The NHL isn't happy with the recent developments in the Four Nations Faceoff, as there is a rumor that ticket sales are lower than expected in Montreal and Boston. It isn't surprising that fans don't have an appetite to spend thousands of dollars on tickets for a gimmick tournament in mid-November. The NHL took the arrogant view that people would come because it's best on best, but fans would rather wait to see their NHL team after the break than pay for those games.
Do you know what would help ticket sales? Montreal fans could be more likely to come to watch at the Bell Centre if the Team USA roster featured a scoring winger like Cole Caufield. Instead, they're forced to flock to the arena to watch Chris Kreider skate up and down the ice with little effect on the game. It was a peculiar decision when they announced the team, and it looks even more peculiar as we get closer to the tournament.
Caufield has 11 points in his last ten games and seven in his past five. He totaled seven goals and four assists over that span, half the number of goals and double the assists Kreider has this ENTIRE season. Why does the USA brass feel like Kreider is necessary on that team? They like his ability to kill penalties and play net-front on the powerplay, but with those numbers and his play this season, it's hard to justify him even being on one of those units.
Brady and Matthew Tkachuk are two valuable net-front guys on a powerplay so that they can go on each unit. They are also good penalty killers like Vincent Trocheck, JT Miller, and Dylan Larkin. Auston Matthews has also shown Selke Trophy tendencies in Toronto and now plays a massive role in their penalty kill. Matthews might stay away from the penalty kill with his lingering injury, but the USA has plenty of players that can fill that role.
The entire country of Canada can attest that international selection committees must stop trying to fit players into roles when picking their teams. We saw the disaster that had just occurred with Canada's World Junior team, as they left some of the top scorers in junior hockey home to bring role players, and scoring ended up being their fatal flaw at the tournament.
What are the chances that at some point in this tournament, people are talking about the mistake it was to bring Kreider? It is pretty great, and it will likely be the first time that the USA loses a 3-1 game where the scorers fail to show up, and they could've used one or two or more weapons.