvement from the year prior to go from a team fighting to make the playoffs to becoming a Stanley Cup contender.

He saw his exclusion from Canada's team at the 4 Nations Face-Off as an opportunity to get rest and gear up for the stretch run of the regular season and the playoffs. However, once he saw the passion and physicality that Canada and the United States brought in their round-robin matchup of the tournament, it left him feeling a little jealous.

In the first game of best-on-best international hockey between the two rival countries since the 2016 World Cup of Hockey, three fights broke out within the first nine seconds of the game.

"When I sat down and threw that game on TV, I got the feeling that I wish I were playing," said Wilson. "Then the game starts that way and your blood gets going a little bit and you wish you were out there. It's probably the best rivalry in any sport and it was fun to watch. I'm proud of the guys on both sides for just putting it all out there and having an amazing game. It's a great sport and for everyone to see best-on-best with a couple of fights, that's what everyone grew up watching. The passion is what makes the sport so great and what a game that was."

Finishing as the Metropolitan Division champions led the Capitals to a date with the Montreal Canadiens in the first round of the playoffs. The Canadiens were a young team, grabbing the final wild-card spot in the Eastern Conference after missing the playoffs in the previous three seasons.

Wilson was a force for the Capitals, recording two goals and five points in a five-game first-round victory over Montreal and cemented his status as one of the premier instigators around the NHL.

In Game 3 with the Canadiens leading 3-2 at the end of the second period, a scrum broke out that saw Wilson receive a two-minute roughing penalty on Canadiens forward Josh Anderson and a 10-minute misconduct with their fight spilling onto the Capitals’ bench after the door opened.

As part of the ensuing skirmish, Wilson was caught on camera mocking one of the Canadiens by with fake crying. The clip has since gone viral and Canadians, specifically fans in Montreal, has taken more notice of him.

"Coming back to Canada over the summer, my face has probably been on TV a little bit more than it has been over the years," said Wilson. "People have been giving me a hard time about that. Sometimes they catch you on camera doing stupid stuff and with me, it's more often than not. You better make sure you win the series after you act like that, so I really felt like I had to dial it in."

The main story from the Capitals was not their 20-point improvement or their top record in the NHL, but it was superstar and team captain Alexander Ovechkin's race to chase down Wayne Gretzky career goal-scoring record.

Ovechkin entered last season with 853 goals, 41 goals behind Gretzky, and coming off his worst 82-game season in his 19-year career after only recording 41 goals and 65 points in 79 games in 2023-24.

However, the soon-to-be 40-year-old Russian winger bounced back with 44 goals and 73 points in 65 games to become the new goal-scoring king in NHL history.

Wilson had a unique seat to watching his teammate making history, not only being on the ice and sharing a bench with Ovechkin, but also assisting on the history making goal.

"I was in the arena to see the biggest goal in NHL history scored and got to play a small part in it," said Wilson. "[Picking up the assist] is a bit of luck, you got to be in the right place at the right time. As a kid you always dream of playing in the NHL and it becoming your job, and you get to live out your dream. Then, all of a sudden, you're thrown out into the middle of history and being a part of something you could never imagine. It was so cool, so surreal. Just playing with him every day is so surreal. He's an awesome guy and a great teammate and to be part of that was awesome."