Two weeks ahead of the inaugural “Nations Face-Off”, the excitement for hockey fans has never been higher.
It has been almost nine years since the hockey world has seen an international best-on-best tournament, and with the ensuing 2026 Milano-Cortina Winter Olympics, the National Hockey League decided to give their fans a look at how their country will shape up.
The 4 Nations Face-Off is a round-robin style tournament that features four of the most successful hockey countries in the world; Canada, Sweden, Finland, and the United States. The event will replace the traditional All Star Game Weekend, and will span from February 12th-20th. Each squad will face off against each other before they take part in a championship game between the two teams with the best record. The games will take place in both the TD Garden in Boston and the Bell Centre in Montreal.
With NHL players participating in the Olympics next year, NHL commissioner Gary Bettman has worked hard for the past few years to put international hockey in the spotlight.
“We know how important and how big of a part international competition, best-on-best is for our game. It’s something very very important to our players and our fans,” Bettman said, according to NHL Network.
For the past decade or so, international hockey has hidden in the shadows. In fact, NHLers haven’t competed in the Olympics since the Sochi games in 2014. Disagreements between the International Olympic Committee (IOC), International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF), and NHL have prevented the opportunity for the world’s best to play for their country.
Next winter, that will change, as the NHL will permit their players to compete in the 2026 Winter games. In the meantime, the NHL has talked about bringing back the World Cup of Hockey, a tournament run by themselves, however fans still have not seen the event since 2016.
“Based on the timeframe that we reached all these agreements, we didn’t have enough time to do a World Cup. But we figured ‘let’s give people a little bit of a taste of an appetizer of what to expect,’” Bettman said.
In the aforementioned World Cup of Hockey in 2016, the Canadians came out on top, when they defeated Team Europe in the final. As for this year, Team Canada looks like one of the favorites for the inaugural rendition of the 4 Nations Face-Off.
Led by two-time Stanley Cup champion head coach Jon Cooper, Canada’s roster includes veterans like Brad Marchand and Sidney Crosby, who have worn the maple leaf in international play five and six times, respectively. It also includes 2024 Stanley Cup Champions Sam Bennett and Sam Reinhart, as well as 2023 Stanley Cup Champions Mark Stone and Adin Hill. Connor McDavid, five time Art Ross Trophy winner, is expected to captain the squad.
The only question fans have surrounding the team is their goaltending. Jordan Binnington, Sam Montembeault, and Adin Hill were selected to backstop team Canada. But out of the three goalies, none of them have the statistics to be the clear cut number one. But that doesn’t drain the confidence for Team Canada GM Don Sweeney.
“We’ve got guys that have proven they can win at the highest level. And we’ll have guys that are going to play well as we’re going through it. So I don’t think we quite see things the same way (as media and fans),” Sweeney said in an article by The Athletic’s Pierre LeBrun, when asked about the goaltending situation.
As for the United States, their goaltending boosts confidence for the fans of Team USA. With two time Vezina Trophy winner Connor Hellebuyck projected as the starter and young stars Jake Oettinger and Jeremy Swayman as back-ups, scoring on the Americans looks like a challenge.
The Americans also boast a strong defense, rostering Quinn Hughes and Zach Werenski, who have second and third highest odds to win the Norris Trophy.
On the offensive side, the U.S. has one of the best goal scorers in the NHL in the past few years, Auston Matthews. Matthew’s has captured the goal scoring title three out of the last four seasons. The roster also includes two sets of brothers, Quinn and Jack Hughes, and Matthew and Brady Tkachuck.
One move that shocked fans was the addition of forward Chris Kreider and the exclusion of forward Cole Caufield. Caufield is 7th in goals in the NHL and has 46 points, compared to Kreider, who sits at 17 points.
“It’s not easy, but you have to make the decisions,” Team USA General Manager Bill Guerin said in an interview with Michael Russo of The Athletic. “Not every great American can make it. It’s about fit and trying to win a short tournament against three other great teams.”
For Team Sweden, the strength of their roster relies within their group of two-way defensemen. Victor Hedman, Erik Karlsson, and Rasmus Dahlin headline the defensive core for the Swedes. Along with their defensive expertise, these D-men can also produce on offense. Combined, the three have put up 106 points. With the recent injury to projected starting goalie Jacob Markstrom, good play on both ends of the ice will be critical to their success.
Sweden also constructed their roster around a young core group, with the average age of the squad being 28.7. This includes 2023 second overall pick Leo Carlsson and 2020 fourth overall pick Lucas Raymond. Other NHL All Stars like William Nylander, Mika Zibanejad, and Elias Pettersson round out the lineup. Fans of the Tre Kronor should be excited to see their young stars wear the blue and yellow.
Finally, Finland’s roster is centered around their core group of centers; Sebastian Aho, Aleksander Barkov, and Roope Hintz. The Fins include other offensive talent like All Star wingers Mikko Rantanen and Patrik Laine, however the narrative surrounding the team is whether their offensive strength is greater than the weakness of their defense. Statistics show that projected starting goalie Juuse Saros has been lackluster so far this NHL campaign. Saros has posted a 2.88 Goals Against Average and .900 Save Percentage, both being career lows. In past seasons, Saros has shown flashes of greatness, even finishing fourth in Vezina Trophy voting during the 2022-23 season.
“With Finland’s roster being the weakest of the four – on paper, at least – they will need their goaltending to step up. We know Saros is capable of carrying a team on his back – he’s done it often in Nashville.” said Steven Ellis, a writer for The Daily Faceoff.
One thing to note is the exclusion of Team Russia in this tournament. Despite Russians being the fourth highest represented nationality in the NHL (per Sound of Hockey), they are excluded from the 4 Nations Face-Off. Currently, Russia is not allowed to compete in Olympic hockey due to the IIHF’s ban on Russian Hockey Federation. The ban was placed following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. So it wouldn’t make sense for the NHL to put a team in the tournament that might not even be at the Olympics next winter.
With the hole of international, best-on-best hockey being filled this February, and fans have never been more excited. After a long hiatus, the world’s superstars can represent their country once again.
