The next series of blogs are going to focus on players and their nationalities. I am going to select the best starting six for many of the world’s top hockey playing countries. The only parameters I have are to select three forwards, two defensemen, and a goalie. I don’t care about moving centers to wing or a defenseman on their off side. These players are elite and they’ll figure it out. Each day I am going to offer up a new country until I run out of countries that can provide a quality starting six. I don’t care about their previous histories playing for their country. I don’t care about “waiting their turn” to make the team. I’m picking the six players I want on the ice to maximize success.
Yesterday I picked Canada's best starting six. You can find that
here
Today’s team is the United States. Team USA hasn’t been able to show off their next generation of star players in an international event people care about. The World Cup setup stole some of their players with Team North America and the Olympics hasn’t been a thing. They have some skill. It would be really cool to see them be able to showcase it in a legit tournament.
Here are the best six I would put on the ice.
Center – Jack Eichel
He’s a beast. Size, hands, skating, awareness, and that wrist shot. I see mild shades of Lemieux when I watch him start lugging the puck up the ice. He’s one of the very best players in the league regardless of nationality. Imagine his delight when he sees he is allowed to play with someone other than Sam Reinhart for once (Reinhart is fine, but he isn’t top end). Eichel is a zone entry machine and the ability to not only be dangerous on his own, but create for others is a theme you’ll see with this forward line.
Left wing – Auston Matthews
He could have easily been the center, but I think Eichel moves a little bit better. Matthews is an absolute goal scoring machine. His shot is probably one of the few in the league better than Eichel’s. It is so good he doesn’t even need to be on his off wing to be incredibly effective. His release is elite and his placement spells doom most of the time for goalies. He’s just a wonderful player and can create on his own. He is strong and has a little bit of Jagr in him in the trenches with his puck protection. The theme continues with players able to create and be opportunistic.
Right wing – Patrick Kane
He’s still a great player. Even this far into his career he has 84 points in 70 games played this season. Kane has weaved through NHL defenders for over a decade now and his creativity and vision are still among the tops in the league. His passing and puck control has always been elite. The thing that sets him apart from the other smallish players with his kind of puck control and vison is his consistent ability to score goals. He has 33 this year. He has 13 straight 20 goal seasons. He has five 30 goal seasons with four of those coming in the last five years. This includes his two best years with 44 and 46 goals.
All three of these players can beat you by themselves and can also make life really easy for the next guy to beat you, too. All three players are capable of doing whatever is necessary in the moment to make a play whether it is a zone entry, passing, shooting, puck protection, whatever. This line would be amazing to watch.
Left defense – Quinton Hughes
Team USA’s mantra from 1980 was a blessing and a curse. “I don’t want the best players I want the right ones” luckily worked out against the Soviet Union for the Miracle on Ice. Unfortunately, it has led to ignoring skill for many of Team USA’s later entries on the international stage. I want all the skill I can find. Give me skill and we’ll figure it out from there. This mirrors my Cale Makar pick for Team Canada. Makar and Hughes are what I want in a defenseman. Think about the skating and passing Hughes will provide to get Eichel, Kane, and Matthews flying through the neutral zone. Think about his ability to actually do something with the puck in the offensive zone so it isn’t just a low probability shot or a rim back around the boards. He will keep plays alive. Keeping plays alive for these forwards is lethal for the opposition. Ultimately, I don’t want to view players as forwards or defensemen. I want a five player unit working seamlessly together up and down the ice. Hughes gives me that.
Right defense – John Carlson
The volume of offense he has been involved in the past two years is incredible. He is over a point a game this year as a defenseman. It isn’t normal to see that anymore. He has 75 points in 69 games. He knows how to play with skilled players. He has a tremendous shot from the point which draws a lot of attention. He is great at knowing when to take that shot and when to defer based on how the defenders are attacking. He has plenty of experience playing with talented players and I think he would do a really good job here.
Goalie – Connor Hellebuyck
This was a hard choice. John Gibson would have been the choice last year and probably the two before that. The fact is Gibson was a .904 goalie this year and Hellebuyck was .922 and has a great chance to win the Vezina Trophy. Hellebuyck is not a flash in the pan. His overall sample is strong, much like Gibson’s. Three of the last five years both Gibson and Hellebuyck have had very similar seasons. There are two where one is way better than the other and this year was the one Hellebuyck was way better.
The Anaheim Ducks aren’t a good team and that puts Gibson in a tough spot, but the Jets were the second worst team in HDCA/60 this year at 12.89. Only the Blackhawks were worse at 12.91. If not for Hellebuyck’s .842 high-dangers save percentage at 5v5 the Jets would have been cooked this year.
You aren’t going to go wrong with Gibson or Hellebuyck. Both of these choices are way better than anything Canada has to offer. I can only choose one of them and I’m going with the goalie who had a better 2019-20.
Thanks for reading!
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