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Mike Sullivan Announces Shocking Team USA Replacement for 4 Nations Face-Off Championship

Originally posted on Athlon Sports | By Sean Treppedi | Last updated Feb 18, 2025 12:12 PM ET

Team USA lost a key piece of its blue line on Tuesday when it learned that Charlie McAvoy will be ruled out for Thursday's title game against Team Canada in the 2024 4 Nation's Face-Off Championship.

Shortly after, head coach Mike Sullivan gave an unexpected lineup update, announcing that Vancouver Canucks defenseman Quinn Hughes will be traveling to Boston to fill McAvoy's spot.

Hughes was initially selected to represent Team USA, but was ultimately deemed unavailable due to an undisclosed injury that he sustained in the week leading up to the tournament.

Ottawa Senators' Jake Sanderson was then added as Hughes' replacement, who slotted in for McAvoy in the 2-1 round-robin defeat to Team Sweden on Monday.

So much in-flux this morning. Team USA was told one hour ago that they couldn’t add anyone.

Mike Sullivan now says Quinn Hughes is en route to join USA as an injury replacement.
— Frank Seravalli (@frank_seravalli) February 18, 2025

Team USA was told that they couldn't add any additional players to its roster in the time between the McAvoy and Hughes announcements. The original rule was that a team must have less than 18 skaters available in order to add new players.

With six healthy defenseman available, Team USA would need another injury for Hughes to play on Thursday per SportNet's Elliotte Friedman.

I’m told another injury is needed for Quinn Hughes to play
— Elliotte Friedman (@FriedgeHNIC) February 18, 2025

Also per Friedman, the decision for Hughes to play or not ahead of the tournament was left up to him. Since the Canucks are still competing for a playoff spot in the Western Conference, Hughes subsequently decided against playing.

"I've heard he's just agonizing over it," Friedman said . "Vancouver's situation is different than Pittsburgh (with Sidney Crosby). Pittsburgh is much lower in the standings, Vancouver is in the playoff race and I think he feels the pressure."

This article first appeared on Athlon Sports and was syndicated with permission.

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