Matthews to captain U.S. at 4 Nations Face-Off
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Toronto Maple Leafs star forward Auston Matthews will captain the United States at the upcoming 4 Nations Face-Off, the team confirmed Thursday.
Matthew Tkachuk of the Florida Panthers and Charlie McAvoy of the Boston Bruins will serve as alternate captains for the Americans.
The 27-year-old Matthews was named Toronto Maple Leafs captain over the summer and has 20 goals and 38 points in 36 games this season.
Matthews has spent time on injured reserve two separate times this season due to an upper-body injury that sent him to Germany for treatment late last year, but TSN Hockey Insider Pierre LeBrun reported Thursday Matthews is a “full go” for the tournament barring a setback. Matthews has appeared in every Leafs game since Jan. 4.
Matthews last represented the United States internationally at the 2016 IIHF Men’s World Championship in Russia, tallying six goals and nine points in 10 games. He also played on Team North America alongside Connor McDavid, Nathan MacKinnon and other NHL stars under the age of 23 at the 2016 World Cup of Hockey.
Matthews has 388 goals and 299 assists for 687 points in 598 career regular season NHL games.
Crosby draws 'C' for Canada
The three other teams named their captains on Thursday, with Canada tabbing Sidney Crosby to lead their squad alongside alternates Cale Makar and Connor McDavid.
Meanwhile, Victor Hedman draws the ‘C’ for Sweden and Aleksander Barkov assumes the captaincy for Finland.
The tournament will mark Crosby fourth time serving as captain for Canada, having done so at the 2014 Olympics, the 2015 World Championship and the 2016 World Cup of Hockey. Crosby captained the team to championships at each of those tournaments and won an additional Olympic gold as an alternate captain under Scott Niedermayer at Vancouver 2010. Crosby has 16 goals and 39 assists for 55 points in 53 games for the Penguins this season.
Hedman has seven goals and 33 assists for 40 points in 47 games with the Tampa Bay Lightning this season. Barkov has 12 goals and 30 assists for 42 points in 42 games for the Florida Panthers.
The four-team tournament will run from Feb. 12 to Feb. 20 at the Bell Centre in Montreal and TD Garden in Boston.