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Back in February, when the NHL announced that it would go its own way and bring back the Hockey World Cup with a four-nation competition, we gave our thoughts on what Team USA and Team Canada would do with their rosters.
With the regular season almost coming to an end, we were able to see how everyone finished the year. With less than a year left until the tournaments in Boston and Montreal, it’s time for another stab.
Here are four forward lines, three defense pairs, and three goalkeepers that we think are best suited to represent their country. In this case, tear out the Stars and Stripes to single out Team USA’s roster and make sure it’s a Yankee-His-Doodle-His-Dandy setup.
Let’s dig in and summarize the teams that are best able to beat Canada, Sweden, and Finland 10 months from now.
Matthew Tkachuk, Auston Matthews, Clayton Keller
Building Team USA’s line is really difficult because there are so many options and ways to go about it. If you want to focus on positional integrity, you can do that, but it can make the trio look unstable. Luckily for us, it’s basically like putting together lines for a video game, so you can’t really get it wrong.
By having a shift disruptor like Tkachuk in Matthews, the NHL’s most dominant goal scorer, and a speedy, versatile offensive dynamo like Keller, Team USA can attack in a myriad of ways. You can get the top line that you can generate.
Why not dig into the internet and mess it up? He throws the puck into the goal, giving Tkachuk a scene. Want to snipe from every angle at virtually every distance in the zone? Let Matthews cook for you. Will you carve through the lane and use your agility and speed to create rushing opportunities? Keller can do that.
I can’t help but love what this group could potentially do, but this is a line that could work with any of the four lines I’m proposing here, so I’ll try not to repeat it too much.
Brady Tkachuk, Jack Hughes, Brock Boeser
This is another group where all three offer different means to accomplish their goals, and that goal is celebrating by putting pucks in the net.
Like his brother Matthew, Brady Tkachuk drives the net like he drives a bus at 100 miles per hour. Big, heavy, and fast, he can bring the puck to the net and make life miserable for defensemen and goalies alike.
The United States has a centerman in Hughes who uses incredible speed, agility, and shooting to create chances from all angles. Not only does he have his S-level creativity with the puck, but he also has the competitiveness to run non-stop throughout the game.
Boeser, who plays as a winger, is a natural goal scorer who can snipe from anywhere in the zone as well as on the power play. He is well known for his ability to fill the net, as he has shown in Vancouver this season.
Combining these three puts the opposing defense into a blender to determine who to try to shut down first.
Jason Robertson, Jack Eichel, Tage Thompson
This is the third line in name only, believe me.
Robertson is an elite scorer and playmaker for Dallas and is a major reason why the Stars are one of the best teams in the NHL. He gives his all on the ice and finds a way to score the puck in any situation or location on the ice.
With Eichel and Thompson together, this line has two centers who can also move up to the wings with their speed and puck-handling ability.
Eichel’s foot speed and strength make him dangerous from anywhere, and his wrist shot has the uncanny ability to catch the goalie flat-footed and oblivious to it being knocked cleanly over the other side of the net. Masu. And he can also easily set up his teammates by making plays with the puck, as he showed during Vegas’ run to the Stanley Cup last summer.
Thompson hasn’t been himself for most of this season, as injuries to his hand, wrist, and arm limited many of the functions that make him so dangerous. But once he was back to 100% (or close to it), his amazing hanging back and shots that beat the goalie in seconds went back.
If you put these three together and play them against a weaker defensive pair, the internet will run out of bandwidth to keep up with all the highlights they produce together.
Jake Guentzel, JT Miller, Dylan Larkin
Yes, this is the 4th line. No, they’re not going to throw the puck deep and grind it out in the corners, they’re going to drive the net away and shoot and make sure none of Canada, Sweden or Finland get a reprieve in any way that this roster can provide. Onslaught.
Any of these three players can play on any other line on this team and not miss a beat. Guentzel offers brilliance in puck possession and a knack for scoring below-the-point goals that others can’t match.
Miller is arguably one of the best two-way forwards in the league, but he’s also currently a 100-point regular with Vancouver. Go figure! Miller is a dangerous offensive player, whether setting up teammates or scoring himself, but he was a smart defensive forward with the Rangers and Lightning and continues to do so with the Canucks.
In Larkin, the Red Wings captain makes great plays in the offensive zone, especially when he’s going around the net. His competitive nature makes him a very frustrating player for opponents to match up with, and his work on special teams makes him especially valuable.
It’s hard to understand how America can fail to put this team together, considering the other players who could have been on this team but were left out. Whether that means adding a veteran like Chris Kreider, Vincent Trocheck, Alex DeBrincat, Matt Boldy, or Joe Pavelski, it’s a wealth of wealth.
Quinn Hughes and Adam Fox
Comparing a player who will probably win the Norris Trophy to a player who recently won it is what we call a “no-brainer.”
Hughes is having a great season in Vancouver, and his offensive talent has been on display all season. From scoring goals to making exciting plays to defending home defensively, he does it all for the Canucks and is a major reason why they had such a great season. It’s an easy decision to start him at quarterback on his first power play and give him the majority of the critical minutes.
Hughes was an easy pick, but pairing him with the Rangers’ Fox gives the U.S. an incredibly dangerous defensive pair that can rack up points and make the U.S. offense more than potent. be able to. The Foxes’ play in their own half isn’t surprising either, and pairing them with Hughes means they can turn defense into attack with just one outlet pass.
Seeing these two team up on any of the four lines they deploy creates all kinds of fireworks and is fun.
Zach Werenski and Charlie McAvoy
It may have been a “down” year for McAvoy in terms of points in Boston, but it’s hard to argue with what he’s done that makes Boston such a dangerous team. From his ability to make great passes on and off the ice to his ability to make the right decisions both offensively and on his own, there’s a reason why he’s one of the best defensemen in the NHL. .
We team McAvoy with Columbus’ Zach Werenski, who quietly had a great season. Werenski has 53 points in 68 games this season, ranking third among American defensemen. If he was playing on a playoff team, or just not in Columbus, we’d probably hear a lot more about him. But being on one of the most disappointing teams in the NHL can surprisingly overshadow a great performance.
If Werenski and McAvoy team up, Team USA will have another great puck-moving pair. They can do some work on that edge of the ice, and there will be a few guys who can play key roles.
Jacob Slavin and Brock Faber
If you’re going to rely on your top two pairing to pace the puck and drive the offense, you’re going to use the pairing of Slavin and Faber to shut everything down.
Slavin is one of the most underrated defensemen in the league, and Carolina has so many other weapons that it’s no wonder he’s often ignored. But don’t get me wrong. A big reason they are able to hold onto the ball and silence opposing scorers is because Slavin is such a strong player on the blue line.
Despite being a rookie, Faber made a name for himself with the Wild for his brilliant defensive play and ability to rush the puck and make great passes all over the place. But what stands out most is Faber’s outstanding defensive ability, making him the frontrunner for the Calder Trophy in many votes.
Connor Hellebuyck, Thatcher Demko, Jeremy Swayman
If there’s one position that’s the most difficult for the U.S. to choose, it’s goalie.
Let me tell you, it’s not hard because they lack great options (like Canada has to deal with), but it’s quite the opposite. The United States is full of talented goaltenders, led by Winnipeg’s Connor Hellebuyck. He’s probably the best goaltender in the NHL and could very well be Team USA’s No. 1 player.
But 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 are also available. It claims to be part of the action. What they have is tremendous wealth, and picking two more from that group (and more) really makes Team USA Bill Guerin’s job difficult.
Of course, only one goalie can be playing at a time, and ideally, the only goalie you really need to get the job done. But no matter what, at least one legitimately great goaltender will be left off the roster. It’s not because they’re bad, it’s because everyone else on the team is so damn good.
Bringing in Demko and Swayman to fill out the roster is a hard sell, but leaving Oettinger is extremely painful, at least for now. Also wonderful. But we can only take three. It’s a shame that the entire team can’t be made up of goalkeepers, right?
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