We got our first look at 4 Nations lines. Where are Jack Hughes and Jesper Bratt?

Most of the New Jersey Devils' roster is taking a well deserved two-week vacation from the grind of the NHL season, but there are three players who are doing the opposite. Jack Hughes, Jesper Bratt, and Erik Haula are representing the United States, Sweden, and Finland, respectively, during the 4 Nations Face-Off. Since this is a best-on-best tournament, some of the very best players in the league will be playing. We get to see how these players do against Sidney Crosby, Nathan MacKinnon, and Connor McDavid in Team Canada, but what we're most excited for is to see who the Devils stars are paired with.

The most interesting pairing will be Jack Hughes. The USA squad is stacked, with so many great NHL players coming from the red, white, and blue. Hughes is one of the great U.S. stars on the ice, but he's a big fish in a big pond playing at this tournament.

U.S.A. coaches have an interesting decision to make with Hughes, deciding if he will be a center like he is in the NHL, or a winger where he can focus on scoring and playmaking. The first lines show that the latter is probably the way head coach Mike Sullivan will go.

In his first practice, Hughes was paired with Auston Matthews, arguably the top player on this U.S. team, and Jake Guentzel. Devils fans are probably happy with this decision, putting Hughes in a place to build confidence and dominate the field. If Hughes is able to connect with Matthews, who's the best goal scorer in the NHL today, he could bring that confidence back with him when he returns to New Jersey.

Guentzel is another pure goal scorer who would love playing next to Hughes long term. This really is a perfect pairing for Hughes individually. It's an upgrade at center over playing with Jack Eichel or J.T. Miller, and he avoids playing next to one of the Tkachuk brothers, who will likely start a fracas at some point.

Jack Hughes was given an ideal line combination for the 4 Nations Face-Off

One surprise is coming from Team Sweden. While many thought that Jesper Bratt would likely skate on a top line, it looks like he'll be on what's considered the second line.

Sweden has an insane lineup, but it's interesting that Bratt ended up with youngster Lucas Raymond and veteran center Joel Eriksson Ek. Earlier predictions had Bratt paired with Mika Zibanejad and William Nylander, which would have been a top line, but this one appears to have a very specific role. Bratt plays penalty kill for the Devils, and there will be some defensive responsibility with the Bratt line. That might give him more minutes, but it also has him playing more in the defensive zone.

Raymond is a fantastic player, and Eriksson Ek is one of the more underrated players in the NHL, but this isn't our ideal lineup choice for Bratt. It's probably best for Sweden because of Bratt's responsible play style, but it probably puts him some less-than-ideal scenarios.

We're still waiting for Team Finland to hit the practice ice, but most predictions have him as a healthy scratch. We'll see when they finally get out and run lines later on Monday.