Sullivan named USA's 4 Nations Face-Off, Olympic coach

Pittsburgh Penguins head coach Mike Sullivan will run the United States' bench at next year's 4 Nations Face-Off and the 2026 Olympics in Italy, USA Hockey announced Saturday.

The 4 Nations Face-Off takes place next February and will include Canada, USA, Sweden, and Finland. It's the start of a revamped international event calendar that's scheduled to stage a best-on-best tournament every two years.

The NHL confirmed it will return to the 2026 Olympics in February after missing the previous two tournaments. The league hasn't participated in a best-on-best event since the 2016 World Cup of Hockey.

Sullivan has coached USA in some capacity four separate times. He was tabbed to lead the Stars and Stripes at the 2022 winter games in Beijing before the NHL pulled out due to COVID-19 complications.

The 56-year-old led the Penguins to championships in 2016 and 2017, becoming the first American-born head coach to win the Stanley Cup twice. Sullivan's 375 regular-season wins since taking over in Pittsburgh are the fourth-most in the NHL.

The United States is expected to compete for gold; Auston Matthews, Jack and Quinn Hughes, and Matthew and Brady Tkachuk are among the many star players at USA's disposal.