Bill Guerin couldn’t have been clearer that he planned to receive receipts about which bubble players accepted and declined invitations to play in the IIHF World Championship this year.
In March, about a month after being named USA Hockey’s general manager for the 2025 4-nation showdown and 2026 Olympics, Guerin told The Athletic in a meeting that he thought it had become too routine for the Americans say “no” to the World Cup. after their NHL seasons ended.
“It’s important for the guys to go,” Guerin said. “Hey, look, there are some guys who will be a guarantee for both teams. But there will be guys who will be in the bubble. If they haven’t played in the playoffs or meaningful games in a long time, or ever, I want to see how they perform.
“In that sense, I think the world championships are extremely important.”
GO DEEPER
Bill Guerin’s message to US 4 Nations Olympic hopefuls: Don’t waste the world championships
It wasn’t difficult to determine the players Guerin might have been referring to: Zach Werenski, Johnny Gaudreau, Seth Jones, Trevor Zegras, Troy Terry, Tage Thompson, Alex Tuch, Clayton Keller and even Guerin’s Minnesota Wild winger Matt Boldy.
Some of those players didn’t travel overseas, but of those who did, none may have helped their cause more than Boldy and Gaudreau.
Boldy led the tournament with 14 points in eight games when the United States was eliminated 1-0 in the quarterfinals by hosts Czechia on Thursday, and Gaudreau scored 11 points, becoming the United States’ all-time leading scorer in the World Championship with 43 points.
Guerin’s day job is being Boldy’s general manager in Minnesota, and in recent years he has made no bones about the lack of “FU in his game” during his first two NHL postseasons, no matter how much skill he has. have. Boldy has just one goal and three assists in 12 playoff games for the Wild and it often seemed like he wanted to outrun his competition rather than get to the dirty areas necessary to score in playoff hockey.
That’s not what Guerin sees abroad.
“He’s been incredible,” Guerin said in an interview before Thursday’s quarterfinal loss. “It’s been really good. It’s not just the points, it’s also the way he plays. He’s been playing the game the right way, but I think he’s really enjoying it.”
Guerin was not the United States general manager for the World Championships, but he went to Czechia to scout with his Olympic team and 4 Nations showdown head coach, Mike Sullivan.
Boldy played on a line with Gaudreau and Brock Nelson during the tournament.
“He’s been very direct in his game and he’s made good decisions, good decisions with the puck in critical moments,” Guerin said. “It’s not all about the offense. It was a complete game and that is what he played.”
Gaudreau, also known as “Johnny Hockey,” is a well-decorated American player, so it’s not like Guerin doesn’t know his pedigree. But with a vast talent pool and Gaudreau not exactly performing at the highest level recently (he dropped from 115 points in his final season with the Calgary Flames to 74 and 60 in his two seasons with the Columbus Blue Jackets), it’s important to Guerin see if he can still do it internationally.
“He’s just a scoring machine,” Guérin said. “He’s skating well. He’s moving the puck. He and Boldy seem to have some chemistry on the power play together. Yes…Johnny has played well.”
Also playing well for Team USA is Ottawa Senators captain Brady Tkachuk, son of Guerin’s former USA Hockey linemate Keith Tkachuk. He probably wasn’t a bubble player in the first place (the chance to see him and his older brother Matthew together will be tempting), but he certainly solidified his place by racking up 13 points and leading the team with seven goals in eight games in the world Cup.
“Brady has played very well and is the leader of the team,” Guerin said. “He is the heart of the team and he is delivering on all fronts.”
Other potential bubble players for the next two tournaments that impressed Guerin were Cole Caufield and Zegras.
“They look good,” Guerin said. “Cole scored a couple of goals (in the group stage win over Latvia). He has been bitten by a snake, but the opportunities have been there. Trevor is still figuring it out. I think he’s just trying to figure out how to match his game with what we’re asking him to do at the team level, but he’s been working hard at it.
“The good thing too is that we have some of the young guys here, like (Gavin) Brindley, (Ryan) Leonard and Will Smith. Although they don’t get tons of ice, they are close to NHL players. “I know they want to play a lot, they want to compete, but I feel like it’s good that we have some of these younger guys here so they can see how everything works.”
Guerin, at least before the quarterfinal loss, was pleased with what he saw from the team as a whole, although many of the players likely won’t make the next two squads.
“A lot of guys have done exactly what we’ve asked of them and, hey, the first part is just being here and the second part is they’re taking it seriously,” Guerin said. “Seeing how some of these guys operate has been really good for me and opened my eyes. It has been a very, very positive experience for me to be able to see how these guys work.”
In mid-June, USA Hockey, Canada, Sweden and Finland will name their first six players for the 4 Nations showdown. Those will be the easy decisions.
The most atrocious ones will come later.
“They will be difficult decisions,” Guerin said. “I know there will be disappointed people. Hey, look, that’s the nature of the business and that’s the unfortunate part. But yeah, that’s the job. We want to win. And you know what? It’s hard. We can’t guarantee anything, but we have a group of players that should be able to compete with anyone in the world, and the decisions we will have to make will be difficult because of the number of good players we have.
Photo of Johnny Gaudreau and Brady Tkachuk: Andrzej Iwanczuk / NurPhoto via /Keynote USA/Getty Images)
Keynote USA
For the Latest Sports News, Follow @Keynote USA Sports on Twitter.