A third and arguably best defenseman has bowed out of the upcoming 4 Nations Face-Off. The Vancouver Canucks announced defenseman Quinn Hughes would miss the international tournament due to injury. Shortly after, Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman confirmed that Jake Sanderson of the Ottawa Senators would replace Hughes on Team USA’s roster.
Hughes’ departure from Team USA’s roster follows on the heels of Dallas Stars’ defenseman Miro Heiskanen and Vegas Golden Knights’ defenseman Alex Pietrangelo. Both blue-liners are dealing with injuries (the former recovering from knee surgery) and have already been replaced on Team Finland and Team Canada.
With all due respect to Heiskanen and Pietrangelo, the Canucks captain is the highest-profile name to be removed from the competition. He’s missed the last four games for Vancouver due to a hand injury and the team is prioritizing their playoff hopes over Hughes’ participation in the tournament.
Although Heiskanen may ultimately be more valuable to his team, that’s only a testament to Team USA’s defensive depth. Hughes, who won the James Norris Memorial Trophy as the league’s best defenseman only one year ago, has scored 31 goals and 151 points in his last 129 regular-season games. The native of Orlando, Florida, last represented Team USA at the 2019 IIHF World Championships. If he does not play for the United States’ World Championship team this upcoming summer, he’ll have to wait until the 2026 Winter Olympics in Milan to compete again.
Replacing Hughes on the roster is Ottawa’s Sanderson, who last played for Team USA in the 2024 IIHF World Championships. The Whitefish, MT native is only two and a half years removed from debuting in the NHL scoring 19 goals and 105 points in 211 career games. Given the rest of the talent on Team USA’s blue line, Sanderson should represent the team’s seventh defenseman although he’ll likely play in a handful of games.
Would’ve thought John Carlson would get the nod here, but Sanderson is a good option too.
Only reason to take Sanderson over Carlson is Sanderson is a left shot defenseman like Hughes, while Carlson is a right shot
Seriously. Unreal that no Caps are represented on any team. But as Caps fan, fine, rest up and use as motivation for the rest of the season.
That is amazing.
Smart young man.
Is this tournament being played on an NHL regulation rink or international rink?
NHL – it’s at Bell Centre in Montreal and TD Garden in Boston.
Hughes might be the best D man, but he sure doesn’t know how to run a locker room. #Snitch
Guess he thought he could wait the two years before getting to play with his sibling(s) fulltime…
Damn that hurts.