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This might be Team USA's best hockey roster yet
Entering Thursday's 4 Nation's Face-off game against Finland, the United States was on a five-game losing streak international tournament games featuring NHL players. They had dropped the final two games of the 2014 Sochi Olympics, then lost all three of their games in the 2016 World Cup of Hockey.
Flawed roster construction and strange circumstances (specifically in the 2016 World Cup where their best young players were on Team North America) definitely played a role, but they were also lacking in prime-age, high-end talent.
The players who were on the 2010 silver-medal-winning team were getting older and starting to decline, and the next crop of young stars had not yet arrived.
Now they have, and they put on a show in Thursday's dominant 6-1 win over Finland.
It was not only a decisive message for this tournament; it was a decisive message that USA hockey is as good, if not better, than it has ever been and is perfectly capable of competing with Canada.
It is not just the fact the USA roster is full of great players by American hockey standards. It is simply full of great players who are also all in the prime of their careers.
The forwards are loaded with All-Star-level talents.
Auston Matthews is one of the best pure goal-scorers in hockey, has led the league three times and is on the short list of players to have multiple 60-goal seasons.
Jack Eichel has been the best player on a recent Stanley Cup contender.
Matthew Tkachuk, who put on a show alongside his brother, Brady, on Thursday has been an MVP finalist.
Jack Hughes is as talented as any player in the NHL offensively when healthy and can change a game on any shift.
Jake Guentzel is another Stanley Cup winner whose game has always elevated in the biggest moments.
The defense has a Norris Trophy winner in Adam Fox, could potentially have another one this season in Zach Werenski and also a collection of bonafide No. 1 defenders (Jaccob Slavin, Charlie McAvoy). And this is without the best current American-born defenseman, Quinn Hughes, who is sidelined from the tournament due to injury.
But the greatest strength of this USA roster might be the one position that can completely change a tournament: goaltender.
Connor Hellebuyck is arguably the best goalie on the planet right now, already has two Vezina Trophies and is going to be a front-runner for a third this season. If he is on top of his game — and he was for the most part on Thursday — he has the ability to take this team to a level that American international teams have rarely been capable of reaching.
Backups Jake Oettinger and Jeremy Swayman are so good that they would probably be starting for Canada in this tournament.
Of course this is all just on paper. The games still have to be played on the ice. Thursday's game was impressive, but Finland is probably the least-talented roster of the four teams in this tournament. It was a game the United States was always going to be expected to win, and win decisively. It did what it is supposed to do in this game. The real test is going to be on Saturday night against Canada, in a game that will be full of emotion and intensity.
Brady Tkachuk already called it the biggest game of his career.
If the United States wins that game, it will be even bigger message as to how good this roster is.
No matter what happens in this tournament, the program seems set for potential success in the near future, including in the 2026 Winter Olympics.
More must-reads:
- Five takeaways from 4 Nations Face-Off battle between Team USA and Finland
- Watch: Team USA's Brady Tkachuk joins father on rare list with goal
- The 'Team USA Four Nations Face-Off roster' quiz
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