MONTREAL — The Rangers may have four players representing Team USA at the NHL’s 4 Nations Face-Off tournament, but just three may see the ice Thursday night when they open against Finland.
Chris Kreider appears to be the odd forward out of the U.S. lineup and will likely serve as a healthy scratch in the first of three round robin games.
“I’m ready to do whatever it takes to help the team,” Kreider said after Team USA’s practice in Brossard, Quebec, on Wednesday. “The amount of talent that this roster has — that every roster has — is incredible. It’s an incredible honor to be here. Whatever they need me to do, just be ready. Taking in all the information and being ready if your number is called.”
Head coach Mike Sullivan said he spoke to Kreider when they all arrived, noting that he’s tried to meet with as many players as he can through the first few days in order to be transparent and straightforward with the team’s game plan.
In Sullivan’s eyes, explaining to players how he expects them to contribute and what their role is was an important responsibility of his.
He added that he has too much respect for these top-tier players to not have those types of conversations.
“He’s a high-character person, first and foremost,” Sullivan said of having Kreider in a depth role. “I think Kreids is a guy that we could plug into any line, and he’s going to bring certain attributes. His size, his skating ability, the north-south game, he has the ability to score goals, he can play the net-front on the power play, he can play on the penalty kill. We’ve played against him a lot, obviously, being in the same division, so I’m very familiar with his game, but he’s just a great person first and foremost.”
He’s a real good teammate, and the versatility is one of the reasons why he’s on this roster.”
“When you look at some of the players that we have in some of those supporting roles, versatility is a real important element — the ability to play multiple positions or multiple roles, and I think he checks a lot of boxes with respect to that.”
While Kreider took reps as an extra skater, the rest of the Rangers on Team USA — Vincent Trocheck, J.T. Miller and Adam Fox — were part of line rushes Wednesday.
Fox continued to skate on the top-four pairing with Jaccob Slavin, as well as on the top power-play unit with Matthew Tkachuk, Jake Guentzel, Auston Matthews and Jack Eichel.
Miller centered the third line between Brady Tkachuk and Matthew Boldy, and Trocheck skated in the middle of the fourth unit with Brock Nelson and Dylan Larkin.
