McHugh: 4 Nations Face-Off Should Return Every Two Years

Liam, thank you for the time. Really appreciate it. Hey, man.

Thanks for having me on. What has made this tournament such a success? I go back to the beginning of this and it's hard to believe that we've gotten to this point with the hype and the anticipation because when we first came out with this and it was international hockey and it was during the All-Star break. The All-Star intensity, All-Star hitting guys aren't going to want to get hurt.

This isn't the Olympics and it's going to be a giant waste of time. And we've got a complete 180 with most of those fans. I mean, the intensity is through the roof, whether it's the fans or the players themselves. I think what you've gotten here is the perfect ending to a tournament that has gone way beyond what anyone could have expected in terms of intensity, in terms of level of play.

And there's pride now. And now there are people that were never interested in hockey that have something invested in this game. There is a nation to the north in Canada that right now is on edge because if they lose this game, oh my God, it will feel like a national meltdown if they lose their national sport to us. And I think what you also have here outside of just great athletes performing at the height of their abilities is you have characters and personality and the Kachuck brothers, Matthew and Brady are sort of the perfect American athletes to bring hockey into the spotlight because they look like guys you want to go out and have a beer with. They look like guys that five years from now could retire from the NHL and be in the WWE as like the best tag team.

So I think the personality sells the game and those guys are bringing it. Let's talk about the Kachuck brothers. We saw what the USA went through with Canada. They were beating the living hell out of each other over the weekend. The USA, we come out on top three to one and we got all these injuries, the Kachucks. I mean, are we too beat up? Like, how do we stay in this today? It's rough.

I mean, I'm not going to tell you that it isn't there. You know, Canada is healthy now. Kale McGarr, who may be the best defenseman in the world and honestly, maybe one of the he's extremely young, but you can already say maybe one of the best defenseman ever in the history of the game. He's now healthy for Team Canada. And on our side, our guys are banged up. Charlie McAvoy, who just sent bone rattling hits against Team Canada, you know, knocking Connor McDavid down, setting the tone.

He's out for this game. The Kachucks aren't 100 percent. Austin Matthews, you know, arguably our best player for Team USA, not 100 percent. But I go back to playoff hockey. You get to the Stanley Cup final and you see the game being played at that high level. There is not a single guy on the ice is healthy.

There just isn't. It is a war for a month and a half to get to that point. These guys are banged up. They are beaten. I think the difference now is they're fully invested. I think there are people who thought, oh, you know, if they're a little bruised, they're not going to want to play hard in this tournament. They're going to shut it down and get back to the season.

That's not the case. It feels like do or die. It feels like a Stanley Cup game seven.

So, yeah, we're banged up. And I would say, honestly, the odds favor Canada because the talent is there and they're healthier. But it's Team USA on home ice. And the one wild card we have is we got Connor Hellebunken goal. And right now he is the best goalie in the world. So he has to be the equalizer, especially given what we've seen Bennington do.

He's been kind of up and down. So, I mean, we got the greatest equalizer. No, you would hope so.

And I want to believe that. Right. Because this is a guy who won the best trophy last year for the best goalie in the NHL. If the award was being given out this season right now, he would win it again. I mean, it's pretty rare that he's sustained this level of greatness at a position that, let's be honest, it's probably, you know, 60 percent mental, 40 percent physical because guys are so similar.

He has not been good, however, in the playoffs the last two years. And that's when it really counts. So this is the biggest game of his life. And he knows that and everyone else knows that.

So while skill wise, talent wise and ability, he should be the equalizer. And as someone who's pulling for America, I really hope he is. Jordan Bennington is going to be completely comfortable in this situation. Jordan Bennington has won a Stanley Cup. He won it.

Game seven in that arena in Boston, hostile crowd against the Bruins. He's fine. He's right at home there.

And he likes being the villain. So I don't worry about Jordan Bennington. I think you get what you get from him. He'll give you a chance to win. Hellabuck has to be good enough to steal a game probably tonight. And I want to see if he can step up and make that happen. Liam McHugh is joining us from the NHL on TNT.

Man, you talk about the atmosphere. We saw the you know, we saw a national anthem get booed. We're not going to boo the Canadian anthem tonight, are we? You think that's going to happen? I really hope not. I think do I think you're going to hear a smattering of it?

Yeah, I do. I mean, I think people are going to be like, you know, fueled up from partying, you know, beforehand. And you're going to hear it.

But I don't think it's going to be overwhelming. I really hope it's not. And I know this thing is a political slant to it. And it's just become that.

And it's evolved into that. But these players, like, first off, a lot of them play Canadian cities. A lot of their best friends are Canadian, obviously, because of this game. So while the I think the booing in general fuels them, this idea that the politics behind the booing is fueling them, I think is pretty absurd. I think these guys are athletes. And like most athletes in any sport, they kind of live in their bubble. But they hear boos. And there is that Jordan feel right where it's like. And I took that personal.

Right. You make it about you. You sit there and you hear the boos and they're like, they're booing me right now. They're booing my country. That means they're booing me. And now I'm going to go out there. And in nine seconds into the game, I'm going to have my team start three fights. We're setting the tone here.

So you get fueled. But no, I don't think it's like because of politics or because of tariffs that these guys are playing hard. Let's not kid ourselves. Liam McHugh is here with us from the NHL on TNT. We know Canada has a slight edge given their health. This has been such an amazing tournament, captures everybody's attention.

I know you're a Long Island guy. We're going to have the All-Star game at UBS and then we'll look at the Olympics. What do you what do you think about having this again into the future?

Or is this kind of almost a little bit of a one off? No, I love this. I don't think necessarily you can do it every year, but I like the idea of Olympics every four years and in the two years in between having a World Cup. And this is to me just your starter for that, because you'd like to add more countries into it. The problem is, if it's limited to NHL players, you're eliminating some countries there.

I mean, Germany has Leon Dreichel and he's phenomenal, but you've done him enough to fill out the roster. Clearly, you know, the team of interest is Team Russia, which has enough elite level NHL players that they could form a team. And I think a lot of people would like to watch them play regardless of the political situation. They just want to see these players play best on best. So in the future, my hope is six to 18 tournaments. And I know they've already said they're going to do World Cup in a few years, but my hope is every two years.

And that way, also, there aren't players who miss their windows. It is amazing to me that we are watching McDavid and Austin Matthews, two number one overall picks in generational towns, play in their biggest best on best international game. And they're a decade into their careers. It's too long between.

This can't happen again. I want to see this, but I also don't want it watered down every year. Let's go every two years.

World Cup Olympics. It certainly makes sense. Well, I assume you're a Long Island guy.

You're going to be at UBS. How important is it to have the All-Star game back there? It's been, what, almost 30 years, maybe more? I love it, man. You know, I'll always love Long Island. I'll always love the Islanders. And there's nothing like seeing those banners with four straight Stanley Cups there. And I want those folks to have something to cheer for.

I really do. I'm chasing a playoff spot and it feels like we've been stuck in this situation for a few years now, chasing the wildcards and trying to make a move. But let's bring it back. Let's make some noise. Let's get that place going because it is an amazing, amazing hockey scene there. And the Garden gets all the ball, but that is a tremendous arena that they built there. So I'm pretty bummed for it to come back.

Well, Liam, as we're getting ready to hit the break and get out of here, I'd be remiss not to ask you this. We know that there's so much parity in the NHL. Teams go up, they go down. Are we looking at another championship in Florida? Are the Panthers doing it again? It's hard to imagine picking against them at this point. The Florida Panthers do something that no one does. They play playoff hockey starting in October.

They're in your face. They're giving you the glove right to the face after every whistle. They're starting stacked. They're starting scrums. No one does that in October. They do that in the playoffs.

They never shut it down. So they're going to be right in the mix once again. I wouldn't mind another repeat of last year. It would be awesome to see Florida try to go back to back here, three straight trips to the Stanley Cup, two straight wins. But I want to see McDavid again on the biggest stage. You want to see the best player of his generation. See if he can go back.

Missed out on game seven. It looked like he crushed his soul. There's video of him in the locker room after.

My God, I don't think I've ever seen a person that upset. I want to see him get back. I want him back on that stage.

So I'm hoping for another rematch. Well, it's good to know that we got some world class hockey going on now here in February, and we can look forward to June and seeing some more to see who raises Lord Stanley's Cup. Hey, Liam, thank you so much for the time. Where can people follow you and all of your work and everything with the NHL on TNT?

And I know you do more than that. All right, now I'm on Twitter at Liam Underscore McHugh. I'll be tweeting out ridiculous tonight as I watch this. And listen, we're on every Wednesday and now we're on now that the NFL is done. NHL on TNT every Sunday. We are back at it this Sunday starting at 12 30 p.m. Eastern. And we've got McDavid and Ovechkin to start things off. We've got the Oilers and the Caps. That's a fantastic game now. Football season is done.

Come on over to hockey. Hey, let's see. Hey, how many fights are we getting in the first nine seconds in about an hour and change?

How many? Well, I'll tell you what, if you get one, you're getting three. But I don't think you're getting one off the drop. But if you're getting one, I mean, they're going to have to, like, hold the guys back on the bench to make sure this isn't a full out bench clearing brawl.

But I don't think so. I think maybe we get one throughout the night, but I don't think we get one off the drop tonight. Well, I'm going to be paying attention. I'll be sitting right here in the studio watching and talking. Liam, thank you for the time. We'll catch you on down the line, OK? All right. Thanks so much.