Devastating injury news strikes Team USA as star defenseman is sidelined with upper-body injury

Earlier in the day both NHL insider Elliotte Friedman and Team USA's head coach Mike Sullivan confirmed that Matthew Tkachuk and defenseman Charlie McAvoy both will not be playing tonight in their game against Sweden.

Instead, Team USA is going with Jake Sanderson on defense and Chris Kreider will be taking Matthew Tkachuk's spot in the lineup, making tonight his debut of the 4 Nations Face-Off tournament.

At first it was just speculation that Bruins defenceman Charlie McAvoy was just sitting out to get some rest before Team USA's big matchup against Team Canada in the Championship game. However Team USA confirmed the unfortunate news.

As star forward Matthew Tkachuk is already dealing with a lower-body injury, Team USA got more bad news as it was confirmed that defenseman Charlie McAvoy is now out due to an upper-body injury.

Charlie McAvoy has been a big part of Team USA's success early on in the tournament, creating a lot of momentum for USA, playing a lot of big minutes, and most importantly being solid on the back end.

Hopefully New York Rangers defenseman Adam Fox will take on a bigger role tonight as puck drop is set for 8PM at the TD Garden in Boston.

Best of luck to the four New York Rangers representing Team USA as this will be the first time they all play together during this tournament.