NHL.com’s Nicholas J. Cotsonika discusses the sacrifices that some of Team USA’s Four Nations Face-Off participants are making in order to fill necessary roles on the team, starting with Dylan Larkin’s status as a 4th-line forward and a penalty-killer:
When the United States practiced the power play at Bell Centre on Tuesday, Dylan Larkin skated out. On the penalty kill.
Larkin ranks third in the NHL in power-play goals this season with 12 for the Detroit Red Wings. The center is one of the best bumpers in the League, using his quick head and hands in the middle of the ice.
But this is the 4 Nations Face-Off, a best-on-best tournament featuring Canada, Finland, Sweden and the United States. Each team is stacked with talent, the coaches must make hard decisions, and some stars must swallow their egos.
Larkin is just one example.
“All of these guys are the go-to guys on their respective NHL teams,” U.S. coach Mike Sullivan said. “Not everybody can play on the first power play. Not everybody can play on a power play. We need some guys that are going to have to be a big part of the penalty kill. We’re going to have to manage minutes and define roles for everyone so that we can come together as a team, and that’s one of the biggest challenges of these types of tournaments, and we’re going through that process right now. That was a conversation we had with our group, and we’ll continue to have that conversation with our group.”
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Here’s the thing about Larkin: He’s a fiery competitor who went through the USA Hockey National Team Development Program and has represented his country in multiple international tournaments. He’s a leader as the captain of the Red Wings. He’s also second among Detroit forwards in short-handed ice time (63:30) this season, behind J.T. Compher (84:53).
“I totally understand it, and I’m excited to get out there and penalty kill,” Larkin said. “And if they need me on the power play at some point throughout the tournament, I’ll be ready. We’ve talked about it a little before as a group of buying into your role and accepting it. I’m just a guy that I’ll do anything to play on this team, and if that means not being on the power play, killing penalties, I’ll do it with a smile on my face.”
Continued; it can’t be easy for a #1 center to play as a #4 winger, but Larkin’s doing just that for his country.
