4 Nations Face-Off Primer: Everything you need to know

The 4 Nations Face-Off marks the return of NHL gamers to best-on-best competitors. And whereas this can be a quick occasion (simply 5 recreation days!) with solely 4 groups and no playoff rounds, this 2025 match will set the desk for subsequent 12 months’s Olympics and an everyday rotation of World Cups two years later.

Whereas the 4 Nations is a special format than we’re used to seeing for these tournaments, it loosely continues a thread of league worldwide occasions that started with the Canada Cup, which ran in 1976, 1981, 1984, 1987 and 1991. That match was then renamed the World Cup in 1996, which additionally ran in 2004 and 2016 — the final time we had a best-on-best occasion.

The 2016 World Cup, we remind you, had a ‘Workforce Europe’ that included all abroad gamers whose nations weren’t represented within the occasion, and a Workforce North America the place Canadian and American gamers 23 years outdated and youthful wore the identical jersey. Two of the leaders on that workforce — Auston Matthews and Connor McDavid — will now be competing towards one another.

Canada is the ‘defending’ champion from that occasion and, in reality, has received six of those eight occasions for the reason that authentic Canada Cup. America was the final non-Canadian entry to win, taking the 1996 World Cup in a best-of-three collection towards their northern neighbours.

Whereas this match would not supply the complete unfold of aggressive hockey nations, and solely consists of gamers with an NHL contract, it does carry collectively some generations.

Canadian followers have longed to see Sidney Crosby and Connor McDavid suiting up for a similar workforce, and we might as nicely throw Nathan MacKinnon into that blend — he performed for the North American workforce with McDavid again in 2016 and is now a linemate of fellow Cole Harbour, N.S., native Crosby.

The 4 Nations Face-Off will run for 9 days whole and can conclude with a one-game championship earlier than gamers return to their NHL groups two weeks away from the commerce deadline and with the ultimate leg of the playoff race forward.

Within the meantime, we get you set for some best-on-best worldwide motion with our primer, which works over strains, guidelines, storylines and extra.

LINES, PAIRS AND INJURY REPLACEMENTS

CANADA
Head coach: Jon Cooper
Assistant coaches: Peter DeBoer, Rick Tocchet, Misha Donskov

Sam Reinhart – Connor McDavid – Mitch Marner
Sidney Crosby – Nathan MacKinnon – Mark Stone
Brad Marchand – Brayden Level – Seth Jarvis
Brandon Hagel – Anthony Cirelli – Travis Konecny

Devon Toews – Cale Makar
Josh Morrissey – Colton Parayko
Shea Theodore – Drew Doughty

Extras: Sam Bennett, Travis Sanheim

Jordan Binnington
Adin Hill
Sam Montembeault

• Travis Konecny missed Monday’s apply resulting from sickness however returned Tuesday and took Sam Bennett’s spot within the lineup. Bennett is the anticipated scratch for Sport 1, however we’ll see how a consequence might change techniques, or if Canada will simply need Bennett’s sandpaper towards the Individuals.

• Canada’s prime power-play unit will embrace McDavid, MacKinnon and Crosby, with Reinhart and Cale Makar. Marner, Level and Stone occupy spots on the second power-play unit with Konecny and Shea Theodore.

• All eyes have been on Crosby, who missed Pittsburgh’s final two video games earlier than the break. He was on the ice with Canada on Monday and stated he’d be good to go for Wednesday’s opener towards Sweden.

• The web is Jordan Binnington’s to run with as he’ll begin the opener towards Sweden. “I do not see it being a rotation,” head coach Jon Cooper stated.

For the reason that calendar flip to 2025, Binnington has one of the best save proportion of Canada’s three goalies at .897, essentially the most wins with 5 (5-5-1) and recorded the one shutout. Not one of the netminders have been notably excellent, however the 2019 Cup winner will get the nod.

• Harm alternative: Properly earlier than the occasion, Alex Pietrangelo introduced he’d take the time throughout 4 Nations to relaxation up for Vegas’s stretch run as an alternative of representing Canada. He did not miss any NHL motion. Subbing in for Pietrangelo is Drew Doughty, who has been a speculative alternative ever since he was left off the workforce. When the roster was initially introduced in December, Doughty was on the sidelines with a damaged ankle suffered in a pre-season recreation. He solely lately returned to motion, showing in six video games for the Kings with one help and a minus-1 ranking.

“It meant the world to me,” Doughty stated about getting the late name to hitch Canada. “At all times wish to play for Canada, at all times love honouring the nation, however did not know if I would have the prospect or not. Labored my (butt) off in the summertime to hopefully attempt to make it, bought harm for half the season after which labored my approach again to hopefully get on. After I bought that decision I used to be on the workforce it was most likely one of the best day I’ve had in a variety of months.”

UNITED STATES
Head coach: Mike Sullivan
Assistant coaches: John Hynes, John Tortorella, David Quinn

Kyle Connor – Jack Eichel – Matthew Tkachuk
Jake Guentzel – Auston Matthews – Jack Hughes
Brady Tkachuk – J.T. Miller – Matthew Boldy
Brock Nelson – Vincent Trocheck – Dylan Larkin

Jaccob Slavin – Adam Fox
Zach Werenski – Charlie McAvoy
Noah Hanifin – Brock Faber

Extras: Chris Kreider, Jake Sanderson

Connor Hellebuyck
Jake Oettinger
Jeremy Swayman

• How about this prime power-play unit for the Individuals? Jack Hughes, Jack Eichel, Auston Matthews, Matthew Tkachuk and Adam Fox.

• Head coach Mike Sullivan hasn’t named a starter but, however it will be stunning to not go together with Connor Hellebuyck, the Vezina Trophy favorite and backstopper of the NHL’s greatest workforce.

• Harm alternative: It was a troublesome, however necessary, name for defenceman Quinn Hughes to make — go to the 4 Nations and attempt to work his approach into the lineup after lacking Vancouver’s final 4, or relaxation up and put together for the stretch run. Speaking to Sportsnet’s Iain MacIntyre, agent Pat Brisson stated Hughes felt a duty as Canucks captain to verify he did one of the best factor for his NHL workforce. Quinn’s absence means we cannot get to have the 2 older Hughes brothers collectively for the Individuals. Ottawa’s Jake Sanderson is available in to interchange Quinn Hughes.

SWEDEN
Head coach: Sam Hallam
Assistant coaches: Stefan Klockare, Nicklas Rahm, Daniel Alfredsson

Filip Forsberg – Elias Pettersson – Adrian Kempe
Rickard Rakell – Mika Zibanejad – William Nylander
Jesper Bratt – Joel Eriksson Ek – Lucas Raymond
Viktor Arvidsson – Elias Lindholm – Gustav Nyquist

Victor Hedman – Jonas Brodin
Gustav Forsling – Rasmus Dahlin
Mattias Ekholm – Erik Karlsson

Extras: Rasmus Andersson, Leo Carlsson

Filip Gustavsson
Linus Ullmark
Samuel Ersson

• If defence wins championships the Swedes begin in a great place, with essentially the most skilled blue line within the match. Two of their defencemen (Hedman and Karlsson) have performed over 1,000 NHL video games whereas one other two (Ekholm and Brodin) are lower than 200 video games away from the milestone.

• It is not but clear who Sweden’s Sport 1 starter can be. Coach Sam Hallam says the workforce has determined who will play however did not tip his hand to the media. The highest job is probably going between Filip Gustavsson (22-11-3, .915 SV%, 2.63 GAA) and Linus Ullmark (24-12-9, .915 SV%, 2.49 GAA). The latter received the Vezina Trophy two years in the past however has missed a bunch of time resulting from damage this season. He did return to motion for Ottawa’s final two video games earlier than the break.

• Harm replacements: Week-to-week with a lower-body damage since late January, William Karlsson held out hope that he would nonetheless have the ability to play within the 4 Nations, however he wasn’t in a position to return to the ice in time. In his place comes Rickard Rakell, who’s outscoring Karlsson with 25 targets and 48 factors in 56 video games. It is among the best seasons Rakell has ever had, enjoying subsequent to Sidney Crosby.

Projected starter Jacob Markstrom additionally needed to pull out of the match with an MCL sprain from a run-in with Boston’s Justin Brazeau. Philadelphia’s Samuel Ersson changed Markstrom and can seemingly run as Sweden’s third-stringer.

FINLAND
Head coach: Antti Pennanen
Assistant coaches: Tuomo Ruutu, Mikko Method

Artturi Lehkonen – Aleksander Barkov – Mikko Rantanen
Roope Hintz – Sebastian Aho – Patrik Laine
Teuvo Teravainen – Erik Haula – Joel Armia
Eetu Luostarinen – Anton Lundell – Mikael Granlund

Niko Mikkola – Esa Lindell
Juuso Valimaki – Olli Maatta
Urho Vaakanainen – Nikolas Matinpalo

Extras: Kaapo Kakko, Henri Jokiharju

Juuse Saros
Kevin Lankinen
Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen

• With so many replacements and a lot inexperience on the again finish, Finland’s defensive pairs have been essentially the most troublesome to determine to date and will but change earlier than their opener on Thursday.

• Finland needed to take advantage of damage replacements for this match and there have been some questions on a couple of different gamers. Whereas the three different groups practised in full with strains on Monday, Finland’s first skate was optionally available earlier than Tuesday’s full one.

Mikko Rantanen missed Carolina’s final recreation earlier than the break, however he was at Finland’s apply in Montreal and stated he’d be able to go for his or her first recreation. Since being traded to the Hurricanes, Rantanen has one objective and two factors in six video games and it would not appear to be he’ll share a line with new Carolina teammate Sebastian Aho.

• Harm replacements: Essentially the most banged-up roster within the match, the Finns have needed to make a number of modifications and had a couple of high quality defencemen pull out. Essentially the most vital loss was Miro Heiskanen, who suffered a knee damage when Mark Stone fell awkwardly into him in late January. Heiskanen needed to have knee surgical procedure and is month-to-month — the Stars hope he’ll have the ability to return for the playoffs.

Meantime, commerce candidate Rasmus Ristolainen additionally missed Philadelphia’s final recreation earlier than the break and was pressured to tug out of the occasion late. And Jani Hakanpaa, who has solely performed two video games in November for the Maple Leafs, pulled out of the occasion in February. Regardless of returning to some skates together with his NHL teammates, Hakanapaa was not game-ready, did not go on their pre-break western street journey and has an unsure timeline for his return.

Changing these three are Nikolas Matinpalo, Urho Vaakanainen and Henri Jokiharju.

NHL SALARY CAP HITS AND TEAMS REPRESENTED

No, not one of the 4 Nations groups would match beneath the NHL’s wage cap. Finland has $15 million not enjoying on defence alone. Heck, Canada’s and Workforce USA’s ahead teams are nicely over the wage cap.

Here is a positional and total take a look at what the mixed cap hits are on the 4 rosters. Cap numbers come via PuckPedia.

As an NHL occasion, all gamers competing are beneath contract to a workforce within the league this season.

• The Florida Panthers are essentially the most represented workforce on the 4 Nations Face-Off with eight whole gamers competing. Two are on Canada, 4 on Workforce Finland and one every on Groups USA and Sweden.

• The New York Rangers are the subsequent most represented workforce with six gamers competing, adopted by the Minnesota Wild, Tampa Bay Lightning and Vegas Golden Knights with 5 every.

• Two NHL groups haven’t any participant illustration in any respect: The worst workforce within the league by factors proportion (San Jose), and one of the best workforce within the league by factors proportion (Washington).

• Anaheim, Calgary, Chicago, Columbus, NY Islanders and Seattle are all represented by one participant.

• Colorado, Tampa Bay and Vegas have essentially the most Canadian gamers within the match, with three every. St. Louis, Philadelphia and Florida every have two.

• Florida’s 4 Finnish gamers make them essentially the most represented workforce in that nation, adopted by Dallas with three.

• Minnesota has essentially the most Swedish gamers coming from their roster with three. Edmonton, Nashville and Pittsburgh every have two.

• The New York Rangers have essentially the most Individuals on the occasion with 4 gamers coming from their roster. Vegas, Ottawa, Minnesota and Boston every have two.

TOURNAMENT FORMAT AND SCHEDULE

A terrific query got here up on the 32 Thoughts Podcast this week, asking if something that leads to a suspension from this match would carry over to the NHL season.

“The NHL is treating the 4 Nations as its personal entity,” Elliotte Friedman answered. “Any self-discipline prior doesn’t have an effect on the participant’s capacity to take part and any disciplinary case that happens through the match solely has match repercussions. It won’t return into the NHL season when it resumes after.”

The nine-day NHL/NHLPA match consists of 5 recreation days and consists of a spherical robin adopted by a one-game championship. There is no such thing as a recreation for third place.

So, every workforce is assured three video games, with the highest two advancing to the winner-takes-all ultimate on Feb. 20. Although that is an NHL occasion, the standings level system shouldn’t be the identical because the league’s common season.

For the 4 Nations Face-Off, groups will obtain three factors for a win in regulation, two factors for a win in extra time or a shootout, one level for a loss in extra time or a shootout and 0 factors for a loss in regulation.

The video games themselves can be performed with NHL guidelines, with one exception: Additional time will include a 10-minute three-on-three interval as an alternative of 5 minutes for the round-robin video games, earlier than a shootout.

The championship recreation won’t be determined by the shootout, nevertheless. If the ultimate goes into further time, will probably be 20-minute, sudden-death intervals till a winner is determined.

And what if there is a tie within the standings between two or three groups?

Within the case of a two-team tie (for second and third), will probably be determined just by the head-to-head consequence between the 2.

But when there’s a three-way tie to interrupt, the process can be as follows, in keeping with the NHL:

• STEP 1: Whole Factors
• STEP 2: Regulation Wins (whole of regulation wins solely)
• STEP 3: ROW (whole of regulation and OT wins, excluding shootout wins)
• STEP 4: Purpose Differential (whole targets for minus whole targets towards, taken from all video games performed)
• STEP 5: Whole Objectives Scored (whole targets for from all video games performed)

The primary two video games for every workforce can be performed in Montreal, whereas the ultimate round-robin video games and the championship can be performed in Boston. All video games will be seen on Sportsnet and Sportsnet+.

Feb. 12: Canada vs. Sweden, 8 p.m. ET / 5 p.m. PT (Montreal)
Feb. 13: U.S. vs. Finland, 8 p.m. ET / 5 p.m. PT (Montreal)
Feb. 15: Finland vs. Sweden, 1 p.m. ET / 10 a.m. PT (Montreal)
Feb. 15: Canada vs. U.S., 8 p.m. ET / 5 p.m. PT (Montreal)
Feb. 17: Canada vs. Finland, 1 p.m. ET / 10 a.m. PT (Boston)
Feb. 17: Sweden vs. U.S., 8 p.m. ET / 5 p.m. PT (Boston)
Feb. 20: Championship recreation, 8 p.m. ET / 5 p.m. PT (Boston)

Will Nathan MacKinnon and Sidney Crosby enjoying collectively result in…

When the Avalanche traded out Rantanen, the primary thought many had was: Might they bring about in Crosby?

The attraction is apparent. Crosby and MacKinnon skate collectively within the summers, have completed commercials collectively, and are each natives of Cole Harbour, N.S. The Penguins are in a tailspin, seemingly years away from contending once more, a window that won’t open earlier than 37-year-old Crosby retires. The Avalanche, meantime, are nonetheless very a lot a Stanley Cup contender. If Crosby have been to waive his no-move clause to depart Pittsburgh for anyplace, Colorado makes comfy sense for quite a lot of causes.

Crosby has stated he isn’t planning on leaving Pittsburgh and, for now at the least, the hypothesis appears to be misplaced. He and MacKinnon have been skating on a line collectively for Canada the previous two days, so what if the duo dominates, one wins match MVP and Canada claims gold? Any probability No. 87 might rethink?

The largest shock of Canada’s strains to date is that fellow Nova Scotian, Marchand, has not joined them because the third member of the road.

Canucks grudge match… in Boston?

The cleaning soap opera begin to Vancouver’s season festered right into a state of affairs the place there was no good answer to resolve a rift between Elias Pettersson and J.T. Miller. The 2 star centres for a division-winning workforce a 12 months in the past weren’t in a position to co-exist going ahead, and because the Canucks have been nicely under expectation into February, the chapter closed with Miller’s commerce to New York.

It will be a little bit of theatre when the Canucks play in New York on a Saturday night time in March, however first, Pettersson and Miller will run into one another once more on the 4 Nations.

Sweden and the USA will meet of their ultimate round-robin recreation on Monday, and an ideal file or journey to the ultimate is likely to be on the road by then. Will these two share the ice collectively? Have a bodily run-in?

How good that Boston would be the host of some potential Canucks beef.

How will NHL teammates face one another as rivals?

There are some good ones right here. American Matthew Tkachuk versus Canadian Sam Bennett (and Sam Reinhart)? Some hard-nosed gamers who know the best way to be bodily and get beneath their opponents’ pores and skin, these NHL teammates might come face-to-face in a heated Saturday night time recreation in Montreal.

In the identical recreation, what about American Charlie McAvoy and Canadian Brad Marchand? McAvoy is without doubt one of the extra bodily NHL defencemen on the market, typically toeing the road with controversy, whereas Marchand is aware of what buttons to push on gamers he would not dangle round day by day. What occurs when these two cross paths?

These are simply a few examples which have maybe one of the best probability to flare up, however there are various teammates who will face one another as opponents. Mitch Marner versus Auston Matthews? Adrian Kempe versus Drew Doughty?

Will we see any NHL trades through the match?

5 gamers competing within the 4 Nations have already been traded throughout this NHL season, and there are a selection of different commerce candidates right here.

Although issues have quieted down considerably round Elias Pettersson — a lot so he was taken off Nick Kypreos’ most recent trade board — the Canucks centre remains to be not out of the woods. The chances he’ll be traded throughout this occasion aren’t nice, nevertheless.

Canadians, and pending UFAs, Bennett and Marchand did seem on Kyper’s listing. Colton Parayko was a little bit of an honourable point out as Blues GM Doug Armstrong considers massive modifications and appears to dump some cash from his blue line. We also needs to point out that Toronto’s Mitch Marner is a pending UFA, although there is no indication but that he is an actual commerce candidate.

Three Finnish gamers have already been traded this season and one other, Joel Armia, has the potential to be moved.

On Sweden, Erik Karlsson made it to Kyper’s commerce board and a powerful exhibiting on a talented Swedish workforce might make potential suitors re-examine his match. Rickard Rakell, one other Penguin, is having a terrific season and since there’s nonetheless time period on his contract, he is one other commerce candidate to look at as Pittsburgh GM Kyle Dubas seeks to infuse his group with futures.

On Workforce USA, Miller was only in the near past traded and appears to have discovered new life simply in time to characterize his nation. Meantime, pending UFA Brock Nelson of the Islanders has been one other mainstay on Kyper’s commerce board and the 4 Nations is one thing of a showcase of how he can compete and produce in high-impact video games.

There is no such thing as a commerce or roster freeze through the 4 Nations just like the one the NHL has for over the vacation season. GMs can nonetheless do enterprise so anybody — whether or not they’re competing at this match or resting on a seashore someplace on the planet — can nonetheless get moved over these two weeks.

Which people and groups will step up and set the tone/expectation for the Olympics subsequent 12 months?

As nice as it’s to have this match re-introducing the best-on-best setup for NHL gamers, the 4 Nations actually is a stepping stone to subsequent 12 months’s Olympics.

Since that match is only one 12 months away, we determine there can be loads of carryover, however some ‘depth’ gamers in these lineups will look to cement their place on an Olympic roster.

In focus for the Canadians would be the netminders, the workforce’s weak spot on paper, as a number of others left off the workforce have higher save percentages than any of the three they introduced. Will Adin Hill, Jordan Binnington and even Sam Montembeault be given an opportunity to run with? Or will the place maintain the workforce again and depart the nation re-examining different choices?