The roster the US placed on the ice for the 4 Nations Face-Off was arguably among the best collections of expertise it has ever had for a global, best-on-best match. The expertise pool for USA Hockey is deeper than it has ever been, with each high-end, superstar-level gamers (Jack Eichel, Auston Matthews, Quinn Hughes, Connor Hellebuyck) and really succesful depth gamers that may construct out a deep lineup.
Their 3-2 extra time loss to Canada within the championship sport on Thursday night time was a valiant effort that simply might have gone both manner.
However the result’s all that issues, and it’s the identical one which Staff USA retains experiencing in some of these tournaments.
When the video games matter essentially the most, when the chips are down, and when they’re going through the actually elite groups and hockey superpowers, they merely can’t rating sufficient targets. They by no means do.
It occurred once more on Thursday. It has occurred at each current Olympics with NHL gamers. It occurred on the 2016 World Cup of Hockey.
It isn’t a fluke, and it’ll possible proceed till they make a serious change in how they construct their groups.
They must ditch the position gamers and spend extra time specializing in taking their greatest, most expert gamers that may put the puck within the internet.
Simply think about some numbers. Over the previous 5 best-on-best tournaments to function NHL gamers (2006, 2010, 2014 Olympics, the 2016 World Cup and this 12 months’s 4 Nations Face-Off) the U.S. has performed in eight medal spherical/championship video games. They’ve solely scored 20 targets in these video games, which comes out to a mean of two.5 targets per sport.
Examine that to the opposite six world hockey powers in comparable video games. Be mindful, that is solely medal spherical/elimination video games the place it’s actually among the best groups with the best stakes. Groups are ranked so as of targets per sport:
- Sweden: 28 targets in eight video games (3.5 targets per sport)
- Canada: 40 targets in 12 video games (3.3 targets per sport)
- Finland: 27 targets in 9 video games (3.0 targets per sport)
- Slovakia: 17 targets in 6 video games (2.8 targets per sport)
- Czech Republic: 19 targets in 7 video games (2.7 targets per sport)
- United States: 20 targets in 8 video games (2.5 targets per sport)
- Russia: six targets in 5 video games (1.2 targets per sport)
The U.S. constantly fails in these video games offensively.
It isn’t essentially a scarcity of expertise. It’s all concerning the mindset of constructing the roster. The U.S. obsesses about taking position gamers that may match particular roles and doesn’t at all times take its greatest goal-scoring expertise.
Of the highest 5 American-born goal-scorers within the NHL this season, solely two of them had been on this roster (Winnipeg’s Kyle Connor and Tampa Bay’s Jake Guentzel). Solely one in every of them (Guentzel) was within the lineup for Thursday’s championship as Connor was wholesome scratched, regardless of being the highest American-born goal-scorer within the NHL this season.
Taking gamers like Chris Kreider, Vincent Trocheck and Brock Nelson over goal-scorers like Tage Thompson, Clayton Keller and Alex DeBrincat is simply placing you at an obstacle and never providing you with your greatest likelihood.
These best-on-best groups don’t want checkers. They don’t want grinders or position gamers. The U.S. is just too typically caught within the “Miracle on Ice” mindset the place they’ve to search out the “proper gamers” as a substitute of simply merely taking the “greatest” gamers. After so many instances developing quick in these large video games towards the most effective groups, the message wants to start out getting by means of.
