The NHL, who will be staging a “light” version of the World Cup Of Hockey with the Four Nations Face-Off in February 2025, has unveiled its projected lineups for the four national squads partaking next year in Montréal and Boston, speculating on who will wear their nation’s colours for the first best-on-best global tournament since the 2016 World Cup of Hockey.
With the intent being that the World Cup will formally pick up again in 2028, running every four years between Olympic seasons, the Four Nations Face-Off was announced essentially as a stop-gap until the NHL returns to the 2026 Milan Olympics, and a way to feature “best on best” while keeping the field to just Canada, the United States, Sweden and Finland, helping the NHL to avoid the question of whether to include Russia in the tournament. Russia, who along with Belarus is currently banned from IIHF and Olympic competition as of this writing, has faced resistance from other nations and players over their ongoing invasion of Ukraine, but this tournament also then excludes NHL stars from Czechia, Germany, Slovakia and others.
However, this tournament still allows hockey fans yearning for best on best international competition to get a taste in advance of a full 2026 tournament, allowing the next generation of NHL stars to represent their country in a senior tournament for the first time. While the prestige of winning this tournament may not match that of a Canada or World Cup title, it will certainly set the stage for the expanded Olympics taking place the following year.
The projected lineups for the four national teams at the 2025 Four Nations Face-Off, with their current team noted in parentheses, are as follows:
| 🇨🇦 CANADA Mathew Barzal, F (NY Islanders) Connor Bedard, F (Chicago) Evan Bouchard, D (Edmonton) Sidney Crosby, F (Pittsburgh) Noah Dobson, D (NY Islanders) Drew Doughty, D (Los Angeles) Vince Dunn, D (Seattle) Adin Hill, G (Vegas) Zach Hyman, F (Edmonton) Connor Ingram, G (Arizona) Nathan MacKinnon, F (Colorado) Cale Makar, D (Colorado) Brad Marchand, F (Boston) Mitch Marner, F (Toronto) Connor McDavid, F (Edmonton) Josh Morrissey, D (Winnipeg) Brayden Point, F (Tampa Bay) Sam Reinhart, F (Florida) Stuart Skinner, G (Edmonton) Steven Stamkos, F (Tampa Bay) Mark Stone, F (Vegas) Robert Thomas, F (St. Louis) Devon Toews, D (Colorado) |
🇫🇮 FINLAND Sebastian Aho, F (Carolina) Alexander Barkov, F (Florida) Mikael Granlund, F (San Jose) Jani Hakanpää, D (Dallas) Erik Haula, F (New Jersey) Miro Heiskanen, D (Dallas) Roope Hintz, F (Dallas) Henri Jokiharju, D (Buffalo) Jesperi Kotkaniemi, F (Carolina) Artturi Lehkonen, F (Colorado) Esa Lindell, D (Dallas) Anton Lundell, F (Florida) Eetu Luostarinen, F (Florida) Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen, G (Buffalo) Matias Maccelli, F (Arizona) Niko Mikkola, D (Florida) Antti Raanta, G (Carolina) Mikko Rantanen, F (Colorado) Rasmus Ristolainen, D (Philadelphia) Juuse Saros, G (Nashville) Teuvo Teräväinen, F (Carolina) Eeli Tolvanen, F (Seattle) Juuso Välimäki, D (Arizona) |
| 🇸🇪 SWEDEN Rasmus Andersson, D (Calgary) Mikael Backlund, F (Calgary) Jesper Bratt, F (New Jersey) Leo Carlsson, F (Anaheim) Rasmus Dahlin, D (Buffalo) Mattias Ekholm, D (Edmonton) Joel Eriksson Ek, F (Minnesota) Filip Forsberg, F (Nashville) Filip Gustavsson, G (Minnesota) Victor Hedman, D (Tampa Bay) Erik Karlsson, D (Pittsburgh) William Karlsson, F (Vegas) Adrian Kempe, F (Los Angeles) Gabriel Landeskog, F (Colorado) Adam Larsson, D (Seattle) Elias Lindholm, F (Vancouver) Hampus Lindholm, D (Boston) Jacob Markström, G (Calgary) William Nylander, F (Toronto) Elias Pettersson, F (Vancouver) Lucas Raymond, F (Detroit) Linus Ullmark, G (Boston) Mika Zibanejad, F (NY Rangers) |
🇺🇸 UNITED STATES Brock Boeser, F (Vancouver) Kyle Connor, F (Winnipeg) Alex DeBrincat, F (Detroit) Thatcher Demko, G (Vancouver) Jack Eichel, F (Vegas) Brock Faber, D (Minnesota) Adam Fox, D (NY Rangers) Connor Hellebuyck, G (Winnipeg) Jack Hughes, F (New Jersey) Quinn Hughes, D (Vancouver) Clayton Keller, F (Arizona) Dylan Larkin, F (Detroit) Auston Matthews, F (Toronto) Charlie McAvoy, D (Boston) J.T. Miller, F (Vancouver) Jason Robertson, F (Dallas) Jaccob Slavin, D (Carolina) Jeremy Swayman, G (Boston) Tage Thompson, F (Buffalo) Brady Tkachuk, F (Ottawa) Matthew Tkachuk, F (Florida) Jacob Trouba, D (NY Rangers) Zach Werenski, D (Columbus) |
While a lot can certainly change in a year, it is exciting to begin to consider who will take to the ice for their countries – which players are virtual locks, which players will step in for injured players, and which emerging stars could showcase their talents in next calendar year and take a valuable roster spot. Only time will tell but the countdown is on!
International Hockey Lineal Championship 