USA Hockey's Guerin has lofty expectations for team moving forward
The National Hockey League season has nearly commenced; however, lots of hockey is still yet to be played, and if you're a fan of the international game, the World Championships begin in about a month in Czechia. As the event approaches, fans now have a better understanding of who may be playing for the United States and the expectations that USA general manager Bill Guerin has for his team for next month and beyond.
According to reports, it is believed that Seth Jones and Alex Vlasic of the Chicago Blackhawks, Brady Tkachuk of the Ottawa Senators, and Trevor Zegras of the Anaheim Ducks will head to Europe for the tournament shortly after their respective teams have commenced their National Hockey League seasons. The Minnesota Wild's Matt Boldy and Brock Faber are expected to be approached by their general manager, who, as mentioned, is pulling double duty responsibilities for USA Hockey. It is also understood that in order to be considered for the upcoming 2026 Olympics and Four Nations Cup, provided you are healthy, you need to make yourself available for the World Championship tournament.
It would appear that the brass at USA Hockey are pulling no punches in the lead up to these tournaments, which they feel are important to show up for and place well, and for that, they deserve some kudos. Historically, many international teams bring a watered down version of themselves to compete, and occasionally it ends up in disaster and embarrassment.
Whatever Guerin's motivation is for putting these expectations into place, for his sake, hopefully it yields the results he's envisioned down the road.
Update
| POLL | ||
Does Guerin have the right idea when putting a team together for multiple tournaments? | ||
| Yes | 117 | 74.5 % |
| No | 40 | 25.5 % |
| List of polls | ||
