Tuesday’s 4 Nations Face-Off practice heavily emphasized power play units. Of course, every country is stacked with talent, so these units are all loaded with players who can make big-time plays.
The New Jersey Devils have two players who are considered to be elite offensive producers in the NHL in Jack Hughes and Jesper Bratt. Both of them are going to be involved in high-leverage power play situations with their teams. We learned where they will be in their respective lineups on Monday, but seeing where they are on the power play is arguably just as interesting.
Jack Hughes is on the first unit in the bumper position. Auston Matthews and Jack Eichel are on the flanks, Matthew Tkachuk is the net-front guy, and Adam Fox is the QB at the point. It’s a unit loaded with potential to score from all over the ice.
Team USA’s second unit is looking very good as well. Kyle Connor and Matt Boldy will be on the flanks, while Jake Guentzel is in the bumper position. Brady Tkachuk is the net-front guy while Zach Werenski will man the point as the power-play QB.
As for Team Sweden, they will have Jesper Bratt on the second unit. He will play with Erik Karlsson, Elias Pettersson, Filip Forsberg, and Rickard Rakell. Some were surprised to see Bratt on the second unit.
The first unit features Victor Hedman, William Nylander, Lucas Raymond, Mika Zibanejad, and Joel Eriksson Ek. Sweden is clearly spreading the wealth around a little bit with these units instead of loading up their best players on one.
Erik Haula is not going to play on Team Finland's power play. His role is clearly defined as a bottom-six defensive-minded guy. That's what he is in the NHL at this point too, so it makes sense. He might get some time on the penalty kill.
Jesper Bratt and Jack Hughes will be important to their country's power play at the 4 Nations Face-Off
Their first unit looks to feature Sebastian Aho, Roope Hintz, Mikko Rantanen, Patrik Laine, and Aleksander Barkov. Notably, the first unit runs five forwards.
The second unit has Artturi Lehkonen, Anton Lundell, Teuvo Teravainen, Mikael Granlund, and Esa Lindell. It should be interesting to see how the Finnish keep up with the rest of the power plays around the tournament.
There are no Devils on Team Canada but you might want to know how dominant they look as of right now when it comes to the power play. The top unit will have Sam Reinhart, Connor McDavid, Sidney Crosby, Nathan MacKinnon, and Cale Makar. Those are five of the 20 best players on the planet right now.
The second unit will feature Brayden Point, Mark Stone, Mitch Marner, Josh Morrissey, and Shea Theodore. That unit will create plenty of chances as well.
Special teams are certainly going to play a big role in the outcome of this tournament. The New Jersey Devils have two high-octane offensive players who are going to play a big role in their team's man-advantage success.