Team USA's 4 Nations Face-Off roster has lots of talent, but a squad of snubbed Americans could have held its own in the tournament, says Michael Augello.
Team USA's 4 Nations Face-Off roster has lots of talent, but a squad of snubbed Americans could have held its own in the tournament, says Michael Augello.
Team USA’s roster for NHL's 4 Nation Face-Off next February was generally agreed upon when it came out on Wednesday, but there were some surprises.
New York Rangers forwards Chris Kreider and Vincent Trocheck and New York Islanders center Brock Nelson were chosen over players having more offensively productive seasons.
As with Team Canada, the Americans have so much depth that they could assemble another team that could hold its own in the upcoming tournament.
Here is Team USA’s All-Snub squad:
Forwards
Jason Robertson - Tage Thompson - Alex Tuch
Matthew Knies - Logan Cooley - Cole Caufield
Patrick Kane - Clayton Keller - Alex DeBrincat
Matty Beniers - Adam Lowry - Conor Garland
The omissions of Caufield and Thompson are stunning, given that they are the top two American goal-scorers this season with 16 and 14, respectively.
Robertson, a two-time 40-goal scorer, was thought to be a shoo-in for Team USA, but a slow start this season with Dallas is the reason for his omission. He still has 15 points in 25 games.
Buffalo's Tuch and Utah's Keller are each leading their clubs in scoring, but with the depth of talent that the Americans have at center and right wing, it would take a series of injuries to put them in the mix.
Size and injury history were definitely a factor in DeBrincat and Kane not being selected, as was inexperience in the University of Minnesota duo Knies and Cooley, but that might not be the case leading up to the Olympics in Milano-Cortina in February 2026.
Lowry is an excellent fourth-line-checking candidate and penalty-killer. Garland has 22 points and can play throughout the lineup, while the talented Beniers has yet to regain his Calder Trophy-winning form from two years ago.
Defense
Jake Sanderson - John Carlson
Shayne Gostisbehere - Seth Jones
Ryan McDonagh - Neal Pionk
The U.S. blueline is so loaded that Stanley Cup winners Carlson and McDonagh were back on the list of potential options despite still being effective in their mid-30s.
Pionk and Gostisbehere are having excellent offensive seasons in Winnipeg and Carolina but would be redundant with Zach Werenski and Quinn Hughes as power-play quarterbacks.
Jones has been on the injured reserve since mid-November with a broken foot, but he will be available by February. Sanderson could be on the roster instead of Noah Hanifin, and there would be no drop-off, but at 22 years old, Team USA management may think he needs more experience.
Goalies
Thatcher Demko
John Gibson
The second level of the Americans’ goaltending is arguably better than the Canadian starting trio of Jordan Binnington, Adin Hill and Samuel Montembeault.
Demko is expected to return from a knee injury this month, and if he had been healthy, he likely would have supplanted Jeremy Swayman as Team USA's third goalie. Gibson has played well since returning from an emergency appendectomy last month.
Other possible options are three-time Stanley Cup winner Jonathan Quick, who has a remarkable .936 save percentage as Igor Shesterkin’s backup in New York. The Toronto tandem of Joseph Woll and Anthony Stolarz have the second-best goals-against average in the NHL, and Calgary's Dustin Wolf leads all NHL rookies with eight wins and a .918 SP.
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