Cole Caufield or not Cole Caufield? That is the question.
The presence of the Montreal Canadiens forward on the roster of the American national team which will participate in the 4 Nations Showdown is causing a lot of talk, and for good reason.
After all, how could Team USA general manager Bill Guerin be without the fourth-highest scorer in the NHL, with 12 goals in 19 games so far?
However, it is not as simple as that, and this is what the author of these lines achieved by taking on the exercise of predicting the formation of the United States.
Because it’s not just about opening HockeyDB, looking at the players who have the most goals, or the most points, and taking the first ones in the list. A team must be a whole and, in a tournament like the 4 Nations, star players who, normally, are used to generate offense for their NHL team, will have to accept more secondary, more defensive roles. .
And that’s what will work against Caufield.
A possible offensive role?
The biggest challenge for Team USA will be determining which of a pool of players with exceptional skills will be most useful in offensive roles.
Auston Matthews, Jack Eichel and Matthew Tkachuk will be among them, who have already been named to the squad by American leaders a few weeks ago.
In our projected formation, we also imagined a Matthews-Eichel duo, the latter being transferred to the right wing for the tournament, completed by Jake Guentzel from the Tampa Bay Lightning. An elite first trio.
On the second attacking unit, we had fun bringing together Matthew Tkachuk and his brother, Brady, and New Jersey Devils center Jack Hughes. The dynamism of Hughes, combined with the work ethic and scoring skills of the Tkachuk brothers? Where do I sign?
Difficult, for the moment, to include Caufield in a role on the first two lines, unless the American team tries to recreate the duo he formed with Hughes in the American national program.
It’s getting tough
The most difficult decisions will come later, to decide who the other six attackers will be in the formation.
We included Kyle Connor without much thought. The Jets winger is off to a remarkable start to the season with 12 goals and 12 assists for 24 points in 19 games and is one of the main reasons for the Winnipeg Jets’ success. Beyond talent, you also have to take players who have the wind in their sails.
In the center of the third trio, Dylan Larkin will be able to occupy all the chairs while we preferred the great Tage Thompson to Caufield on the right of this unit, he who seems to have regained his form of two years ago when he had collected 94 points.
Can he play on a fourth line?
We hesitated for a long time here, but in the end we opted for a fourth trio that could handle defensive tasks. This is why Vincent Trocheck is the center player we chose, he who wants to be one of the best two-way pivots in the entire NHL. We flanked him with the fast and physical Chris Kreider, who will be able to disturb the opponent with his forecheck, and we completed this unit with Jason Robertson of the Dallas Stars who, even if he is not having a great start to the season. dream, remains one of the best forwards in the NHL.
Like 13e attacking, we chose Matthew Boldy.
Note that JT Miller was voluntarily excluded from the Vancouver Canucks due to the uncertainty surrounding his situation. Remember that he left the team on Tuesday for personal reasons.
Jake Guentzel – Auston Matthews* – Jack Eichel*
Brady Tkachuk – Jack Hughes – Matthew Tkachuk
Kyle Connor – Dylan Larkin – Tage Thompson
Chris Kreider – Vincent Trocheck – Jason Robertson
Matthew Boldy
Quinn Hughes* – Charlie McAvoy*
Zach Werenski – Adam Fox*
Jaccob Slavin – Brock Faber
John Carlson
Connor Hellebuyck
Jake Oettinger
Jeremy Swayman
*The position of these players has already been confirmed.
They were left out: Alex DeBrincat, Cole Caufield, Clayton Keller, Troy Terry, Brock Boeser, Alex Tuch, K’Andre Miller, Thatcher Demko
