Look through the list of U.S. players for the upcoming 4 Nations Face-Off, and you’ll find some of the NHL’s highest honors.
Auston Matthews has a Hart Memorial Trophy and three goal-scoring titles to his name. Connor Hellebuyck is coming off his second Vezina Trophy. And Quinn Hughes won the Norris Trophy last season, three years after Adam Fox claimed it.
Therefore, while U.S. general manager Bill Guerin said he had a lot of fun putting together the 4 Nations roster, he described the process as being long and extremely difficult.
“The player pool in the United States now is incredible,” Guerin said during a video press conference on Friday, two days after the final 23-man roster was announced. “The depth of the pool is deeper than it’s ever been, and it’s just great to see when we’re looking at these names, critiquing all these great players and trying to put this puzzle together. It’s really amazing the level of players that we have.”
The U.S. will play against Canada, Finland and Sweden at the 4 Nations Face-Off, which runs Feb. 12-20 in Montreal and Boston.
While Guerin had the final say on the roster, he worked closely with head coach Mike Sullivan and the rest of the team’s staff to put together a team they felt could win the tournament.
To do that, they had to leave off talented players with proven NHL track records. Instead of putting together an All-Star team, Guerin and Sullivan wanted to build a cohesive roster with players that can fill multiple roles.
“One thing we did talk about as a group was just the importance of versatility in the roster,” said Sullivan, who’s in his 10th season as head coach of the Pittsburgh Penguins. “There’s a lot of [centers] on the roster that we know can play the wing and also play center. We’ve got guys that can kill penalties but can also play on power plays.
“That just speaks volumes for the caliber of players that we have in the United States today.”
Guerin, who’s been the general manager of the Minnesota Wild since 2019, used New York Rangers teammates Chris Kreider and Vincent Trocheck as an example of the U.S. team’s versatility.
Kreider is a prolific goal scorer known for having a net-front presence on power plays, Guerin said, but he’s also excellent on the penalty kill. Similarly, Trocheck plays both special teams for the Rangers, and Guerin described him as the “one of the top face-off guys in the league.”
With the roster set, Sullivan will now work with his coaching staff to start putting lines together and formulate groups for special teams.
When it comes to line pairings, Sullivan said he’ll talk with his players for input on who they’d like to share the ice with. However, his top priorities are finding complementary skillsets and balance.
“Those things are essential to having success,” he said. “When you look at the roster that we’ve assembled here, we should have the ability to accomplish both.”
The team will also need to pick captains, but who wears a letter ultimately won’t deter any of the players from leading in their own way, Sullivan said.
“We feel very confident that we have a group of players that have shown through their body of work, whether it be in the NHL or on the international stage, that they have the ability to elevate their games in a high-stakes environment,” he said. “By nature of that, it requires leadership.”
Guerin, who was part of the 1996 World Cup of Hockey championship team – the last senior level U.S. men’s team to finish at the top of the podium – is confident in this year’s 4 Nations squad.
“Everybody has good rosters, and I have too much respect for the other teams to come out and say we should win,” Guerin said. “We put together a roster that we feel can give us the best chance to win, now we have to go out and play the games and prove it.”
Story from Red Line Editorial, Inc.
Source: usahockey.com