Updated Team USA Roster 10 Months From the 4 Nations Faceoff
When the NHL announced they would bring back top competitive international hockey with the Four Nations Faceoff in February, we gave our thoughts on what Team USA and Team Canada might do with their rosters.
Now that we've essentially reached the end of the regular season, we've been able to see how everyone wrapped up their years and with under a year to go until the tournament takes place in Boston and Montréal, we're going to take another stab at it.
We'll give you four forward lines, three defense pairs and three goalies we think best shape up to represent their country. In this case, we're busting out the stars and stripes and picking out the Team USA roster and we're going to make sure it's a Yankee Doodle Dandy of a setup.
Let's dig in and put together a team that can best defeat Canada, Sweden and Finland 10 months from now.
First-Line Forwards
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Matthew Tkachuk, Auston Matthews, Clayton Keller
Building Team USA's lines is a genuinely tricky thing to do because there are so many options and ways to go about it. If we wanted to stick to positional integrity, we could do that but the trios would look potentially wonky. Fortunately for us, this is basically like putting together lines for a video game so you can't go wrong.
Putting a shift disturber like Tkachuk with the most dominant goal scorer in the NHL in Matthews and a speedy, shifty offensive dynamo like Keller gives Team USA a top line that can create offense in myriad ways.
Want to dig in and muck it up around the net? Throw the puck on goal and let Tkachuk cause a scene. Would you rather snipe from any angle at any distance within the zone? Let Matthews cook. Cutting through lanes and using agility and speed to create rush chances? Keller can do that.
It's hard not to love what this group could do, but that's a line we could use for any of the four lines we're going to suggest here, so we'll try not to repeat ourselves too much.
Second-Line Forwards
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Brady Tkachuk, Jack Hughes, Brock Boeser
This is another group where all three guys provide different means to an end with that end being putting the puck in the net and celebrating.
Like his older brother Matthew, Brady Tkachuk drives the net like he's driving a bus at 100 miles an hour. Big, heavy and fast, he can take the puck to the net and make life miserable for defensemen and goalies alike.
In Hughes, the U.S. has a centerman who uses his tremendous speed and agility as well as his shot to create opportunities from any angle. He has S-tier creativity with the puck and a competitive streak that drives him non-stop through games.
With Boeser playing the wing, he's a natural goal-scorer and a player who can excel on the power play and sniping from anywhere in the zone. As he's shown this season in Vancouver, his knack for filling the net is well-known.
Putting these three together could put opposing defenses into a blender trying to figure out who to try and shut down first.
Third-Line Forwards
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Jason Robertson, Jack Eichel, Tage Thompson
This is a third line in name only.
Robertson is an elite scorer and playmaker in Dallas. He's a major reason why the Stars are one of the best teams in the NHL. He goes hard all over the ice and just finds ways to score the puck in any situation or location.
With Eichel and Thompson together, this line has two centers who can also thrive coming up the wing with speed and puck handling ability.
Eichel's foot speed and strength make him dangerous from everywhere and his wrist shot has the uncanny ability to catch goalies flat-footed and unaware that they just got beat cleanly to the far side of the net. And as he showed during Vegas' run to the Stanley Cup last summer, he can also set up his teammate easily by making plays with the puck.
Thompson didn't look like himself for most of this season thanks to a hand/wrist/arm injury that limited a lot of what makes him so dangerous. But once he was back to 100 percent (or close to it), the jaw-dropping dangles were back and so was the shot that can beat goalies in a fraction of a second.
If you put these three together and give them matchups against lower defensive pairs, the internet will run out of bandwidth trying to keep up with all the highlights they'll produce together.
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Fourth-Line Forwards
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Jake Guentzel, J.T. Miller, Dylan Larkin
Yeah, this is the fourth line. No, they're not going to be throwing pucks in deep and grinding it up in the corners, they're going to drive the net and fire away and make sure that none of Canada, Sweden or Finland get any kind of reprieve from the onslaught this roster can provide.
Any of these three players can play on any of the other lines on this team and they wouldn't miss a beat. Guentzel provides puck possession brilliance and a goal-scoring knack below the dots that very few others can match up with.
Miller is arguably one of the best two-way forwards in the league and yet he's also a 100-point player on the regular now in Vancouver. Go figure! Whether he's setting up his teammates or scoring goals himself, Miller is a dangerous offensive player, but also he came up with the Rangers and Lightning as a smart defensive forward, something he's continued to do now with the Canucks.
In Larkin, the Red Wings' captain provides great play in the offensive zone, particularly when circling the net. His competitive edge makes him a deeply frustrating player for opponents to match up against and his work on special teams makes him a precious player.
When you think of some of the other players who could also make this team but got left out of our mix, it's hard to see how the U.S. could screw up putting this team together. Whether it means adding in Chris Kreider, Vincent Trocheck, Alex DeBrincat, Matt Boldy, or a veteran like Joe Pavelski, it's a true wealth of riches.
First-Pairing Defense
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Quinn Hughes and Adam Fox
Putting the guy who's probably going to win the Norris Trophy with a guy who won it recently is what we call a "no-brainer."
Hughes is having a brilliant season in Vancouver and his offensive brilliance has been on display all season long. From scoring goals to making exciting plays and minding the house defensively, he's done it all for the Canucks and is a major reason why they've had such an incredible season. Having him be the quarterback on the first power play and carrying the load with the bulk of the important minutes is an easy call.
As easy of a call as it was to pick Hughes, teaming him up with Fox from the Rangers gives the United States an incredibly dangerous defensive pair capable of piling up points and making the Americans' attack beyond potent. Fox's play in his end is also nothing to sneeze at and teaming him up with Hughes means they can turn defense into offense in just one outlet pass.
Seeing these two teamed up with any of the four lines they'll roll out will create all kinds of fireworks and fun.
Second-Pairing Defense
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Zach Werenski and Charlie McAvoy
It may have been a "down" year for McAvoy in Boston points-wise but it's hard to argue against what he does that helps make Boston such a dangerous team. From his ability to make great passes up and down the ice to making the right decisions both offensively and in his own end, there's a reason why he's one of the best defensemen in the NHL.
We're teaming McAvoy up with Columbus's Zach Werenski who has quietly had a fantastic season. Werenski is third among American defensemen in scoring this season with 53 points in 68 games. If he were playing on a playoff team, or maybe just not in Columbus, we'd probably hear a lot more about him. But being on one of the more disappointing teams in the NHL does wonders to hide great performances.
Teaming Werenski and McAvoy up would give Team USA another outstanding puck-moving pairing who can also take care of business in their own end of the ice and a couple of guys who can play workhorse minutes.
Third-Pairing Defense
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Jaccob Slavin and Brock Faber
If we're banking on the top two pairings to push the pace with the puck and help drive the offense, we're using the pairing of Slavin and Faber to shut everything down.
Slavin is one of the most unappreciated defensemen in the league and that he often gets overlooked in Carolina is fair because they've got so many other weapons. But make no mistake, a big reason they're able to maintain possession and silence opposing scorers is because Slavin is such a strong player on the blue line.
Despite being a rookie, Faber has made a name for himself with his brilliant defensive play for the Wild and his capability of rushing the puck and making great passes all over the place. But it's Faber's outstanding defensive capabilities that stand out brightest and make him a Calder Trophy front-runner on many ballots.
Goalies
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Connor Hellebuyck, Thatcher Demko, Jeremy Swayman
If there's one position the United States will have the hardest time picking its goalie.
Mind you, it won't be hard because they're lacking in great options (like Canada will have to deal with), it's quite the opposite. The U.S. is teeming with brilliant goalies headed up by Winnipeg's Connor Hellebuyck. He's, arguably, the best goalie in the NHL and chances are good he'll be Team USA's No. 1 guy as well.
But they've also got Vancouver's Thatcher Demko, Boston's Jeremy Swayman, Dallas' Jake Oettinger, Washington's Charlie Lindgren, Detroit's Alex Lyon, Seattle's Joey Daccord, New York's Jonathan Quick, Pittsburgh's Alex Nedeljkovic, Florida's Anthony Stolarz and Anaheim's John Gibson all out there contending to be part of the action. It's a ridiculous wealth of riches they have and picking two more from that group (and beyond) makes Team USA Bill Guerin's job difficult.
Of course, you only play one goalie at a time and ideally you just really need one to get the job done for you. But no matter what, there will be at least one legitimately great goalie left off the roster.
Going with Demko and Swayman to fill out the roster is a can't-lose decision but leaving off Oettinger, at least right now, is deeply painful because he's also great. But we can only take three. Shame we can't make the whole team out of goalies, right?
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