{"id":457768,"date":"2026-02-14T11:45:12","date_gmt":"2026-02-14T11:45:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/457768\/"},"modified":"2026-02-14T11:45:12","modified_gmt":"2026-02-14T11:45:12","slug":"amid-scrutiny-jack-hughes-is-all-in-for-team-usa-at-the-olympics-and-beyond","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/457768\/","title":{"rendered":"Amid scrutiny, Jack Hughes is all in for Team USA at the Olympics and beyond"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Athletic has live coverage of the 2026 Winter Olympics<\/a>.<\/p>\n

MILAN \u2014 In a short tournament, roles and certainly line combinations are not set in stone.<\/p>\n

You also have to be selfless. Accept whatever role you\u2019re put in for the good of the team.<\/p>\n

After all, everywhere in that locker room \u2014 if you look left, if you look right \u2014 there are Hart Trophy winners, All-Stars, Stanley Cup winners and teammates with a pedigree of winning, who can score, check and play on both sides of the puck just as well or better than you.<\/p>\n

We all know Jack Hughes is not a fourth liner. Heck, he may not even be a wing.<\/p>\n

Yet, Thursday night, in the United States\u2019 Olympics-opening 5-1 win over Latvia, the New Jersey Devils star center and game breaker not only accepted his fourth-line left wing role, he also made a huge impact in the victory by setting up both of linemate Brock Nelson\u2019s goals, including the eventual winner, in just 16 shifts and 11:14 of ice time.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think the thing that we\u2019ve been talking about is just buying in, and whatever it takes,\u201d said Hughes, who in 2022-23 scored a career-high 43 goals and 99 points and finished eighth in Hart Trophy voting. \u201cI\u2019m just so pumped to be here and to be at the Olympics and playing for the U.S. If it\u2019s fourth line, whatever it may be, I\u2019m ready to play that role. And when you tap my shoulder, I\u2019m gonna be ready to go.\u201d<\/p>\n

This was the challenge GM Bill Guerin laid at the feet of all his gold medal-aspiring players before the tournament: Be selfless, accept your role 100 percent, \u201cand we\u2019ll be the better for it.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cJack clearly took that to heart,\u201d said Matthew Tkachuk, who teamed up with Hughes to set up Nelson\u2019s second goal on a tic-tac-toe.<\/p>\n

U.S. coach Mike Sullivan learned a lot about Hughes\u2019 professionalism against the Latvians and now will have a decision to make against Denmark.<\/p>\n

Does he stick with Hughes on that line because the combination with Nelson, J.T. Miller and Vincent Trocheck rotating was so impressive? Or does he elevate Hughes now, considering a couple of lines clearly are still works in progress?<\/p>\n

For instance, the Jack Eichel line with Brady and Matthew Tkachuk on the flanks won\u2019t be touched. They were great.<\/p>\n

But at least initially, Kyle Connor and Tage Thompson on the wings of Dylan Larkin didn\u2019t seem to be working at even strength and Auston Matthews, despite a third-period power-play goal, was not good at all with Jake Guentzel and Matt Boldy as his wings.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s all to be determined, of course, as the United States didn\u2019t practice Friday and is so far 1-0 in the tournament.<\/p>\n

Maybe not fixing what ain\u2019t broke \u2014 the fourth line \u2014 makes the most sense for now.<\/p>\n

Initially, because Sullivan was so tickled by how good his so-called fourth line was, Hughes may have to continue to bide his time there because the line was so effective against Latvia.<\/p>\n

\u201cI mean, he\u2019s a great player, obviously. And, yeah, I was happy for him,\u201d said defenseman Quinn Hughes, Jack\u2019s older brother, who was part of a four-assist game for the Hughes Bros. \u201cI know how competitive he is, and I don\u2019t think he really cares about his role. I think he just believes in that he can help the team, which he can, and definitely did that.\u201d<\/p>\n

There was something else obvious after Thursday\u2019s win: just how happy Jack Hughes\u2019 teammates were for him.<\/p>\n

In the days leading up to the Olympics, Hughes was heavily scrutinized by national media members and local ones in New Jersey for missing the final three games before the Olympics with a strained groin. It was painted as if he was not putting his team, one sinking in the standings, ahead of his country.<\/p>\n

Fair or not, Hughes has been largely blamed in New Jersey for the Devils\u2019 season taking a turn for the worse after winning nine of the season\u2019s first 10 games because the downfall really began during the six weeks he was out of the lineup after cutting his hand accidentally during a team dinner. Add in the latest missed games, and some started to criticize the super-skilled player.<\/p>\n

Those flames really ignited when NHL insider and former Devils winger Mike Rupp publicly questioned Hughes\u2019 commitment to the Devils<\/a> for not playing those final games before the break and comparing it to banged-up Canadian Olympian Brad Marchand playing Florida\u2019s final five games, including scoring the overtime winner at Minnesota on Jan. 24 in a surprise return to its lineup.<\/p>\n

As one of Hughes\u2019 teammates and good friends said to The Athletic after Thursday\u2019s win, \u201cJack\u2019s taken a lot of s\u2014 lately, so maybe people will remember just how good he is and how much he just wants to win, here and with the Devils.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hughes reminded all of us just how much he looks like he could be in a video game during some of his shifts against Latvia. Besides the lightning-fast speed, he grabs the puck and does things that few in the NHL can do.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s so positive, he\u2019s so talented,\u201d Matthew Tkachuk said. \u201cHe\u2019s still playing with unbelievable players. It\u2019s probably different than (the role) he\u2019s playing in New Jersey, but the sacrifice and his commitment \u2014 that\u2019s how we\u2019re going to win. A guy like that doing that just makes our team so much better. We\u2019re so lucky to have him. He\u2019s embraced it and he just continues to impress me. \u2026 It\u2019s unbelievable to see some of the best players in the world come to this and buy into their role the second they\u2019re told what it is.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jack and Quinn Hughes were robbed of the experience of playing in last February\u2019s 4 Nations Face-Off because Quinn, two years older at age 26, was injured. They last played together at the 2019 World Championship; Jack was a teenager at the time.<\/p>\n

So he had a blast playing with his brother for the first time on such a big stage Thursday night and hopes it ends with each of them wearing gold.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s funny,\u201d Jack said. \u201cWe go to the same spots a little bit. We want the puck in the same spots. Even though I\u2019m a forward, he\u2019s a D. So that goal he had called off, we were pretty much in the same spot there. I wanted to play with him all night. It\u2019s so fun to be doing give-and-gos with him. Playing off each other. Hopefully we can do that a lot.\u201d<\/p>\n

Well, as long as Jack continues to play as well as he did against Latvia and continues to accept whatever role he\u2019s put in, whether it be first line or fourth line, center or wing, first- or his current spot on the second power-play unit, Sullivan will continue to give him opportunities.<\/p>\n

\u201cJack\u2019s been great. I think he gets it,\u201d Sullivan said. \u201cHe\u2019s amongst the very best, and that in and of itself is an incredible honor. And to be in the conversation, to make this roster, is extremely difficult when we look at the amount of talent that the United States has developed and can play at this level. \u2026<\/p>\n

\u201cJack is one of our very best.\u201d<\/p>\n