UPDATE: Quinn Hughes was at today’s Canucks practice, clarifying that he isn’t eligible to play for Team USA since they have six healthy defenceman. USA coach Mike Sullivan seemed to be unclear on the rules, as he originally stated that Hughes would be joining Team USA. You can read more in today’s edition of Scenes from Canucks practice.

Quinn Hughes won’t be at Tuesday’s Vancouver Canucks practice. Instead, he’ll be making his way to Boston to prepare for the Championship game of the 4 Nations Face-Off between the USA and Canada, which is set to go down on Thursday.

Hughes was originally named to Team USA’s roster for the tournament, but made the difficult decision to stay back in Vancouver as he nursed an upper body injury he suffered during the Canucks’ 5-3 loss to the Dallas Stars back on January 31st. The injury saw Hughes continue to skate and be a game-time decision at various points leading up to the break.

Ultimately, Hughes chose to stay back and continue to rest up. But on Tuesday, USA head coach Mike Sullivan shared that Quinn Hughes is en route to Boston to join his countrymen ahead of Thursday’s game.

Now, because this tournament is new, the rules on call-ups aren’t exactly clear, and it’s unclear whether or not Hughes is actually eligible to play in Thursday’s game. Here’s what Frank Seravalli said about the situation on Tuesday’s episode of Daily Faceoff Live.

“It’s not entirely clear at this moment in time whether or not Quinn Hughes coming back is eligible to play on Thursday,” said Seravalli, acknowledging that Canada being able to play Thomas Harley was due to the fact they lost two defenceman. “Unless there’s something else at play here and there’s another defenceman that’s banged up which we don’t know about, the US has six defencemen right now.

“So this situation has flipped. There’s a lot to figure out, and I’m telling you that this is so fluid because in the last hour, one hour ago, the US was told that they couldn’t add anyone. So the NHL and NHLPA have gotten together and have made a decision here that Quinn Hughes can rejoin, and I don’t know if it’s a different situation, because he was originally named to the roster when they were handed out on December 4, but nonetheless, an incredible turn of events.”

Canada and the USA faced off during the round robin games, but Canada was without Cale Makar due to illness in that game. Makar is ready to rejoin Canada for Thursday’s game, giving Canada a big boost that would be almost nullified if the Americans were able to add Hughes to their lineup.

More to come.

UPDATE: According to Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman, another injury needs to happen for Hughes to be eligible to play.