Projected USA Roster for the 2025 4 Nations Face-Off Tourney - The Hockey Writers -

The United States of America Team will be dangerous in this tournament; from top to bottom, all aspects of this team will be a heavy favorite regarding raw skill and talent from all aspects of the game.

United States’ Projected Roster for the NHL 4 Nations Face-Off Auston Matthews, Jack Hughes, and Matthew Tkachuk — Auston Matthews, Jack Hughes, and Matthew Tkachuk (The Hockey Writers)

This could be flashes from the past, from the 2016 World Cup of Hockey, where we saw young talents get their shot and develop into the superstars they are today.

Projected Roster for the United States

As a reminder, the 4 Nations Face-Off will be an in-season tournament that will be taking place from Feb. 12-20, 2025. Remember, the 2023-2024 season is still in motion, and the following season still needs to come around; a lot could change between now and then. Let’s see what American-born players could be part of this first-ever roster.

Forwards

LEFT-WING	CENTER	RIGHT-WING
Jack Hughes	Auston Matthews	Matthew Tkachuk
Jason Robertson	Jack Eichel	Brady Tkachuk
Tage Thompson	J.T. Miller	Kyle Connor
Alex DeBrincat	Dylan Larkin	Brock Boeser
Clayton Keller

No matter how you put this line-up together, it’s loaded. The possibility of having J.T. Miller, currently fourth in the NHL, scoring in a bottom-six role is something no one would even think about. Want to talk goal scoring? USA has the requirements and then some. USA already has five players with at least 20 goals or more, and my Auston Matthews could be the first player in over 30 years to have over 70 goals in a season. Playmaking? Miller is seventh in assists, and Jack Hughes’s creativity and playmaking are among the best. Want to get up close and physical? Combine a line of the Tkachuk brothers with Tage Thompson down the middle, and you have a beast of a physicality line and a deadly shooting line to pair. Not even including the goalscoring of Boeser, Keller Connor, and DeBrincat is a scary thought. Have fun defending this unit; one mistake and it will hurt you.

Defense

LD	RD
Quinn Hughes	Adam Fox
Jaccob Slavin	Charlie McAvoy
Luke Hughes	Brock Faber
Zach Werenski

These seven defensemen can easily be picked out and placed in with their talent. The crew has great attributes that can easily mix and feed off the forward core. Skating, skill, power, intelligence, and playmaking are all factors of this defensive core to help the forward group’s skills flourish. Adam Fox and Quinn Hughes lead the way as two top-five defensemen in the league, with Fox winning a Norris in 2021 and Hughes putting in a season-worthy one so far.

Quinn, Jack and Luke Hughes (The Hockey Writers)

Jacob Slavin and Charlie McAvoy help with their defense and shutdown ability while contributing to the offense. Both can move the puck well and have similar roles with their NHL teams regarding offense and defense reliability. Luke Hughes and Brock Faber are the “wildcard” pair with limited NHL experience, showing many flashes of what they can become. Faber has exploded in Minnesota, and Huges in New Jersey has grown with each game he has seen.

Goaltending

Connor Hellebuyck

Jeremy Swayman

Thatcher Demko

This is the easiest choice of all positions, as you have three Vezina-caliber goaltenders. Jake Oettinger of the Dallas Stars just missed the cut, but I wouldn’t be surprised to see him on the roster. These three are easily up for running this season for the Vezina and have been tremendous. At the All-Star break, Hellebuyck, Swayman, and Demko were three of the top six goalies in save percentage among those who played at least 15 games this season.

Related: Projecting the United States’ Roster for the 2026 Winter Olympics

Hellebuyck is the oldest at 30 and shows no signs of slowing down. Demko is having a tremendous bounce-back season after dealing with multiple injuries last season, and Swayman is looking better and better each season. There is quite literally no weak point in this goalie group.

Final Words

Team United States looks like one of the best teams to compete next year on paper. The U.S. roster is full of players starting to take over the league or are currently taking over the league. From goalscoring, playmaking, defending, and goaltending, this roster shows little to no cracks when they step on the ice.