Toronto Maple Leafs star Auston Matthews was one of the first six players named to Team USA for the upcoming 4 Nations Face-Off in February. The tournament features the best of Canada, the United States, Sweden, and Finland, and the Maple Leafs will have one player representing each team. Matthews for the States, Mitch Marner for Canada, William Nylander for Sweden, and Jani Hakanpaa for Finland.
Whether you’re invested in rooting for your country or you think the tournament is unnecessary, it’s fun to keep tabs on your team’s players and see how they operate in a different system, under a different coach and with different linemates. In Matthews’ case, he projects to be the first-line centre for Team USA and coached by Pittsburgh Penguins bench boss Mike Sullivan. There are a number of directions the States could go in here, but having him with a playmaker in Marner’s realm seems like the best course of action here.
Enter Jack Hughes.
The 2019 first-overall pick and New Jersey Devils star has 24 assists and 35 points in 29 games this season and floated the other day that he would love the chance to play alongside Matthews at the tournament.
“Just seeing him and Mitch Marner do their thing,” Hughes told NHL.com’s Mike Morreale on Thursday. “It’d be fun to play with a guy that has scored 69 goals in the NHL, so even if it’s a few games, that’s something I’m definitely looking forward to … the possibility of that.”
While Hughes is a centre by trade, centres will oftentimes shift to the wing when playing at a national tournament, take Sidney Crosby and Nathan MacKinnon on a line for Canada together. The States have Dylan Larkin, J.T. Miller, Brock Nelson, Jack Eichel, and Vincent Trocheck, who are all capable of playing up the middle, so it’s very possible that Johnston shifts Hughes to the wing so he can complement the team’s best shooting threat.
While there’s no line combo confirmations two months ahead of the tournament, it’s safe to assume that Hughes will at least get a look with Matthews on that line. So, who fills the other spot? There are a number of directions you could go in.
Matthew Tkachuk of the Florida Panthers would be a fun option and complete the ideal line archetype of playmaker, shooter, and power forward. You could make the same argument for his brother, Ottawa Senators forward Brady Tkachuk, considering they both have finishing ability as well as physicality and strong forechecking ability, but at the same time, it almost feels like those two will be on a line of their own. Having them on either side of Matthews would be an all-time fun line, but it seems more likely they’ll want to have a passing specialist dishing Matthews the puck.
Another candidate to be that passing specialist is Jack Eichel of the Vegas Golden Knights, who shoots right and has 30 assists on the season himself. He and Matthews have experience playing together from their days with the U.S. National Team Development Program, with a mere two days separating him and Eichel from being in the same draft class. Both Hughes and Eichel have goal-scoring prowess as well, so having those two on either side of Matthews would be a high-octane “all-purpose” kind of line. And if you want to really dial in on the goal-scoring side of things, Kyle Connor of the Winnipeg Jets has been on fire to start the 2024-25 season and has 40-goal ability, too.
Either way, Matthews will be in good hands for this tournament. While most Leafs fans will be rooting for Marner and the team up north, it’s hard to deny that seeing Matthews participate in a best-on-best tournament for the first time since the 2016 World Hockey Championships will be a good time for all involved. Whether it’s more of the same from a playmaking perspective on his side or whether he has a pair of bash bros wreaking havoc and giving him all the time and space to make plays, he’s well-positioned to do some damage at this tournament.
This article first appeared on TheLeafsnation and was syndicated with permission.
