When you look at the vast pool of talented players that the Americans have right now, there’s no doubt that when the United States’ 4 Nations Face-Off is revealed Dec. 4, most of the scrutiny will be aimed at which players were “snubbed” rather than who made it.
Cole Caufield is the top U.S.-born goal scorer in the NHL right now. Tage Thompson is tied for second.
Yet if you project out the 13 forwards who could make the team, there’s a chance the Montreal Canadiens and Buffalo Sabres stars, respectively, could be on the outside looking in.
The goal, USA Hockey general manager Bill Guerin told The Athletic, is not to choose an All-Star Team; it’s to create the perfect team to win a short tournament. That means the need for role players and versatile players.
So while Thompson may be one of the best goal scorers in the NHL, it might make more sense to take a player like the New York Rangers’ Vincent Trocheck — somebody who can take draws lefty and righty, is an exceptional penalty killer and is more battle-tested playing on an NHL contender.
Caufield brings flash and a tremendous shot, but is he too much like Jack Hughes and Matt Boldy?
When you can only take one extra forward and one extra defenseman, would having a chameleon like the New York Islanders’ Brock Nelson, who can be plugged onto any line at any position, make more sense than a Caufield, Clayton Keller or Brock Boeser?
And when you’re so limited on roster space, can you afford to give a spot to decorated American and future Hall of Famer Patrick Kane if that roster spot would be better served by somebody else?
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“Patty deserves the utmost respect, and we’re watching him,” said Guerin, who doubles as president of hockey operations and GM of the Minnesota Wild. “We talked a couple months ago about everything because I wanted to be open and honest with him, and he’s great. He’s a high-character, classy guy and understands it. But, like I said, we’re watching him as close as we’re watching everybody else.”
Rosters must be submitted two days before the big reveal, so we’re less than three weeks from Guerin and his leadership group making arguably the hardest decisions of any of the four nations (Canada, Finland and Sweden) taking part in the 2026 Olympics appetizer that will take place in February in Montreal and Boston.
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“We are picking apart these world-class players that we would all love to have on our team,” Guerin said of his routine calls with assistant GMs Chris Drury (Rangers GM), Tom Fitzgerald (New Jersey Devils GM) and Bill Zito (Florida Panthers GM) and director of player personnel Chris Kelleher (Wild assistant GM). “We’ll just start laughing and be like, ‘Listen to us nitpick this superstar player. This is crazy.’ But we’re doing our best to work through it and make the best educated decisions that we can.”
It’s clear that most of the decisions have been made for the roster of 13 American forwards, seven defensemen and three goalies. The management group is down to the final spots. And if you pay attention to teams Kelleher has been scouting lately as he doubles his Wild duties, he seems to be taking a hard look at the Ottawa Senators, Vegas Golden Knights, Columbus Blue Jackets, Carolina Hurricanes, Sabres, Islanders and Detroit Red Wings.
That could mean gathering a bit more intel on defensemen like Jake Sanderson, Noah Hanifin, Zach Werenski and Jaccob Slavin, and forwards like Thompson, Nelson, Kane and Dylan Larkin.
Whoever is picked, and snubbed, Guerin says he doesn’t care about the scrutiny he’ll get from fans and media.
Bill Guerin has hard decisions to make as U.S. 4 Nations GM. (Nick Wosika / Getty Images)
“I care about the players,” Guerin said. “I don’t care about what people on the outside think. I have to make hard decisions, and there’s going to be a ton of them, and not everybody’s going to agree with me — not everybody’s going to be happy. But I have to make them. It’s everybody’s right to disagree with my decisions. But what I worry about is the players because the players put a lot into it and everybody wants to make the team.
“Unfortunately that can’t be the case. I worry about the human side because some of these players will deserve an explanation. But I also really hope they handle it maturely because this may not be the last time they hear from us.”
What Guerin is alluding to is that, with rosters set 2 ½ months before the tournament, there are bound to be injuries.
So while a player may be upset that he didn’t make the team Dec. 2, Guerin’s going to have to leave it in the right place if he knows the player is “next on the list.”
Guerin also will have a bigger roster for the 2026 Olympics, so while he certainly wants to use this tournament to develop chemistry for the eventual Olympic team, he also wants to make clear that just because you didn’t make the 4 Nations Face-Off doesn’t mean you don’t have a shot at the Olympics.
That could especially be the case for young players like Sanderson, Caufield, Luke Hughes and K’Andre Miller.
Beyond the calls with his leadership group, Guerin has also been having private talks with the man he tapped as coach, the Pittsburgh Penguins’ Mike Sullivan.
Sullivan’s assistants are John Tortorella (Philadelphia Flyers head coach), John Hynes (Wild head coach) and David Quinn (Penguins assistant coach).
Guerin and Sullivan talk about style of game, style of player and roles.
“You’re going to have to be able to play it any way,” Guerin said. “Speed. Skill. We’re gonna have to have some size. Up the middle, we have some potentially big players with (Auston) Matthews, (Jack) Eichel, J.T. Miller, Tage Thompson, Trocheck and Brock Nelson. I mean, it goes on and on. And special teams are going to be really important to me. The role buy-in is going to be huge — being able to put guys in the right positions as a team, hopefully having the team be able to jell quickly.
“Like you look at our blue line, we have power-play guys (potentially Quinn Hughes and Adam Fox). You can see that we need penalty-killers. Those are some of the really tough decisions.”
When it comes to role buy-in, this is what Guerin is focusing on. As a player, he took part in two world juniors, two World Cups and three Olympics. Most players on those teams were power-play guys, but 20 skaters can’t be in the top six and power play.
“I’m one of those guys who didn’t play on the power play in, I think, two of the Olympics, but you have to accept it,” Guerin said. “You have to know your role. I was also cut from the ’92 team, so I’m sensitive to people not making the team and the tough decisions that have to be made.
“I’ve been the result of making teams and not making teams, and it sucks when you don’t. But you know what? I let it be a motivator for me and ended up playing in three Olympics and two World Cups. So, yeah, I didn’t get to play in that one, but I got to play five.”
Two players who have jumped to the forefront in the process this time are Guerin’s own Wild players, Boldy and Brock Faber. Faber recently got into a fight right in front of Sullivan in Pittsburgh after a wrestling match with Sidney Crosby.
“I don’t think that hurt Brock’s cause,” Guerin said, laughing. “I know that wasn’t what Brock was thinking, but I bet Sully appreciated it — not so much the fight, but the way Brock didn’t back down from Sid and kept going at him.”
Boldy is tied for the Wild lead with nine goals and has seven goals in his past 11 games — four game-winners and another forcing overtime. It helps his cause that he can play left or right wing.
“Matt’s had a really strong year,” Guerin said. “He’s playing really well. He’s in the mix with other really good players.”
Guerin looks at the American roster and the choices he must make and believes the Americans could be a favorite.
But, he said, “I’ve seen enough of these and been in enough of these where I don’t care what the team looks like on paper. That doesn’t mean anything. You have to get there and it’s got to click. It’s got to jell. You’ve got to hit the ground running.”
(Photos of Cole Caufield, Tage Thompson and Brock Nelson: Bruce Bennett / Getty Images)
