Auston Matthews of the Toronto Maple Leafs has been named Captain for Team USA for the 4 Nations Face-Off. It will run from Feb. 12-20 in Montreal and Boston.
Team USA’s leadership group has been named! 🇺🇸
Counting down the days until the #4Nations Face-Off!
Details: https://t.co/Cg0MGiOGmT pic.twitter.com/IpWjjxnnHX
— USA Hockey (@usahockey) January 30, 2025
Matthews was the first United States-born player to be drafted first overall (2016) since the Chicago Blackhawks took Patrick Kane with the first pick in the 2007 NHL Entry Draft. While growing up, Matthews idolized players such as Shane Doan and Daniel Briere, members of the Phoenix/Arizona Coyotes, a franchise that relocated in 1996 from Winnipeg. As an adolescent, Matthews was an all-around athlete who chose to focus on hockey, and he excelled at every level of the game on his path to the NHL.
Related: Guide to the 2025 4 Nations Face-Off
Matthews became the first NHL player born in the United States and the first since Steven Stamkos of the Tampa Bay Lightning in 2011-12 to score 60 goals in a season. He joined Darryl Sittler (1975-76, 1977-78, 1979-80 and 1980-81) as the second Maple Leafs player to have four 40-goal seasons when he helped Toronto defeat the Columbus Blue Jackets 5-4 at Nationwide Arena on March 7, 2022. He set a Maple Leafs record when he scored his 55th goal of the season against the Dallas Stars at American Airlines Center in Dallas on April 8, 2022, passing Rick Vaive (54 for Toronto in 1981-82).
Matthews hasn’t played internationally since 2016, when he was a member of Team North America at the World Cup of Hockey and represented the U.S. at the IIHF World Championship. The 27-year-old won back-to-back gold medals at the IIHF World U18 Championship in 2014 and 2015.
USA’s Alternate Captains
Joining Matthews in Team USA’s leadership group as alternate captains are Matthew Tkachuk of the Florida Panthers and Charlie McAvoy of the Boston Bruins.
Tkachuk’s 22 points in the 2024 Stanley Cup Playoffs tied Aleksander Barkov for the Panthers’ lead. He had a six-game point streak, which was the longest from the start of a playoff year in Panthers history, and became a Stanley Cup champion for the first time when Florida defeated the Edmonton Oilers 2-1 in Game 7 of the Final. His father is U.S. Hockey Hall of Fame forward Keith Tkachuk, who played 18 seasons in the NHL, and his brother, forward and 4 Nations teammate Brady Tkachuk,…
Click Here to Read the Full Original Article at The Hockey Writers…