Zizing 'Em Up: Brady, Matthew Tkachuk as U.S. teammates could happen at 4 Nations Face-Off

NHL.com staff writer Mike Zeisberger has been covering the NHL regularly since 1999. Each Monday he will use his extensive network of hockey contacts for his weekly notes column, "Zizing 'Em Up."

TORONTO -- From playing mini-sticks as kids in the basement of the family home in St. Louis, to NHL games between his Ottawa Senators and the Florida Panthers, Brady Tkachuk can't recall how many times he and brother Matthew have exchanged hacks, whacks and verbal shots with each other as opponents over the years.

Now, finally, eagerly, there is a chance the two will finally be teammates for the first time.

Check that. Officially, it would be the second time if Brady is selected to join Matthew to play for the United States at the 4 Nations Face-Off in Montreal and Boston from Feb. 12-20. The two, Brady recalled, were on the same Atlantic Division team for the 2023 NHL All-Star Game in Sunrise, Florida.

"That was fun," Brady told NHL.com last week, "but that doesn't really count. It was great, don't get me wrong, but we weren't really playing in a competition with so much on a line. It was a little different.

"Now, if I get picked to represent the [United States] with him at the 4 Nations, well, that would be a dream come true."

One that very well could come reality in less than three weeks.

In early December, the countries involved in the 4 Nations Face-Off -- the United States, Canada, Sweden and Finland -- will submit their final rosters for the tournament. On June 28, each team announced its first six players for the event, the first best-on-best competition since the World Cup of Hockey 2016. Matthew was chosen by the United States.

Brady admits he and Matthew have discussed what it would be like to represent their country together. All that remains is for Brady to wait and see if he'll be picked.

"I can't tell you how special it would be for us to be together every day," Brady said, "to be on the same ice every day, to be playing for the [United States] together every day, to be on the same team pushing for one unified goal every day.

"I can just imagine how perfect and awesome it's going to be if it happens."

Here's why it makes so much sense that it should happen.

On the day Jeremy Roenick received his Hockey Hall of Fame ring as part of the Class of 2024 last Monday, he discussed what the United States needed to do in an international tournament like 4 Nations. Roenick represented the country at the 1998 Nagano Olympics and 2002 Salt Lake City Olympics. He said he's never seen the United States have such a deep talent pool like this before but cautioned that it takes far more than skill to come out on top on such an event.

"Are they going to play more of a grit game like a Canadian team, that in-your-face type of game?" Roenick said. "That's the one thing you always wonder about the U.S., is how gritty, how tough they can actually play. You never have to worry about that with a Canadian team, at least in the past."

Enter the Tkachuk brothers.

You want sandpaper? Matthew and Brady are the poster children for that style of play, combining hustle and muscle for the type of combination rarely seen in the NHL.

Matthew, 26, has six seasons of at least 20 goals and seven with at least 60 penalty minutes. Brady, 25, has five and six, respectively.

Imagine them on the same team? The same line? On their own they can knock defensemen on their butts and pucks into the net, often on the same shift.

Put them together, and it potentially could be a nightmare for the other team.

"I think that's what kind of makes me the player that I am, is being able to bring that side of things," said Brady, the Senators captain. "I think the same goes for my brother. We both pride ourselves on being emotional leaders who lead by example and bring offense but also that emotional physicality.

"Right now, my main focus is on the Ottawa Senators, but yes, Matthew and I have talked about this tournament and future tournaments, and how awesome it would be."

One Tkachuk has proven to be a lot for teams to handle on any given night. Maybe, just maybe, we're on the cusp of seeing what kind of havoc two of them together could muster.

4 NATIONS STOCK MARKET

Each Monday, we'll look at two candidates vying to make one of the teams participating in the 4 Nations Face-Off, one who's hot, one who's not.

Who's hot: F Jesper Bratt, Sweden

Sweden will be looking for scoring from the supporting cast behind stud forwards William Nylander (Toronto Maple Leafs) and Filip Forsberg (Nashville Predators), and Bratt fits the bill perfectly. The New Jersey Devils forward has 24 points (eight goals, 16 assists) in 21 games this season and is converting his natural speed into a better-than-point-per-game pace, one that would see him eclipse his NHL single-season high of 83 points set last season. Sweden's defense is their strength led by Victor Hedman (Tampa Bay Lightning) and Erik Karlsson (Pittsburgh Penguins), so there should be plenty of spots for the roster for a Bratt-like player up front.

Who's not: F Jason Robertson, United States

The hard-shooting Dallas Stars forward seemed to be a no-brainer after he had 268 points (116 goals, 152 assists) during a three-season span from 2021-24. Maybe he still is, but the 25-year-old is off to a sluggish start this season with just eight points (four goals, four assists) in 16 games. Robertson missed most of training camp after having surgery July 31 to remove a cyst from his foot and seems to still be shedding the rust. United States general manager Bill Guerin and his staff have a deep pool of forward candidates to choose from, so this could be an interesting decision. This much is certain: Given Robertson's production the past three full seasons, the Arcadia, California, native has the pedigree to score when healthy.

JET SETTERS

Nine months after stating concerns about declining attendance numbers, Winnipeg Jets owner Mark Chipman is cautiously encouraged that the franchise is trending in the right direction off the ice.

It certainly is on it, where the Jets are off to a 15-3-0 start.

Add it all up, and it has Chipman optimistic about the situation in Winnipeg.

"Yes, it's coming back," he said while stopping to chat on the red carpet during Hall of Fame induction ceremonies. "We had a good summer. Our season ticket renewals this past summer are strong, so, like I said, it's coming back. And the gates are improving this year.

"So, yes, I'm feeling good about it."

Last season, the Jets averaged 13,490 fans at the 15,225-seat Canada Life Centre, the smallest venue in the NHL. This season the number has spiked to the 14,000 range.

In the process, Chipman credits general manager Kevin Cheveldayoff, coach Scott Arniel and the players for creating a buzz around the team in the standings and the community.

"Well, I don't think anybody expected us to have this type of start," Chipman said. "But when you look at it, it's pretty much the same group that won eight straight games to end the season. Yes, we lost in five games to Colorado in the (Western Conference First Round), but this is a good team.

"'Chevy' has put together a good team that has incrementally gotten better. And Scott has done a really, really good job of bringing it all together."

The Jets are amid their first losing streak of the season, a modest two-game slide after losing 4-1 to the Lightning on Thursday and 5-0 to the Panthers on Saturday. There is no panic within a team that remains atop the 32-league standings with 30 points in 18 games.

"I'm not sure it's a case of us getting better and better, as it is that in the games that we've won, we've won them in different ways," Cheveldayoff said. "I mean, we can't lose sight of the fact that we've won three games in overtime. Those can go in a different direction in any point in time. We've had games where our goalie (Connor Hellebuyck) deserves the win by himself. And we've had wins where a different line of all four steps up, which means concentrating on matchups isn't that vital."

The Jets will get a chance to redeem themselves when they host the Panthers Winnipeg on Tuesday (8 p.m. ET; TSN3, SCRIPPS).

Time to start another winning streak. Chipman and Cheveldayoff hope so.

KEEFE BELIEF

Talk to Devils general manager Tom Fitzgerald, and he practically goes giddy when the subject of coach Sheldon Keefe comes up.

New Jersey has been up and down this season, a roller-coaster ride that has them at 12-7-2. What is encouraging to Fitzgerald is that the Devils are 7-3-0 in their past 10, an indication that the players have started buying into what Keefe is selling.

Keefe was hired to replace Travis Green on May 23, two weeks after being fired by the Maple Leafs. He was 212-97-40 in the regular season during his tenure, but 16-21 in the Stanley Cup Playoffs and 1-5 in postseason series. For that, Keefe paid the price. Coaches usually do.

Fitzgerald wasted little time hiring Keefe. For him, it's easy to see why after the first quarter of the regular season.

"I love Sheldon Keefe, the head coach, and where he's taken this organization, the direction and the expectations," Fitzgerald told NHL.com. "Sheldon is a very detailed-oriented person. Habits are important to him. It's like music to my ears. It's a big reason why I hired him.

"It's hard for me to talk about this, because Lindy is like a brother to me, and he was so good for our organization at that time. Now it's time for the next step with Sheldon. He's so detailed. Everything has a purpose, every drill, every instruction, and that's what our guys needed. They need collaboration of development, of analytics, of trends, and that's what Sheldon does.

"We need to be more consistent, and Sheldon is the guy who can get us there."

Nothing like a ringing endorsement from the boss.

QUOTE/UNQUOTE

"I think it's silly when people make comparisons. There's no comparison to Connor. There's no comparison to Wayne. There's no comparison to Mario. Look, as a coach with the Oilers, I see Connor McDavid every day. I played with Wayne Gretzky. I played with Mario Lemieux. The common thread: all of them were consistent every single night. Otherwise, they're their own players. I will say this. It was enjoyable watching Connor get his 1,000th career point. I can't wait to see him get his 2,000th. -- Hall of Fame defenseman Paul Coffey, an assistant with the Edmonton Oilers

THE LAST WORD

On Nov. 30, 2005, the Maple Leafs were in the latter stages of what would be a 2-1 loss to the Lightning at what was then St. Pete Times Forum when word filtered through the press box that a blockbuster trade was just completed.

The deal, one of the splashiest in the past two decades, had the Boston Bruins dealing all-star center Joe Thornton to the San Jose Sharks for forwards Marco Sturm, Wayne Primeau and defenseman Brad Stuart.

Making my way down to the dressing rooms with a couple of minutes remaining in the Maple Leafs-Lightning game, I decided to go for the long shot of calling Thornton in the hopes that he might pick up.

He did.

"Hey Zize, you're the first person to call me," he said, an upbeat tone in his voice. "Big deal, eh? Big time stuff."

Was it ever.

If forward Patrick Marleau was the heart of Sharks, then Thornton was the face of it, especially after growing his trademark bushy beard. During his run from 2005-20 he put together a legacy that has his name at or near the top of nearly every franchise regular-season statistical category: 1,055 points (second), 804 assists (first), 251 goals (fourth), 1,104 games played (third), plus-161 (first), 631 penalty minutes (fourth), 402 power-play points (first), 87 power-play goals (third), and 40 game-winning goals (fourth).

This week, San Jose will honor "Jumbo Joe's" accomplishments with a three-day celebration culminating with the declaration of "Joe Thornton Day" on Saturday, the day his No. 19 will be retired by the Sharks. He will be joined by family and friends to watch his jersey raised to the rafters of SAP Center before the game against the Buffalo Sabres.

In a sport thirsting for character and characters, Jumbo Joe was exactly those things. Still is. As such, it will be a fitting and well-deserving tribute for someone who always seemed to be smiling, both on and off the ice.

Still is, too.