Auston Matthews enters the upcoming 4 Nations Face-Off as one of the faces of the tournament, leading Team USA into the foray with a chance to separate himself from his peers.

Matthews spoke to reporters Friday about the captaincy and his mindset entering the tournament, and he’ll be a focal point of Team USA’s attack, with his country entering as the arguable favourite. The 27-year-old is drawing admiration across the league and several players are vying for a spot on his line, most notably New Jersey Devils star Jack Hughes, who said he’d be willing to move to the wing in order to play with Matthews.

What are some optimal combinations for Matthews and Team USA? Daily Faceoff’s Frank Seravalli projected Matthews centring USA’s first line, with J.T. Miller and Matthew Tkachuk on his wings, a strong combination of scoring punch, grit and tenacity. Miller may be reinvigorated by his trade to the New York Rangers, while Tkachuk is a leading all-around forward for the defending champion Florida Panthers and they would dominate in the cycle, while Matthews would be the defensive centrepiece of the line as well, although his expected goals per 60 have dipped into the lowest quartile at 5-on-5 this season.

Another intriguing option could be a line placing Kyle Connor on Matthews’ left wing, with Matthew Tkachuk on the right wing. Connor leads all American skaters with 30 goals and 67 points, and in a short tournament, it’s wise to capitalize on current form, while Tkachuk is a model of consistency. The only drawback here is that this line could lose in transition and would be pure offence, with Matthews having to elevate into Selke form on the other side of the puck. Perhaps we’re overthinking the role of a top-tier scoring line, but it may be too imbalanced.

What about the other Tkachuk brother, Brady? Ottawa’s captain is naturally suited to play the left wing, can provide some scoring punch and toughness and he’s elite at infuriating opponents, leading the NHL with 28 drawn penalties. Tkachuk could be a great fit on the first line with Matthews, while Hughes could be a great right wing with dynamic skating and playmaking ability. It’s an interesting combination of size, speed, scoring punch, while Tkachuk and Hughes have been much better defensively this year than their reputations suggest. A combination of Tkachuk-Matthews-Hughes could shoot the lights out, beat opponents in transition, while Matthews and Hughes could develop some chemistry on USA’s first power play unit as well.

Matthews will be one of the key players in this tournament, with a chance to win his first gold medal in a men’s competition. This is the first best-on-best tournament of his NHL career — the 2016 World Cup took place one month before his rookie season with the Maple Leafs — and now that he’s fully healthy again, he’ll be looking to lead the USA to gold, while trying to secure a few individual accolades as well.

What do you think the optimal combinations should be? We’d love to hear some ideas, and Mike Sullivan certainly has an enviable number of options at his disposal!