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4 Nations Face-Off

4 Nations Face-Off: Captain Jack?

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Jack Eichel, vegas golden Knights

The 4 Nations Face-Off Tournament is less than two weeks away. The Vegas Golden Knights initially had seven players named to the rosters—Adin Hill, Alex Pietrangelo, Mark Stone, and Shea Theodore for Team Canada; Jack Eichel and Noah Hanifin for Team USA; and William Karlsson for Team Sweden—but Pietrangelo withdrew from the tournament to tend to an injury.



The 4 Nations Face-Off isn’t the Olympics. It’s not the World Cup of Hockey; it’s not even the IIHF Championship. But it still means something to the players involved.

“It’s going to be something special, for sure,” said Jack Eichel to Sportsnet in December. “Whenever you get the opportunity to represent your country, it’s an amazing experience… A long way away, but I’m sure everyone is looking forward to it just like I am.”

The team captains will be announced tomorrow.

I can’t imagine a world where Sidney Crosby isn’t the captain of Team Canada. Aleksander Barkov will almost certainly be named captain of Team Finland. There’s more debate about who will lead Team Sweden, but I’d be willing to put money on Victor Hedman being named captain.

Team USA is where things get interesting.

Who Gets the C?

Four players on Team USA are currently captains of their respective NHL teams; ten are alternate captains. So, if we do the math—which I did—fourteen of the twenty Team USA skaters wear letters.

If Team USA prioritizes veteran presence, I could see them giving the captaincy to Chris Kreider. Kreider has been an alternate captain for the New York Rangers since the 2017-18 season. If Team USA wants their best player wearing the C, then the captaincy could go to either Quinn Hughes or Auston Matthews. Both have been named captains of their respective teams in recent years.

You could make a case for most of the roster players, but Team USA would be remiss if they didn’t consider naming Jack Eichel captain.

Jack Eichel isn’t the captain of the Vegas Golden Knights, and he’s only been an alternate captain since the start of the 2023-24 season. But make no mistake, he’s a leader in that locker room.

Golden Knights head coach Bruce Cassidy has no shortage of praise for Eichel and his leadership.

“[Eichel] walked into training camp in September, and some guys that had voices around here– some guys that had been here a while– are no longer here, and I think he saw a little bit of a void, and said ‘I’m going to be that guy. I’m going to bring that.’ Now, he always spoke up, but I think it’s even more this year, knowing that some of the new guys coming in are not going to… He just felt that he would take it upon himself… Jack has done a great job with that, and that’s what I’ve seen since September.”

Eichel is a strong leader, and he’s eager to represent his country internationally. He believes Team USA can prove they have surpassed Canada as the hockey powerhouse.

“I think there’s a lot to prove for us as USA hockey,” Eichel said last summer. “With the way the US National Development Program has been producing players lately and where we feel we are as a country, you look at the talent pool in the last however many years in the NHL, and yeah, for a while, it was Canada on a pedestal by themselves. I think we feel like we’ve closed that gap, and I think this is a great opportunity for us to prove that. Everyone can say what they want now and look at rosters and compare rosters, but at the end of the day, everything will be figured out on the ice. We’ll have our opportunity to prove where we think we’re at.”

Eichel’s excited. He’s ready. He’s taking this competition seriously. And he’s a leader.

I can’t think of any reason why Team USA shouldn’t consider Eichel for the captaincy.

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