February 23, 2026
Geoff Burke/Imagn Images
Travis Sanheim proved he can skate with the world's very best.
It seems safe to say now that Travis Sanheim will be coming back better from Milan.
The Flyers defenseman had been gradually revitalizing his NHL career over the past several years, but because the team had been dwindling around in mediocrity for so long, few to a national – and international – level probably noticed, and even if they did, most might have thought him limited because of how relatively talent-starved the Flyers have been.
But there's no greater place than the Olympics to open up people's eyes, and even though Sanheim and his Canadian teammates left with a silver medal after a bitter overtime upset to the U.S., the 29-year-old should have a bit of the hockey world's attention coming back to Philadelphia.
Because he skated like he comfortably belonged with the world's very best.
Sanheim made Team Canada as a defenseman toward the bottom of the depth chart. He sat for the opener, but after Josh Morrissey (of the Winnipeg Jets) sustained an injury, he entered head coach Jon Cooper's lineup and never left once he got his spot.
Rotating next to veteran Drew Doughty (LA Kings) and Colton Parayko (St. Louis Blues), Sanheim played a mostly quiet game up through the quarterfinals, which isn't a bad thing at all in a bottom-pairing role – in other words, if there's no reason to talk about you back at the blue line, you're doing your job.
But in the semifinals against Finland and then Sunday's gold medal game against the U.S., you could see Sanheim getting increasingly settled in, along with gaining the confidence to get more involved with the puck.
Sanheim skated only 12:38 against Finland, but found the spots to put three shots on goal, then had the assist to set up Shea Theodore's (Vegas Golden Knights) winning laser of a goal late.
Against the U.S. in the final round, Sanheim's time upped to 15:28, and he fired away another three shots as Canada was pelting U.S. goalie Connor Hellebuyck (Winnipeg Jets) with pucks trying to crack him.
They couldn't, and Sanheim stood in that solemn line with his Canadian teammates awaiting their silver medals after all of it, but his effort should still be something to be proud of coming back to Philly.
Travis Sanheim's first Olympic point pushed Canada past Finland and into the gold medal round.
Between these Olympics and last February's 4 Nations Face-Off, Sanheim has built his reputation exponentially among Hockey Canada decision makers, including Canada assistant and current Flyers head coach Rick Tocchet, who highlighted Sanheim's consistently solid play as a perk of the job when he agreed to take over behind the Philadelphia bench last summer.
Rebounding into a more complete overall game and taking on the heavy top-pairing minutes night after night, all after a volatile first year under former coach John Tortorella that easily could've buried him, got him the interest.
But once he captured it, Sanheim has only ever skated like he's belonged among the NHL's best Canadian defensemen, and didn't let go of it in Milan these past few weeks.
Coming back to the NHL now, the Flyers still have a lot of holes to figure out going into this summer and beyond, but Sanheim's spot on their defense definitely isn't one of them.
He's good, and he's dependable. Hopefully, people have woken up to that with these Olympics, and like I wrote just before the season started back in October, it spoke volumes to Sanheim's status that the NHL itself felt it could put him alongside the very best in Jack Eichel and Sidney Crosby in its advertising.
He's earned that kind of spotlight, and has only proven since that it was no fluke.
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