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Bill Guerin has high expectations for the list of players and coaches he will have to select after being named general manager of the U.S. men’s team that will compete in the 2025 NHL Quadrangle and Milan-Cortina in 2026. The Olympics.
“I don’t understand why I shouldn’t think about gold medals,” Guerin said Thursday. “I think USA Hockey has evolved into a program where that’s what we’re supposed to do. We’ve got to put on our skates and go out there and play, but we’ve got to just watch it and play. When you look at it, we’re great in terms of pure talent and depth.” We’re in a really good spot. ”
The first four-nation tournament will be a tournament of the strongest teams, with the United States, Canada, Finland, and Sweden competing from February 12th to 20th. They will play seven games over a nine-day period in as-yet-unnamed cities in North America, one in the United States and one in Canada. Milan vs. Cortina will mark the first time NHL players will return to the Olympics since the 2014 Sochi Games.
Guerin, who played 18 seasons in the NHL and is in his fifth season as general manager of the Minnesota Wild, represented the United States at the 1996 World Cup of Hockey, the last time the United States won the championship tournament, and at three Olympics. did. (Nagano, 1998; Salt Lake City, 2002; Turin, 2006). The 53-year-old from Worcester, Massachusetts, remembers watching the United States at the 1980 Olympics in Lake Placid when he was 9 years old and has since hoped to form a team that could win the country’s first Olympic men’s hockey gold medal. There is.
“I think we have a very deep roster,” Guerin said. “The problem is that we have developed such high-end talent, and there are high-end talent out there that we have never seen before. “We’ve got a lot of guys and they’re from all walks of life. “We’ve got a skilled center. We’ve got a shutdown D. We’ve got sharp wingers. We’ve got a 100-point scorer. We have good role players. We have a lot of players to choose from.”
Former Chicago Blackhawks GM Stan Bowman resigned on October 26, 2021 following an independent investigation into allegations of sexual assault of former Chicago player Kyle Veach by then-video coach Brad Aldrich. As a result, Guerin was scheduled to become GM for the 2022 Beijing Olympics. He was unable to fill that role after the NHL made the decision not to send players as the COVID-19 pandemic forced many games in the 2021-22 regular season to be postponed.
When USA Hockey began considering a coaching group before the NHL and NHL Players Association announced an agreement to hold these tournaments during the 2024 NHL All-Star Weekend, Guerin immediately announced plans for the Quad-Country Game and the 2026 NHL All-Star Weekend. He became the top candidate for GM at the Olympics. in Toronto last Friday.
“We’ve been hearing rumors and efforts for some time about the NHL returning to the Olympics and partnering with the 4 Nations, and we’ve had some conversations,” said USA Hockey Executive Director Pat Keller. . “So, I think [John Vanbiesbrouck, assistant executive director of hockey operations for USA Hockey] And I’m excited to move forward on this and John certainly goes back a few years with Billy. ”
Vanbiesbrouck said Guerin is a perfect fit for the job.
“I think we have confidence in No. 1 Bill,” Vanbiesbrouck said. “We’ve had a lot of GMs, but last time we were going to go down the same path with Billy. We had great conversations, we love his leadership, and overall he’s a winning hockey player. But we’re also a winning GM. So I think our decision was pretty easy for us.”
Guerin will seek guidance from other U.S.-born NHL GMs as he helps create rosters for the two tournaments. He spoke Thursday morning with retired Nashville Predators general manager David Poyle, who played for the U.S. team at the 2014 Sochi Olympics, and said he speaks regularly with Carolina Hurricanes GM Don Waddell. Ta.
Teams participating in the four-nation tournament are expected to announce the first six players on their rosters by early summer. Guerin wants to choose a coach well in advance so he can be involved in the player selection process. He hopes to have the same coach for the Four Nations Championship and the 2026 Olympics.
“Consistency is very important,” Guerin said. “I think the relationship between player and coach is very important in a short tournament like this.”
Guerin said Mike Sullivan of the Pittsburgh Penguins would be one of the coaching candidates, but the job is not guaranteed since he starts in 2022.
“Mike is a great fit,” Guerin said. “He’s a Stanley Cup-winning coach. He’s a leader. He checks every bounce. He’s a commanding presence, (but) it has nothing to do with seniority or who’s next in line. “What matters is who can get results. We feel that way. We have a lot of players that fit that criteria and Mike is one of them.”
Guerin, the No. 5 pick of the New Jersey Devils in the 1989 NHL Entry Draft, was a forward for the Devils, Penguins, Edmonton Oilers, Boston Bruins, and Dallas Stars, scoring 856 points (429 goals, 427 goals) in 1,263 regular season games. (assist) was recorded. , St. Louis Blues, San Jose Sharks, New York Islanders. He scored 74 points (39 goals, 35 assists) in 140 Stanley Cup Playoff games, both as a player (Devils in 1995, Penguins in 2009) and as an executive (Assistant GM with Pittsburgh in 2016 and 2017). He won the Stanley Cup twice.
Guerin was a three-time Olympian, scoring eight points (five goals, three assists) in 16 games, including four points in six games at the 2002 Salt Lake City Games, where the U.S. won the silver medal. . He was inducted into the US Hockey Hall of Fame in his 2013 year.
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