Before Zach Werenski wore union blue, he wore red, white and blue.
The Blue Jackets defenseman came up through the U.S. National Team Development program, spending the 2013-14 season wearing the stars and stripes. The next two seasons, he represented Team USA at the World Junior Championship, one of the highest honors a player can have before reaching the NHL.
Under normal circumstances, it would signify the start of a long career for a player with his national team, but a funny thing happened from there. NHL players didn’t take part in the Olympics in 2018 and ‘22, and while Werenski did represent the United States at the IIHF World Championship in 2019 and this past summer, no other best-on-best international tournaments were placed on the calendar.
That’s what makes the NHL 4 Nations Face-Off so important for Werenski. The tournament – which begins tonight, with Team USA’s first game tomorrow night vs. Finland – is the first since the 2016 World Cup of Hockey that will exclusively match the world’s best against one another, and making the roster was one of Werenski’s big goals for this season.
He’s left no doubt he deserved to be chosen for the tournament with a Norris Trophy-caliber performance with the Blue Jackets, and finally, it’s his time to shine in his national colors.
“Obviously playing for the U.S. program, going overseas, going to the U-17 Worlds, the World Juniors and all that stuff, you just get a feel for how important it is to represent your country and how much it means,” Werenski said. “I actually came into the league the year of the World Cup ... and I always thought that I’d get a chance to do that. Then the next thing you know, there’s no World Cups and no Olympics or any of that.
“It’s definitely unfortunate, but I think not we’re in a good place and we’re getting that best-on-best schedule back. I think it’s great for the game, so I’m excited.”
It’s clear Werenski will get a chance to play big minutes as well, brought on by an excellent season with the Blue Jackets that has him in the conversation as being the best defenseman in the world. Werenski has already set the CBJ franchise record for points by a blueliner in a season with 59 in 55 games, and he’s not only leading the NHL in minutes per game (26:53), he’s second among all D with 17 goals and tied for second in points.
Werenski opened Team USA’s practices this week skating on what should be a big-minute pair with Boston’s Charlie McAvoy as well as working the point on one of the team’s two power-play units.
Of course, it doesn’t matter to Werenski where or how much he’ll play. He’d likely skate at forward if they asked, but it appears he’ll have the chance to fill the role in his country’s colors that he does with the Blue Jackets.
“It doesn’t really matter,” he said. “I’m just going to go there and have fun. Whatever they ask of me, I’m going to do it.”
Talking 4 Nations
As we noted, it’s a little bit of a new world when it comes to international play at the highest level. This is the first major tournament involving NHL players in more than eight years, and it’s in the middle of a season where teams are jockeying for position for the Stanley Cup Playoffs.
In fact, it’s the first time since the 2014 Olympics that international competition is taking place in the middle of the NHL season, and the intensity at the 4 Nations probably won’t quite reach the level it would if a gold medal was on the line. At the same time, Werenski expects the intensity to be high simply because of how long it’s been since the world’s top players have all put on their country's sweaters.
“I’ve seen some of the highlights lately of old games and how physical it is, scrums and all that stuff,” Werenski said. “I’m assuming it’s the same thing. We haven’t played best-on-best for a long time. I know it’s been something guys have been looking forward to. With the time between it and a lot of guys’ first time playing it, it’s gonna be really intense."
Werenski has been steeped in the world of international competition for much of his life, including his junior days when he represented the United States at multiple international competitions. He remembers Sidney Crosby scoring the golden goal in overtime to give Canada the 2010 Olympics win on home soil over Team USA, and he watched in 2014 as T.J. Oshie became “T.J. Sochi” because of his shootout heroics against Russia.
Werenski also has an eye forward toward next year, when NHL players are slated to return to Olympic play in February 2026. The 4 Nations can be seen as a dress rehearsal for what’s to come in a year’s time, so this is a chance for players to start to build chemistry as international play takes a bigger role in the annual hockey calendar.
It also could be a time for Team USA to shine, as the Americans – led by such players as the tournament’s top goalie, Connor Hellebuyck, high-scoring forwards Auston Matthews, Jack Hughes and Matthew Tkachuk, and defenders like Werenski – are co-favorites at the 4 Nations with Canada.
“I feel like when you put that jersey on, you always feel like you have a chance to win,” Werenski said. “But I feel like it’s one of those things where you don’t want to get too far ahead of yourself. I know the favorites, the odds or whatever, but at the end of the day anyone can win this tournament.
“I’m just excited to get out there. I feel like everyone has the same mind-set. 4 Nations is going to be awesome, but hopefully you can build these teams for the Olympics and the next World Cup and grow together as a group. I’m just excited. The world’s best-on-best schedule is back, and hopefully we can continue to build these teams and get some chemistry and win a lot moving forward here.”
No matter how the tournament ends up, it will be a unique opportunity for everyone involved – one NHL fans should see more and more of as the international calendar fills up in the coming years.
“I’ve had an opportunity to play for my country, and I’ve had an opportunity now to coach,” Blue Jackets head coach Dean Evason said. “There’s great, great honor in pulling your flag over your head and putting it on your chest. Any opportunity anyone has to do that, I know how it feels. It’s an incredible honor and anyone that gets the opportunity to – Z in particular, because he’s our guy – I’m very excited for him.”
A Well-Earned Honor
Claimed off waivers in November, Dante Fabbro arrived in Columbus in November and immediately was placed on a defensive pair with Werenski.
The two hadn’t met before that, but you wouldn’t know it by the chemistry they formed almost immediately. Werenski’s production took off after being paired with Fabbro, and it didn’t take the new CBJ blueliner long to realize he was skating with a special player.
“You don’t realize how good he is until you’re actually watching him on a day-to-day basis,” Fabbro said. “He is that elite of a defenseman. I see it every single day with just the way he goes about his business and how he leads the team. He leads off the ice, obviously, but on the ice is a huge attribute to his hard work and his dedication to the game.
“He doesn’t cheat the game at all. He plays the right way every single game. For myself and my teammates, (his impact) doesn’t shock us at all. He’s easily one of the best defensemen in this league and he’s definitely in that Norris conversation.”
Given the level Werenski has reached this year, it’s easy to forget he was considered by many as a bubble player for the U.S. 4 Nations team when the season started. It’s not that Werenski wasn’t respected around the league – he's a two-time All-Star, after all – but with such names as McAvoy, Quinn Hughes, Adam Fox and Brock Faber leading the charge, the team was already top-heavy with minutes-eating defensemen with skill.
But Werenski has left no doubt he belongs in the conversation among elite defensemen with his production and leadership this season, and it started in the offseason. After a couple of injury-plagued years, he dedicated himself this summer to being ready to play big minutes for a team that he thought could be on the rise after four years of missing the playoffs amid a rebuilding cycle.
Second-year CBJ forward Adam Fantilli spent much of the summer with Werenski and left with an eye-opening experience.
“I work out with him all summer and he’s a dawg in the gym,” Fantilli said. “He’s a dawg on the ice. He just works so hard. He’s the guy I want to be around in the offseason because it pushes me to work even harder. Being on the ice with him is great. I get to see a lot of things that a young player should in a veteran guy, and he’s just worked so hard and dialed in that it’s allowed him to (have the season he’s having).”
Now, Werenski gets to take that to the big stage and compete against the best players in the world. It’s just a four-game tournament in the middle of the season, but it’s something he’s been looking forward to for quite some time.
“I’m just excited to get into that first game and see what it’s all about,” Werenski said. “Just getting that feeling of playing best-on-best and putting the USA jersey on, it’s a great honor and I'm excited for it.”
