The roster the United States put on the ice for the 4 Nations Face-Off was arguably one of the best collections of talent it has ever had for an international, best-on-best tournament. The talent pool for USA Hockey is deeper than it has ever been, with both high-end, superstar-level players (Jack Eichel, Auston Matthews, Quinn Hughes, Connor Hellebuyck) and very capable depth players that can build out a deep lineup.
Their 3-2 overtime loss to Canada in the championship game on Thursday night was a valiant effort that easily could have gone either way.
But the result is all that matters, and it is the same one that Team USA keeps experiencing in these types of tournaments.
When the games matter the most, when the chips are down, and when they are facing the truly elite teams and hockey superpowers, they simply can not score enough goals. They never do.
It happened again on Thursday. It has happened at every recent Olympics with NHL players. It happened at the 2016 World Cup of Hockey.
It is not a fluke, and it will likely continue until they make a major change in how they build their teams.
They have to ditch the role players and spend more time focusing on taking their best, most skilled players that can put the puck in the net.
Just consider some numbers. Over the past five best-on-best tournaments to feature NHL players (2006, 2010, 2014 Olympics, the 2016 World Cup and this year’s 4 Nations Face-Off) the U.S. has played in eight medal round/championship games. They have only scored 20 goals in those games, which comes out to an average of 2.5 goals per game.
Compare that to the other six global hockey powers in similar games. Keep in mind, this is only medal round/elimination games where it is truly one of the best teams with the highest stakes. Teams are ranked in order of goals per game:
- Sweden: 28 goals in eight games (3.5 goals per game)
- Canada: 40 goals in 12 games (3.3 goals per game)
- Finland: 27 goals in 9 games (3.0 goals per game)
- Slovakia: 17 goals in 6 games (2.8 goals per game)
- Czech Republic: 19 goals in 7 games (2.7 goals per game)
- United States: 20 goals in 8 games (2.5 goals per game)
- Russia: six goals in five games (1.2 goals per game)
The U.S. consistently fails in those games offensively.
It is not necessarily a lack of talent. It is all about the mindset of building the roster. The U.S. obsesses about taking role players that can fit specific roles and does not always take its best goal-scoring talent.
Of the top five American-born goal-scorers in the NHL this season, only two of them were on this roster (Winnipeg’s Kyle Connor and Tampa Bay’s Jake Guentzel). Only one of them (Guentzel) was in the lineup for Thursday’s championship as Connor was healthy scratched, despite being the top American-born goal-scorer in the NHL this season.
Taking players like Chris Kreider, Vincent Trocheck and Brock Nelson over goal-scorers like Tage Thompson, Clayton Keller and Alex DeBrincat is just putting you at a disadvantage and not giving you your best chance.
These best-on-best teams do not need checkers. They do not need grinders or role players. The U.S. is too often stuck in the “Miracle on Ice” mindset where they have to find the “right players” instead of just simply taking the “best” players. After so many times coming up short in these big games against the best teams, the message needs to start getting through.
