It’s done. The dominant USA women’s team were deservingly awarded the gold medal at the 2026 Winter Olympics and it is the perfect conclusion to their story. They didn’t face much adversity until Thursday afternoon’s game against Canada, but that was also expected as the tournament would have been nothing if it wasn’t these two archrivals facing one another on the world’s biggest stage.
As the Americans walked through Canada with a clutch last-minute goal and then Megan Keller scored the gold-winning goal with an unreal dangle, reflections on just how this team was able to pull off a feat and earn their third gold medal over the omnipresent Canadian women, began.
It’s a roster full of interesting storylines and possible management and roster-building strategies. Naturally, the Philadelphia Flyers are at the front of our minds most of the time — so how can we put some of the lessons we learned about what it took the U.S. women to earn gold, back into our favorite NHL team?
Hopefully, the Flyers front office was paying attention. Or this is at least a fun exercise to see what a winning team can teach a team that has not won in over 50 years.
Youth and speed can win over experience
It’s the narrative that stayed consistent from the beginning. Right from the 5-0 defeat to Canada in the preliminary round, all the way up until the gold medal was hanging from their necks — the Americans brought several college-age players who have yet to even step foot in the PWHL yet. Players that stole the spotlight like Abbey Murphy, Leila Edwards, and Kirsten Simms, have not yet been drafted and are still working their way through school.
On the other side, Canada decided to go with familiar faces and a veteran-heavy lineup. It helps that they’re being led by potentially the best to ever do it, in Marie-Philip Poulin, but there were 16 total players on the roster who were in Beijing when they won gold. And instead of looking to bring in some new blood, they went with the familiar.
Now, the Americans are sitting on top of the world and led by players who are just entering their prime. All throughout the tournament it was the unrelenting speed that a whole lot of those college players had that overwhelmed their opponents — and it is hopefully something that the NHL (and the Flyers specifically) can keep in mind. Sometimes, you can overpower and outskate your opponent a whole damn lot; and that will lead to some wins.
It’s not a perfect comparable, but it would be a whole lot more entertaining if the Flyers opted to move on from some unnecessary veterans like Canada should’ve.
Be open to experimenting
One of the major things that the Americans did to provide just that little bit of extra oomph to their lineup and to make them deadly in a whole lot of game situations, is to make Leila Edwards a defender. While playing at the University of Wisconsin, Edwards is a forward (and a very good one at that) but given her mix of size and being able to provide more physicality than most, the national team put her on the blue line.
Now, it is not something that happens too often in the NHL. Players rarely switch positions from forward to defense and other than someone like Brendan Smith (a depth role player) it’s really only Brent Burns who has done it in the modern era as one of his team’s best players. But, it goes beyond just switching a player’s position but thinking outside the box to come up with solutions to help your team be the best it can possibly be.
If Edwards stayed at forward, she would simply be buried in the depth chart and behind the star talent that the Americans possess. But by moving her to the blue line, suddenly it opens so much more opportunity for her — and it helps that she played the position incredibly well and has a rocket of a shot, as we all saw on the game-tying goal scored by a perfect tip from captain Hilary Knight.
For the Flyers, this could be a positional change for a player — taking from a surplus and addressing a need — or it could be a tactical change to get the most out of their roster. It’s something that the U.S. women’s team did so well it won them the gold. There’s not a specific example we can point at and tell the Flyers to do, because this concept will probably come up more when they’re much more competitive and in the playoff hunt, but it’s something that we hope that they are open to.
Scoring depth is more important than ever
In particular when it came down to the U.S. facing Canada, one massive advantage they had over their neighbors to the north was scoring depth. As the Canadians suffered through some more experienced players like Sarah Nurse and Natalie Spooner struggling to get on the scoreboard and relied so heavily on the top-of-the-lineup forwards such as Daryl Watts and Poulin, the Americans could just roll a few lines out there and always be a threat to score.
A GOLDEN GOAL FOR GOLD! pic.twitter.com/oLDfElGnI9
— NBC Olympics & Paralympics (@NBCOlympics) February 19, 2026
The first line was dominant in their own way, but having someone like Taylor Heise available at second-line center; and Hannah Bilka, Joy Dunne, Tessa Janecke, and the legendary Kendall Coyne-Schofield put in their minutes and be that talent that dominant teams need all throughout the lineup, was something that pushed the Americans over and simply won them the gold.
It does seem like the Flyers have this in mind for the future — drafting so many players who can be impact players and fill those necessary roles that championship teams need to have. Whether it’s a Jack Berglund or Jack Nesbitt who can be that size down the middle while being an offensively minded talent, or the water-bug wingers like Denver Barkey or Max Westergard who will forecheck down the opponent’s throat, there’s a foundation slowly being laid (if some prospects pan out).
But even beyond that, keeping talent like Travis Konecny and Trevor Zegras around could be more important than ever if they want to pose a threat to win the Stanley Cup. It’s what the good teams have: Very good players in secondary scoring roles to provide a level of balance and waves of offense throughout the entire 60 minutes.
Now, they just need to perfect it like the American women did.
