Team USA HC Mike Sullivan sings praises of $45,500,000 'high character' winger at 4 Nations Face-Off

Pittsburgh Penguins head coach Mike Sullivan is the bench boss for Team USA at the 4 Nations Face-Off tournament. The Massachusetts native brings experience and a calming influence to Team USA, having won two Stanley Cups as Pittsburgh's coach.

With so much talent to choose from when setting the lineup, there will always be a great player who doesn't play. It appears that Rangers forward Chris Kreider is that guy, as he looks to be a healthy scratch for Game 1 against Finland.

On Wednesday, Sullivan was asked about the benefits of having a veteran like Kreider in an in-depth role in a best-on-best tournament. Rangers reporter Mollie Walker shared his response on X (formerly Twitter).

"He is a high-character person," Sullivan said. "First and foremost, he's a real good teammate, and the versatility is one of the reasons why he's on this roster. When you look at the types of players that we have and some of those supporting roles, versatility is a really important element, the ability to play multiple positions or multiple roles. And I think he checks a lot of boxes with respect to that."

Kreider has had a disappointing season in New York, producing just 20 points (16 goals, four assists) in 47 games. He made Team USA based on his track record of putting up 75, 54 and 77 points in the three previous campaigns. The 33-year-old is in the fifth season of a seven-year, $45,500,000 contract with the Rangers.

Mike Sullivan has an extremely deep roster in Team USA

Mike Sullivan has the luxury of the deepest roster at the 4 Nations. Here is the lineup Team USA's head coach has constructed to start the tournament.

His top two forward lines saw Jack Eichel centering Kyle Connor and Matthew Tkachuk while Auston Matthews was in between Jake Guentzel and Jack Hughes. The bottom-six isn't too shabby either. J.T. Miller will start with Brady Tkachuk and Matt Boldy as his wingers, and Vincent Trocheck will center Brock Nelson and Dylan Larkin.

The defense core pairs Jaccob Slavin with Adam Fox, Zach Werenski with Charlie McAvoy, and rounds out with Noah Hanifin and Brock Faber. Connor Hellebuyck will be the backbone of the team as the starting goaltender.

Mike Sullivan and the Americans begin their round-robin stage on Thursday night against Team Finland. The puck drops at 8 p.m. ET at Bell Centre in Montreal.