Way-Too-Early Projected Team USA Roster for the 2025 World Cup of Hockey
News emerged on Wednesday that the NHL and NHLPA are working toward creating an international hockey competition for February 2025 that would start a rotation of events, which would also feature an NHL return to the Olympics.
It has been a long time coming.
NHL players have not been involved in an international, best-on-best tournament since the World Cup of Hockey in 2016. They have not participated in the Winter Olympics since the 2014 Games in Sochi, Russia.
NHL deputy commissioner Bill Daly said the exact format for a 2025 tournament is still unknown, but it would set the stage for more competitions.
"So if we do a '25 international tournament, we do the '26 Olympics, the '28 World Cup of Hockey, the '30 Olympics, the '32 World Cup of Hockey, and so on," he said, per NHL.com. "That's the goal."
So, now that we know plans are in place to bring back that sort of tournament, let's take a look at a potential 2025 Team USA roster.
First-Line Forwards
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Matthew Tkachuk - Auston Matthews - Brady Tkachuk
Matthew Tkachuk and Auston Matthews are pretty obvious picks for the top line because they're the two most talented American-born players going.
When Matthews is healthy, he is one of the best goal-scorers in the league and a near-lock to score a minimum of 40 goals per 82 games.
Florida's Tkachuk does everything you want from a top-tier forward. The 25-year-old scores goals, is strong defensively, is an elite possession driver, a top-line playmaker and brings an edge and physicality to the ice that most top-line scorers don't.
They would match up against almost any other top-line duo on any other team in a best-on-best international competition.
Brady Tkachuk is where things go a little off the board, simply because he is playing out of position on this line.
However, the United States is especially deep on the left side and thinner on the right, so it makes sense to shift him over to get him on the team.
The 23-year-old deserves a top-six spot, but it's probably not going to happen on the left given the presence of his brother and our second-line left winger, Jason Robertson.
All three players are bona fide top-line talents and are all in the prime of their careers.
Second-Line Forwards
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Jason Robertson - Jack Hughes - Alex DeBrincat
This would be a sensational second line not only in terms of production and ability. but also when it comes to entertainment value.
Jack Hughes, 22, had a breakout season for the New Jersey Devils in 2022-23, driving them back to the playoffs. He's one of the reasons they're going to be a Stanley Cup contender for the foreseeable future.
Jason Robertson plays a similar starring role in Dallas where he has become one of the most electrifying players in the NHL and a must-see highlight reel every night.
The 24-year-old has only played three years in the league but has managed to get better every season. He already has a pair of 40-goal campaigns and could have a 50-goal year on the horizon.
Just like on the top line, the United States would have a second line that is carried by two completely dominant offensive powers.
Alex DeBrincat is a strong right winger to ride shotgun on this line and is no slouch in that spot.
Like Robertson, the 25-year-old also has two 40-goal seasons and can be a top-tier scorer when he is playing on top of his game.
Playing on a line where Robertson and Hughes would command most of the attention could also open him up to make a significant impact. He has the quickness and the shot to really change a game.
Third-Line Forwards
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Kyle Connor - Jack Eichel - Clayton Keller
It's a testament to how deep the United States talent pool has gotten in recent years when this is its third line.
Does it compare to what Canada might be able to put on the ice? Maybe it's a step below. But outside of the Canadians, this would probably be the best third line on any tournament roster.
Maybe you would prefer to see Tage Thompson centering instead of Jack Eichel, and you wouldn't be wrong to want that, but the Vegas Golden Knights star is a top center when healthy and just helped lead his team to a Stanley Cup victory this past season.
Injuries (and a dispute with Sabres management) slowed him down in recent years, but the way the 26-year-old played over the last month-and-a-half of the 2022-23 regular season and the playoffs is a reminder of what he can be when he is really rolling.
Kyle Connor, meanwhile, has been one of the top goal scorers in the league since becoming a regular in the Winnipeg Jets lineup. Going back to the start of the 2017-18 season, his 207 strikes rank seventh in the entire NHL regardless of position or country.
Clayton Keller's star turn has been a more recent development with Arizona, but he has rapidly put everything together offensively over the past two years and performed at a top-line rate with 149 points in 149 games.
And he has done that without the benefit of a legit top-line center to feed him and after coming back from a fractured leg.
Give the 25-year-old full health and a playmaker like Eichel, and the sky is the limit for him.
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Fourth-Line Forwards
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Jake Guentzel - Tage Thompson - Cole Caufield
Speaking of that improved U.S. forward depth, here is 47-goal Tage Thompson centering the team's fourth line.
After looking like a bust going into the 2021-22 season, the 25-year-old finally put all of his size and talent together for a breakthrough season that helped completely change the outlook of the Sabres' rebuild.
And if there were any concerns as to whether Thompson could duplicate that performance, he came back in 2022-23 and was even better.
He is a menace for opposing defenders because the 6'6", 220-pounder not only boasts massive size and an absolute bomb of a one-timer, but he is also extremely skilled and talented and can stick-handle his way through any sort of traffic.
On his wings we have Jake Guentzel and Cole Caufield, which is a pretty impressive collection of fourth-line talent.
Guentzel tends to get knocked down a little nationally because he plays the bulk of his NHL time alongside Sidney Crosby with the Pittsburgh Penguins.
Even though that does help his production, there have been a lot of really talented players who have had extended time next to the nine-time All-Star and never scored goals at the rate Guentzel does.
The 28-year-old is a good player all on his own, has a great shot and is fearless in going to the net for his size.
Caufield is more of a wild card and a pick based on potential.
At this point, the 22-year-old is a talented but somewhat unproven winger. He's scored 53 goals in 123 regular-season games in his career for the Montreal Canadiens, a rate that comes out to 35 goals per 82 games.
Those figures can work well in tournament play and on a roster like this.
First-Defense Pairing
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Quinn Hughes - Adam Fox
Adam Fox is on the shortlist of most complete defenders in the NHL and has become a mainstay in the Norris Trophy discussion.
The 25-year-old has never finished lower than fifth in each of the past three seasons, and he has two top-two finishes (including winning it during the 2020-21 season). He can quarterback your power play, lead the exit out of the zone, is reliable in his own end of the ice and still produces huge point totals.
Fox might not be the unquestioned best defenseman in the league, but if you listed the players who are better than him, you could fit them all on one hand and still have fingers left over.
On the other side you have Quinn Hughes, and while his defensive game can be a little inconsistent at times, his struggles there are hugely overstated and he remains one of the most prolific offensive defensemen in the league.
Like Fox, the 23-year-old is also becoming a regular in Norris Trophy discussions and finished in the top 10 for the first time this past season.
Both are legit No. 1 NHL defensemen and would make for a dynamic top-pairing.
Second-Defense Pairing
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Jaccob Slavin - Charlie McAvoy
If the first pairing of Fox and Hughes is dynamic, the second pairing of Jaccob Slavin and Charlie McAvoy would be steady.
Neither is going to be an elite player offensively, but they will both do everything well with almost no weaknesses.
They will score enough and move the puck well enough to help the offense, but that's not necessarily where their strengths are. They are simply two sensational defensive players who could help shut down any opponent's top line.
Over the past three years, there have been 238 defensemen who have logged at least 1,000 minutes of 5-on-5 hockey. During that time McAvoy ranks third in the NHL in expected goals against per 60 minutes, while Slavin ranks 30th.
They are seventh (McAvoy) and 14th (Slavin) in goals against per 60 minutes.
Fox and Hughes might be the "top" pairing, but when you need to protect a one-goal lead in the final minute, this is the pairing you turn to.
Third-Defense Pairing
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Zach Werenski - John Carlson
This might be where the weak link of the Team USA roster is.
It is not that Zach Werenski and John Carlson aren't good, or that the U.S. does not have strong options for a third defense pairing, it's simply that there is a pretty noticeable drop from what is above them.
Prime Carlson was an elite Norris-level player, but the 33-year-old has started to slow down over the past couple of years and has a few more flaws to his game. Werenski, 26, is still a great offensive defenseman, but he probably isn't a true No. 1.
This would be the pairing you shelter for offensive-zone starts and count on to help score. You also use it in favorable matchups.
Goalies
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Connor Hellebuyck, Jake Oettinger and Jeremy Swayman
Nothing changes a team quite like a goalie, and the good news for the U.S. is that it could have three outstanding options with Connor Hellebuyck, Jake Oettinger and Jeremy Swayman.
Hellebuyck and Oettinger would be the two primary options, and both are Vezina-caliber players.
Hellebuyck already has one Vezina to his name, and three other finishes in the top five. The 30-year-old is durable, can take on a heavy workload both in terms of minutes and shots against and is consistently one of the most productive goalies in the league with a save percentage usually over the .915 mark.
He is one of the best goalies in the world and has done that while playing on a Winnipeg team that has never been great defensively and does not always give him the best support.
Put him behind an actual good team and he becomes even better.
Oettinger doesn't have as much of a track record as Hellebuyck, but what the 24-year-old has done has been extremely impressive over his first two years with the Dallas Stars.
In 139 regular-season games, he has a .916 save percentage and has shown flashes of being a franchise-caliber goalie.
Swayman split time with Vezina-Trophy winner Linus Ullmark last season and was part of a goalie tandem that lifted the Bruins to a record Presidents' Trophy campaign. With a career .920 save percentage and a 2.24 goals against average, Swayman could be in the running for the No. 1 goalie position by the time 2025 rolls around.
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