The plan for Auston Matthews is to be, well, Auston Matthews. On Thursday, Matthews was named the captain of Team USA for the 4 Nations Face-Off, the international best-on-best tournament that will pit the US, Canada, Sweden and Finland against each other in Montreal and Boston from Feb. 12-20.

Auston Matthews will serve as captain for the United States in the upcoming 4 Nations Face-Off, and his team is the only one involved without a glaring injury question to answer.

Captaining Canada is nothing new for Sidney Crosby. He did it at the 2014 Sochi Olympics and the 2016 World Cup of Hockey and led the team to titles in each of those tournaments.

Auston Matthews has never been able to represent the United States in best-on-best international hockey competition. It’s a situation many of the game’s top stars find themselves in, but that’s about to change at the 4 Nations Face-Off next month.

Matthews was named captain of the Maple Leafs on Aug. 14, taking over for John Tavares, who passed along the role to star forward. Matthews is the 26th captain in the club's history and the first US-born player to wear the "C' for Toronto.

As speculation rises over which players may decide to sit out the upcoming 4 Nations Face-Off, Toronto Maple Leafs’ Auston Matthews will be suiting up for Team

Crosby has plenty of international experience for Canada while Leafs star Matthews is the Americans’ biggest threat for the best-on-best tournament.

Matthews dealt with a nagging upper-body injury earlier this season, but after looking himself since early January is a full go for USA at the tournament.