The Athletic has live coverage of USA vs. Denmark men’s hockey at the 2026 Winter Olympics.
MILAN — In a short tournament, roles and certainly line combinations are not set in stone.
You also have to be selfless. Accept whatever role you’re put in for the good of the team.
After all, everywhere in that locker room — if you look left, if you look right — there are Hart Trophy winners, All-Stars, Stanley Cup winners and teammates with a pedigree of winning, who can score, check and play on both sides of the puck just as well or better than you.
We all know Jack Hughes is not a fourth liner. Heck, he may not even be a wing.
Yet, Thursday night, in the United States’ Olympics-opening 5-1 win over Latvia, the New Jersey Devils star center and game breaker not only accepted his fourth-line left wing role, he also made a huge impact in the victory by setting up both of linemate Brock Nelson’s goals, including the eventual winner, in just 16 shifts and 11:14 of ice time.
“I think the thing that we’ve been talking about is just buying in, and whatever it takes,” said Hughes, who in 2022-23 scored a career-high 43 goals and 99 points and finished eighth in Hart Trophy voting. “I’m just so pumped to be here and to be at the Olympics and playing for the U.S. If it’s fourth line, whatever it may be, I’m ready to play that role. And when you tap my shoulder, I’m gonna be ready to go.”
This was the challenge GM Bill Guerin laid at the feet of all his gold medal-aspiring players before the tournament: Be selfless, accept your role 100 percent, “and we’ll be the better for it.”
“Jack clearly took that to heart,” said Matthew Tkachuk, who teamed up with Hughes to set up Nelson’s second goal on a tic-tac-toe.
U.S. coach Mike Sullivan learned a lot about Hughes’ professionalism against the Latvians and now will have a decision to make against Denmark.
Does he stick with Hughes on that line because the combination with Nelson, J.T. Miller and Vincent Trocheck rotating was so impressive? Or does he elevate Hughes now, considering a couple of lines clearly are still works in progress?
For instance, the Jack Eichel line with Brady and Matthew Tkachuk on the flanks won’t be touched. They were great.
But at least initially, Kyle Connor and Tage Thompson on the wings of Dylan Larkin didn’t seem to be working at even strength and Auston Matthews, despite a third-period power-play goal, was not good at all with Jake Guentzel and Matt Boldy as his wings.
That’s all to be determined, of course, as the United States didn’t practice Friday and is so far 1-0 in the tournament.
Maybe not fixing what ain’t broke — the fourth line — makes the most sense for now.
Initially, because Sullivan was so tickled by how good his so-called fourth line was, Hughes may have to continue to bide his time there because the line was so effective against Latvia.
“I mean, he’s a great player, obviously. And, yeah, I was happy for him,” said defenseman Quinn Hughes, Jack’s older brother, who was part of a four-assist game for the Hughes Bros. “I know how competitive he is, and I don’t think he really cares about his role. I think he just believes in that he can help the team, which he can, and definitely did that.”
There was something else obvious after Thursday’s win: just how happy Jack Hughes’ teammates were for him.
In the days leading up to the Olympics, Hughes was heavily scrutinized by national media members and local ones in New Jersey for missing the final three games before the Olympics with a strained groin. It was painted as if he was not putting his team, one sinking in the standings, ahead of his country.
Fair or not, Hughes has been largely blamed in New Jersey for the Devils’ season taking a turn for the worse after winning nine of the season’s first 10 games because the downfall really began during the six weeks he was out of the lineup after cutting his hand accidentally during a team dinner. Add in the latest missed games, and some started to criticize the super-skilled player.
Those flames really ignited when NHL insider and former Devils winger Mike Rupp publicly questioned Hughes’ commitment to the Devils for not playing those final games before the break and comparing it to banged-up Canadian Olympian Brad Marchand playing Florida’s final five games, including scoring the overtime winner at Minnesota on Jan. 24 in a surprise return to its lineup.
As one of Hughes’ teammates and good friends said to The Athletic after Thursday’s win, “Jack’s taken a lot of s— lately, so maybe people will remember just how good he is and how much he just wants to win, here and with the Devils.”
Hughes reminded all of us just how much he looks like he could be in a video game during some of his shifts against Latvia. Besides the lightning-fast speed, he grabs the puck and does things that few in the NHL can do.
“He’s so positive, he’s so talented,” Matthew Tkachuk said. “He’s still playing with unbelievable players. It’s probably different than (the role) he’s playing in New Jersey, but the sacrifice and his commitment — that’s how we’re going to win. A guy like that doing that just makes our team so much better. We’re so lucky to have him. He’s embraced it and he just continues to impress me. … It’s unbelievable to see some of the best players in the world come to this and buy into their role the second they’re told what it is.”
Jack and Quinn Hughes were robbed of the experience of playing in last February’s 4 Nations Face-Off because Quinn, two years older at age 26, was injured. They last played together at the 2019 World Championship; Jack was a teenager at the time.
So he had a blast playing with his brother for the first time on such a big stage Thursday night and hopes it ends with each of them wearing gold.
“It’s funny,” Jack said. “We go to the same spots a little bit. We want the puck in the same spots. Even though I’m a forward, he’s a D. So that goal he had called off, we were pretty much in the same spot there. I wanted to play with him all night. It’s so fun to be doing give-and-gos with him. Playing off each other. Hopefully we can do that a lot.”
Well, as long as Jack continues to play as well as he did against Latvia and continues to accept whatever role he’s put in, whether it be first line or fourth line, center or wing, first- or his current spot on the second power-play unit, Sullivan will continue to give him opportunities.
“Jack’s been great. I think he gets it,” Sullivan said. “He’s amongst the very best, and that in and of itself is an incredible honor. And to be in the conversation, to make this roster, is extremely difficult when we look at the amount of talent that the United States has developed and can play at this level. …
“Jack is one of our very best.”
