The 4 Nations Face-Off is a tournament sponsored by the National Hockey League that will take place in February 2025. The four nations are Canada, the United States, Finland, and Sweden. The complete rosters will be announced on December 2 and December 4, with each nation expected to send its best players. The 4 Nations Face-Off will take place in Montreal and Boston and the NHL will shut down that week to allow the tournament to take place.
Russia is a highly ranked hockey team but is excluded because of the ongoing conflict in Ukraine. Germany could play as they are ranked fifth. However, National Hockey League Commissioner Gary Bettman, announced that Germany does not have enough players to play in the 4 Nations Face-Off. Six players for each country/team in the 4 Nations Face-Off were already announced in February of 2024. This article will review the national rosters, schedule, and tournament structure, and handicap the tournament.
4 Nations Face-Off Rosters
There are four hockey teams in the tournament and six players for each were announced in February. That is what we know right now, and we will review those partial rosters here. All of the announced players play in the National Hockey League, and the League will not play at all during the tournament.
The six players for Canada are Sidney Crosby (Pittsburgh Penguins), Nathan MacKinnon (Colorado Avalanche), Cale Makar (Colorado Avalanche), Brad Marchand (Boston Bruins), Brayden Point (Tampa Bay Lightning), and Conor McDavid (Edmonton Oilers). The six players for Finland are Sebastion Aho (Carolina Hurricanes), Aleksander Barkov (Florida Panthers), Miro Heiskanen (Dallas Stars), Esa Lindell (Dallas Stars), Mikko Rantanen (Colorado Avalanche), and Juuse Saros (Nashville Predators).
The team for Sweden has Filip Forsberg (Nashville Predators), Gustav Forsling (Florida Panthers), Victor Hedman (Tampa Bay Lightning), William Nylander (Toronto Maple Leafs), Erik Karlsson (Pittsburgh Penguins), and Mika Zibanejad (New York Rangers). The United States team has Charlie McAvoy (Boston Bruins), Jack Eichel (Vegas Golden Knights), Adam Fox (New York Rangers), Quinn Hughes (Vancouver Canucks), Auston Matthews (Toronto Maple Leafs), and Matthew Tkachuk (Florida Panthers).
Tournament Schedule and Structure
The tournament will look like National Hockey League games and will follow NHL rules. The teams will play a round-robin schedule against each other. They will earn three points for a regulation win, two points for an overtime or shootout win, one point for an overtime or shootout loss, and no points for a regulation loss.
Each team will play three games and the teams with the most points will meet in the final of the 4 Nations Face-Off. Participants teams will practice for two days together before the tournament (on February 10 and 11). The tournament will be held from February 12-February 26.
Canada Should Win
Canada has the best player in the world Conor McDavid. They have a deep and talented roster, and they are ranked number one in the world by the International Hockey Foundation. The United States is ranked number six in the most recent rankings, but the United States should lose to Canada in the 4 Nations Face-Off final, finishing second in the tournament. Finland is ranked second in the world by the International Hockey Foundation. Finland is better than Sweden, which is ranked number seven, and should finish third with the Swedes pulling up the rear.
Conclusion
The 4 Nations Face Off will be fun and it is a big deal as the National Hockey League will shut down during the tournament. It will be fun to see these great players play with each other and for their nation, though it is reasonable for fans to wonder whether the national teams will have enough practice. Two days of practice is not that much but these players are highly skilled and have played together in other national tournaments, like the Olympics. Plus the schedule here is very compressed.
