The 4 Nations Face-Off rosters will be packed with NHL star power and a few surprises.
Full rosters for the league’s upcoming event were revealed Wednesday for Team USA, Canada, Sweden and Finland.
Auston Matthews, Charlie McAvoy and last season’s Norris Trophy recipient, Quinn Hughes, were among the names previously announced for Team USA. They’ll be joined now by a top-tier goaltending trio headed by reigning Vezina Trophy winner Connor Hellebuyck, defensemen Zach Werenski (currently third in points among NHL blueliners) and Brock Faber (a 2024 Calder Trophy finalist) as well as forwards Jake Guentzel, Kyle Connor and Matt Boldy.
The U.S. team prioritized veteran presence with the addition of Chris Kreider and Brock Nelson up front. And there will be a pair of brothers suiting up for their country in Brady and Matthew Tkachuk, and Quinn and Jack Hughes.
One name left off the USA roster was Anthony Stolarz, who has been one of the league’s best goaltenders this season for Toronto, with an 8-4-2 record, .924 save percentage and 2.23 goals against average. The U.S. instead went with Jake Oettinger and Jeremy Swayman, who is 7-9-2 with an .892 SV% and 3.09 GAA.
Connor McDavid, Nathan MacKinnon and Sidney Crosby headline Canada’s core, and that roster’s forward group now also includes Sam Reinhart (currently seventh in NHL points) and Mitch Marner (11th). Reinhart’s Florida Panthers’ teammate Sam Bennett and 22-year-old Seth Jarvis were unexpected inclusions for the Canadians and will bring some physicality and center depth, respectively.
Canada tapped Travis Sanheim, who is having a career-best NHL season, and Colton Parayko, a solid stay-at-home defenseman, to join their blueline helmed by Cale Makar and Devon Toews. Four Vegas Golden Knights — defensemen Shea Theodore, Alex Pietrangelo, forward Mark Stone and goalie Adin Hill — are also in the mix for Canada.
One netminder (and former Golden Knight) surprisingly not on Canada’s roster is Logan Thompson. The Washington Capitals goalie has been dominant this season with a 10-1-2 record, .913 SV% and 2.52 GAA. Canada did include Sam Montembeault (7-10-2, .901 SV%, 2.99 GAA).
Sweden is going all-in on skill and speed up front with Lucas Raymond, Leo Carlsson and Elias Pettersson joining veterans William Nylander, Mika Zibanejad and Filip Forsberg. The roster’s back end — anchored by Victor Hedman — has one of the game’s rising stars in Rasmus Dahlin as well as established Norris Trophy winner Erik Karlsson. Sweden did not include forward Rickard Rakell on its bench despite the solid season he’s having (with 16 points in 28 games) for Pittsburgh.
Finland has all the makings of a potential shutdown defense with Miro Heiskanen, Esa Lindell and Rasmus Ristolainen suiting up. Mikko Rantanen, who is fifth in the NHL in scoring, leads the way up front with Aleksander Barkov and Sebastian Aho. They’ll have riser Kaapo Kakko and the newly healthy Patrik Laine filling in their forward depth, and Juuse Saros projects to be Finland’s top goaltender.
The tournament will take place from Feb. 12-20 at Boston’s TD Garden and Montreal’s Bell Centre. It will be a round-robin format in which each team plays three games, with the top two teams playing in a winner-take-all final.
Teams will receive three points for a win in regulation, two points for an overtime or shootout win, one point for an overtime or shootout loss and zero points for a loss in regulation.
Canada is the betting favorite at +135, according to ESPN BET. The U.S. is the second choice at +190, with Sweden at +450 and Finland at +700. The Americans have taken an overwhelming share of bets (66%) and handle (57%) to win it all, with the other three nations equally splitting handle (14%) at the sportsbook.
The NHL hasn’t been involved in best-on-best hockey since the 2016 World Cup, where Canada was the +200 favorite (and eventual winner). Sweden checked in then at +500, the U.S. was +650 and Finland was +1400.
ESPN’s Doug Greenberg contributed to this report.
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