The best players from Canada, Finland, Sweden and the United States are set to take to the ice in Montreal, Quebec and Boston, Massachusetts starting next Wednesday for the ‘4 Nations Face-Off’, first best-on-best international tournament in nearly nine years.
Just over one year ago, the National Hockey League and the Players Association announced the All-Star Weekend in Toronto that best-on-best international competition would be returning in February 2025, with the tournament being called the ‘4 Nations Face-Off’.
National Hockey League commissioner Gary Bettman spoke about the decision to create the ‘4 Nations Face-Off’ tournament, acknowledging that international competition is very important to their players, with the 2026 Winter Olympics also on the calendar for the league next year.
“We know how important international competition is to our players. We know they love and want to represent the countries from which they’re from,” said NHL commissioner Gary Bettman “We think this is a great stage for the best on the best, in the best sport.”
NHL’s Best-on-Best History
The 4 Nations Face-Off is the first best-on-best international tournament since the 2016 World Cup of Hockey. The National Hockey League, International Olympic Committee and International Ice Hockey Federation couldn’t come to an agreement for the 2018 Winter Games and in 2022, the NHL intended on sending their players, but a COVID outbreak shut that possibility down.
Since 1996, including the upcoming 4 Nations Face-Off, there have been four international events hosted by the National Hockey League, the three others being the World Cup of Hockey, which Canada has won two in a row – 2004 and 2016.
Aside from NHL-run international events, the league did an excellent job, along with the IIHF and IOC, of getting their players to the Winter Olympics. Five straight Winter Olympics featured NHL players from 1998 to 2014, with Canada winning three gold medals (2002, 2010 and 2014), while Czechia (1998) and Sweden (2006) have both won once.
However, the 4 Nations Face-Off is a bit different than other NHL-run best-on-best events we’ve seen.
Right off the bat the most obvious thing is there’s only four teams participating, with nations like Russia, Czechia, Germany, Slovakia, Switzerland and others not involved.
The tournament format too is different, because there’s only four teams. A normal round robin will take place, but there will be no semi-finals, rather, the top two teams will advance directly to a one-game final played at TD Garden in Boston on February 20th.
Team-by-Team Previews
Back in early December, the 4 Nations Face-Off rosters were announced by the NHL and there were plenty of questionable players named by their respective federations, along with plenty of notable snubs, but at the end of the day, these teams are loaded and it’s going to make for some great hockey.
Let’s go team-by-team and preview their path to international glory, along with what I think their strengths and weaknesses are.
Canada
Team Canada – winners of the last three best-on-best events (2010 & 2014 Winter Olympics; 2016 World Cup of Hockey), are in for a challenge at the 4 Nations Face-Off, primarily due to a very strong U.S. squad.
Canada’s forward group is stacked with Sidney Crosby, Connor McDavid, Nathan MacKinnon, Mitch Marner, Sam Reinhart, among others and their defensive corps isn’t something to scoff at with Cale Makar, Josh Morrissey, Devon Toews and Shea Theodore leading the line.
However where Canada falls short when compared to the other three nations is between the pipes. Gone are the days of Carey Price and Roberto Luongo manning the net for Canada and in this new era of Canadian goaltending, there’s no one on the level of those two.
Montreal’s Samuel Montembeault, St. Louis’ Jordan Binnington and Vegas’ Adin Hill were the three goaltenders named to Canada’s roster, all of whom have a save percentage below the NHL’s current average of .902 this season.
All three have international experience with Canada, but I’d have to put my money on Adin Hill getting the nod between the pipes for their opener next Wednesday against Sweden.
Finland
Finland has been strong at international best-on-best events, winning silver at the 2006 Winter Olympics, along with three bronzes (1998, 2010, 2014) and were runners-up at the 2004 World Cup of Hockey, but haven’t been able to find a way to come out on top.
Much like Canada, and all nations in this tournament, their forward group is very strong. But if Finland is going to have any success, they’re going to need players like Mikko Rantanen, Sebastian Aho, Patrik Laine and Aleksander Barkov to carry the load.
Finland’s defensive group is undoubtedly the weakest of the four participating nations, especially after Dallas’ Miro Heiskanen suffered a lower-body injury and will be out week-to-week following surgery. Finland’s projected top pair for the tournament is likely Niko Mikkola and Esa Lindell.
In between the pipes, Finland has a couple of strong options but it’ll likely be Vancouver’s Kevin Lankinen who will end up winning the starting role, in my opinion. Don’t count out Juuse Saros though as despite Nashville’s poor season, the 29-year-old has posted four shutouts and a 2.84 goals against average.
Sweden
Underperforming and disappointing are two words to describe Sweden’s play at best-on-best tournaments run by the National Hockey League.
At the 1996 World Cup of Hockey, they won their group, but lost in the semifinals to Canada and in 2004, they were blown out in the quarterfinals by Czechia. Sweden won their group at the 2016 World Cup of Hockey, but again, they fell short in the semifinals, losing to Team Europe in overtime, 3-2.
Sweden has a strong forward group, but there are some questions surrounding how effective players such as Elias Pettersson and Mika Zibanejad will be. Both have struggled this season for Vancouver and New York, respectively, but are expected to play big roles for Sweden starting next week.
The blueline is Sweden’s biggest strength, consisting of Victor Hedman, Rasmus Andersson, Erik Karlsson, Rasmus Dahlin and Gustav Forsling, along with Mattias Ekholm and Jonas Brodin, who will battle it out for the sixth spot.
In net, Sweden is without their projected starter – Jacob Markstrom, who’s out with an injury and their next guy up, Linus Ullmark, has been dealing with an ailment of his own and it’s unclear if he’ll participate or pull out of the tournament. Along with Ullmark, Minnesota’s Filip Gustavsson and Philadelphia’s Samuel Ersson are on Sweden’s roster, and in my opinion, the Wild netminder should get the start next Wednesday against Canada.
United States
On paper, the United States has the best roster and for that reason, enter the 4 Nations Face-Off as tournament favourites.
A forward group featuring Auston Matthews, Matthew Tkachuk, Jack Eichel and Jack Hughes. On defense, they USA’s got Quinn Hughes, Adam Fox, Charlie McAvoy, Brock Faber and in between the pipes, the best goaltender on the planet right now – Winnipeg’s Connor Hellebuyck.
The USA should cruise through the round robin stage of the tournament, with only Canada’s giving them any sort of challenge and while, there aren’t many flaws to the United States’ roster, there is on thing that could hold them back – lack of discipline.
With a roster featuring the Tkachuk brothers, being on the penalty kill is a given and it could get them in trouble against the top power play units of Canada, Finland and Sweden.
Team USA hasn’t won a best-on-best tournament – NHL-run or the Winter Olympics – since the 1996 World Cup of Hockey, but this year, they certainly have the best chance at taking home the title of ‘Four Nations Face-Off champions’.
Tournament Schedule
The 4 Nations Face-Off is set to get underway next Wednesday in Montreal, with games being played at the Bell Centre from February 12th to 15th, before the tournament transitions to Boston for the last day of the round robin, as well as the final on February 20th.
Here’s the full tournament schedule:
- February 12th: Canada vs Sweden – 8pm ET (Bell Centre, Montreal)
- February 13th: United States vs Finland – 8pm ET (Bell Centre, Montreal)
- February 15th: Finland vs Sweden – 1pm ET (Bell Centre, Montreal)
- February 15th: United States vs Canada – 8pm ET (Bell Centre, Montreal)
- February 17th: Canada vs Finland – 1pm ET (TD Garden, Boston)
- February 17th: Sweden vs United States – 8pm ET (TD Garden, Boston)
- February 20th: TBD vs TBD – 8pm ET (TD Garden, Boston) *4 Nations Face-Off Final*
Each participating nation will begin practicing on Monday in Montreal as they prepare for the chance at being the first best-on-best international champion since September 2016.
Fans across Canada will be able to watch all seven games of the tournament on Sportsnet, with US viewers tuning in on TNT (Feb. 12th & 17th), ESPN (Feb. 13th & 20th) and ABC (Feb. 15th).