Quinn Hughes Situation with Team USA is Very Strange

It is a wild and crazy situation involving Team USA and defenseman Quinn Hughes ahead of Thursday’s Championship Game of the 4 Nations Face-Off against Team Canada.

On Tuesday, during media availabilities, Team USA Mike Sullivan was asked about a possible replacement for Charlie McAvoy, who is injured and out of the tournament, on defense and casually stated that Canucks defenseman Quinn Hughes was coming. However, after practice on Wednesday, Sullivan cleaned up his statement regarding whether Hughes was coming or not.

“Quinn Hughes is not on his way to Boston right now, and GM Bill Guerin is still working through it,” Sullivan said during his post-practice press conference.” 

As everyone saw, Hughes was practicing with his teammates in Vancouver after taking a cross-country flight from New Jersey. Michael Russo of The Athletic writes, “For what it’s worth, a number of USA players I talked to seem to think Quinn Hughes is coming tonight and wants to come even if he can’t play. Again, the NHL says it is not going to amend rule – he can’t play unless USA is below 6 D.”

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If you listen to how Hughes spoke to the media in Vancouver, you will see that he didn’t sound like a player who was going to Boston. Hughes told the media in Vancouver:

“I think the plan was to just see how my skate went today. I feel like I felt pretty good. I mean, the rules are the rules. I can’t play unless anyone else gets injured, and I obviously don’t want to see anyone get injured. So, yeah, I think that’s where we’re at.”

It Seems Unlikely Hughes Plays for Team USA

As the rules have stated from the start, Hughes could only suit up for Team USA for the Championship Game in Boston if another defenseman gets hurt. There was some thought that if another forward got hurt, Team USA could run 11 forwards and 7 defensemen, but he could only come if a defenseman was injured or physically couldn’t play.

Remember, Quinn Hughes was named to Team USA back in June at the 4 Nations Face-Off First Six announced at the 2024 NHL Draft. However, due to an injury suffered in the regular season, Hughes missed the final four games for the Canucks and was replaced by Jake Sanderson.

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There was thought he could play for the Canucks before the break, but that did not happen. Some even speculated if they would keep on the roster and see if he could go, but that did not happen. It was a big disappointment to him.

Hughes continued with the Vancouver media:

“I gotta thank Bill Guerin for how patient he was with me, not only 10 days ago but even last night and the last 24 hours. He understood how much I wanted to play and also what my obligations were to the Canucks. Really, what it came down to, I just wasn’t healthy enough.”

It continues to be a day-by-day approach for Hughes and Team USA.

Team USA GM Bill Guerin tells me they’re still working through the Quinn Hughes situation and are still trying to bring him to Boston. He’ll skate again with the Canucks today

— Michael Russo (@RussoHockey) February 19, 2025

Things Remain Fluid Until Hughes Is Ruled Out

The situation regarding Quinn Hughes and Team USA remains fluid. Again, unless he is going to play for Team USA, why would he take multiple cross-country flights and not play? Team Canada has no issue with him playing, but it is weird for a coach to casually drop the Norris Trophy winner’s name so randomly. 

You would think because Sullivan brought up the name, Hughes is playing. It would make sense. But he is practicing again in Vancouver today. So that would be a lot of flying in such a short span to meet his teammates in Vegas for their game coming out of the break. 

“I guess we’ll just see what happens. I’ll be in touch with those guys and just go from there,” Hughes said on Tuesday. “I guess I could fly down there and then fly back, but we’ll just see where this goes.”

It will be interesting to see what Quinn Hughes has to say later because this is the topic everyone is talking about outside of the game on Thursday. 

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