Olympic performance can be a defining moment for Auston Matthews’, Jack Hughes’ careers

The Olympics are a great opportunity for NHL players to enhance their legacies outside the context of NHL competition.

Sidney Crosby’s gold-medal winning overtime goal from 2010 is very arguably the single most iconic moment of his hockey career. This generation of NHL stars has been robbed of such opportunities in both of the past two Winter Olympics, with NHL players not participating in the event in 2018 and 2022.

Team USA, which has its sights locked in on gold, has two key players with a lot to gain in this tournament. Jack Hughes of the New Jersey Devils and Auston Matthews of the Toronto Maple Leafs both had disappointing showings at last year’s 4 Nations Face-Off, when Canada defeated the U.S. for the championship.

Neither of the first overall picks has made it out of the second round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs, and they have a chance to bolster their high-leverage bonafides with strong performances in Milan.

During Daily Faceoff‘s Milan Games Men’s Hockey Roundtable, the host of The Sheet Jeff Marek and co-host of What Chaos! Pete Blackburn discussed what is at stake for the reputations of both Matthews and Hughes as they look to help lead Team USA to gold.

Jeff Marek: “Pete, for USA what does this mean for Auston Matthews?

Pete Blackburn: “It goes back to, I think, the leadership question and the big game gene. It’s something that has really stuck to him in Toronto, and those questions are not going to be shed if he goes quiet on the Olympic stage. For a guy who has got to wear the C, and there was some noise around whether that was the right call, I think that a win at 4 Nations would have really, really helped his cause. He’s got another opportunity to show up big here for Team USA.

But there are a number of guys that I would loop into that group with Matthews. It’s not just a Matthews question – it’s a Jack Hughes, too. At the 4 Nations, he was invisible and not very effective at that stage. And given what’s happened in New Jersey and how that’s gone off the rails, Hughes should be facing a lot of the same questions that Matthews is. So this is a big, big opportunity for some of these guys to shed the spotlight questions, the big-game questions, the leadership questions, if they can have a big tournament here. But the stakes are high because if they don’t, it’s just another file in that filing cabinet to hold against them.”

You can watch the full show below: