Best-on-best international hockey is expected to return in early 2025. According to reports, a four-team international event involving Canada, Finland, Sweden and the United States will take place in February 2025 which will prelude more best-on-best events in the coming years, including the 2026 Winter Olympics and a full-scale World Cup of Hockey in 2028.
The reported format for this unnamed international event will see Canada take on the United States in one semi-final here in North America, likely in Vegas or Toronto, while Finland will face Sweden in the the semi-final in one of the two countries. The semi-final round will be a best-of-three series. Meanwhile, the winner of the two semi-finals will meet in either Vegas or Toronto for the finals, which will likely also be a best-of-three.
Today, before an official announcement is made, which could come any day now, I wanted to share my predictions for each nation’s roster for the event! Let’s start with Canada, followed by Finland, Sweden and the United States.
Canada’s 2025 roster
- Connor McDavid (F) – Edmonton Oilers.
- Nathan MacKinnnon (F) – Colorado Avalanche.
- Sidney Crosby (F) – Pittsburgh Penguins.
- Connor Bedard (F) – Chicago Blackhawks.
- Steven Stamkos (F) – Tampa Bay Lightning.
- Brayden Point (F) – Tampa Bay Lightning.
- Mitch Marner (F) – Toronto Maple Leafs.
- Mat Barzal (F) – New York Islanders.
- Mark Scheifele (F) – Winnipeg Jets.
- Mark Stone (F) – Vegas Golden Knights.
- Brad Marchand (F) – Boston Bruins.
- Travis Konecny (F) – Philadelphia Flyers.
- Ryan Nugent-Hopkins (F) – Edmonton Oilers.
- Carter Verhaeghe (F) – Florida Panthers.
- Cale Makar (D) – Colorado Avalanche.
- Devon Toews (D) – Colorado Avalanche.
- Shea Theodore (D) – Vegas Golden Knights.
- Alex Pietrangelo (D) – Vegas Golden Knights.
- Josh Morrissey (D) – Winnipeg Jets.
- Morgan Rielly (D) – Toronto Maple Leafs.
- Noah Dobson (D) – New York Islanders.
- Owen Power (D) – Buffalo Sabres.
- Tristan Jarry (G) – Pittsburgh Penguins.
- Logan Thompson (G) – Vegas Golden Knights.
- Adin Hill (G) – Vegas Golden Knights.
Finland’s 2025 roster
- Mikko Rantanen (F) – Colorado Avalanche.
- Aleksander Barkov (F) – Florida Panthers.
- Sebastian Aho (F) – Carolina Hurricanes.
- Artturi Lehkonen (F) – Colorado Avalanche.
- Teuvo Teravainen (F) – Carolina Hurricanes.
- Roope Hintz (F) – Dallas Stars.
- Patrik Laine (F) – Columbus Blue Jackets.
- Jesperi Kotkaniemi (F) – Carolina Hurricanes.
- Eeli Tolvanen (F) – Seattle Kraken.
- Anton Lundell (F) – Florida Panthers.
- Kaapo Kakko (F) – New York Rangers.
- Matias Maccelli (F) – Arizona Coyotes.
- Mikael Granlund (F) – San Jose Sharks.
- Erik Haula (F) – New Jersey Devils.
- Miro Heiskanen (D) – Dallas Stars.
- Esa Lindell (D) – Dallas Stars.
- Jani Hakanpaa (D) – Dallas Stars.
- Niko Mikkola (D) – Florida Panthers.
- Olli Maatta (D) – Detroit Red Wings.
- Henri Jokiharju (D) – Buffalo Sabres.
- Rasmus Ristolainen (D) – Philadelphia Flyers.
- Juuse Saros (G) – Nashville Predators.
- Ville Husso (G) – Detroit Red Wings.
- Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen (G) – Buffalo Sabres.
Sweden’s 2025 roster
- Mika Zibanejad (F) – New York Rangers.
- William Nylander (F) – Toronto Maple Leafs.
- Elias Pettersson (F) – Vancouver Canucks.
- Gabriel Landeskog (F) – Colorado Avalanche. *- If healthy.
- Elias Lindholm (F) – Vancouver Canucks.
- Filip Forsberg (F) – Nashville Predators.
- William Karlsson (F) – Vegas Golden Knights.
- Leo Carlsson (F) – Anaheim Ducks.
- Joel Eriksson-Ek (F) – Minnesota Wild.
- Lucas Raymond (F) – Detroit Red Wings.
- Mikael Backlund (F) – Calgary Flames.
- William Eklund (F) – San Jose Sharks.
- Jesper Bratt (F) – New Jersey Devils.
- Adrian Kempe (F) – Los Angeles Kings.
- Jesper Fast (F) – Carolina Hurricanes.
- Rasmus Dahlin (D) – Buffalo Sabres.
- Victor Hedman (D) – Tampa Bay Lightning.
- Rasmus Andersson (D) – Calgary Flames.
- Gustav Forsling (D) – Florida Panthers.
- Erik Karlsson (D) – Pittsburgh Penguins.
- Hampus Lindholm (D) – Boston Bruins.
- Mattias Ekholm (D) – Edmonton Oilers.
- Jonas Brodin (D) – Minnesota Wild.
- Linus Ullmark (G) – Boston Bruins.
- Jacob Markstrom (G) – Calgary Flames.
- Filip Gustavsson (G) – Minnesota Wild.
United States’ 2025 roster
- Auston Matthews (F) – Toronto Maple Leafs.
- Jack Eichel (F) – Vegas Golden Knights.
- Matthew Tkachuk (F) – Florida Panthers.
- Kyle Connor (F) – Winnipeg Jets.
- Jack Hughes (F) – New Jersey Devils.
- Brady Tkachuk (F) – Ottawa Senators.
- Jason Robertson (F) – Dallas Stars.
- Jake Guentzel (F) – Pittsburgh Penguins.
- Tage Thompson (F) – Buffalo Sabres.
- Alex DeBrincat (F) – Detroit Red Wings.
- Brock Boeser (F) – Vancouver Canucks.
- Cole Caufield (F) – Montreal Canadiens.
- J.T. Miller (F) – Vancouver Canucks.
- Clayton Keller (F) – Arizona Coyotes.
- Quinn Hughes (D) – Vancouver Canucks.
- Adam Fox (D) – New York Rangers.
- Zach Werenski (D) – Columbus Blue Jackets.
- Jaccob Slavin (D) – Carolina Hurricanes.
- Charlie McAvoy (D) – Boston Bruins.
- Noah Hanifin (D) – Calgary Flames.
- Luke Hughes (D) – New Jersey Devils.
- Brock Faber (D) – Minnesota Wild.
- Thatcher Demko (G) – Vancouver Canucks.
- Connor Hellebuyck (G) – Winnipeg Jets.
- Jake Oettinger (G) – Dallas Stars.
Thank you to everyone who read today’s post, I appreciate every single view it gets! I’m hoping to get back into regularly posting on my website, so stay tuned for NHL Draft content, along with some other stuff, in the coming weeks and months!
-Cooper.