But Hughes knows that if he remains on a line with Matthews during this tournament, he can’t lose himself either.
“I think I want to play my game, first of all,” he said. “I can’t be just trying to be Mr. Passive Guy and whatnot because then that threat’s gone. But I’ve just got to find the in between of playing my game and finding Jake and finding Matthews, two great players.
“Today was Day 1 of practice. We’ll see if that line even sticks but should be a lot of fun if that is the case.”
Coach Mike Sullivan called the lines he used in practice Monday, “a starting point for us.”
“If Auston Matthews and Jack Hughes play together, they’re obviously two elite offensive players,” Sullivan said. “I think Auston is a guy that is a pure goal scorer. That’s not his only attribute, but he certainly excels at that attribute. I think Jack Hughes is a guy that is as good as anyone at distributing pucks. He has such great offensive instincts, he’s elusive, he has the ability to create time and space, and he can get people the puck in the key areas.
“That tandem could potentially have complementary skill sets. We’ll wait and see, but those are some of the discussions we had.”
Sullivan did caution that sometimes lines might seem to work on paper, but not on the ice.
While the U.S. remains a work in progress, there’s still so much to like, even down a defenseman like Quinn Hughes. And, more than that, they all look at this as a beginning, as a starting point for the U.S., for the Hughes brothers to have a chance to play together, for what they all might be able to do while wearing the red, white and blue.
“For me, I’m 23,” Hughes said. “I’m hoping I have next Olympics and the one after and maybe even the one after that. I’m a young guy and I feel like I’ve got a lot of games with USA Hockey still to be played. And that’s really exciting for me. Obviously the Devils are my No. 1 focus, but to have the chance to come here and put the sweater back on means a lot.”
