With eight months to go until the NHL debuts the Four Nations Face-Off tournament, the provisional rosters for each participating nation (Canada, Finland, Sweden and the United States) were revealed today by the NHL and each nations’ respective international association, naming six active professionals to each roster.
There has not been a formal announcement about naming the remainders of the roster, but with the tournament set to replace the NHL All-Star weekend in February 2025, it stands to reason that the final rosters should be ready by the end of the 2024 calendar year. The NHL has established, however, that the 23-man rosters must be entirely comprised of NHL players, as this tournament is not being administered by the International Ice Hockey Federation.
None of these players should come as a particular shock, as many of the older names on this list (such as Sidney Crosby and Victor Hedman) have already represented their countries well on the international stage. What is more exciting is that with the return of a true “best on best” international tournament for the first time since 2016, this will mark the first international appearances in nearly a decade for the likes of superstars Connor McDavid, Auston Matthews and Nathan MacKinnon.
The provisional players for all four participating national teams at the 2025 Four Nations Face-Off (with their current team noted in parentheses) are as follows:
| 🇨🇦 CANADA Sidney Crosby, F (Pittsburgh) Nathan MacKinnon, F (Colorado) Connor McDavid, F (Edmonton) Cale Makar, D (Colorado) Brad Marchand, F (Boston) Brayden Point, F (Tampa Bay) |
🇫🇮 FINLAND Sebastian Aho, F (Carolina) Alexander Barkov, F (Florida) Miro Heiskanen, D (Dallas) Esa Lindell, D (Dallas) Mikko Rantanen, F (Colorado) Juuse Saros, G (Nashville) |
| 🇸🇪 SWEDEN Filip Forsberg, F (Nashville) Gustav Forsling, D (Florida) Victor Hedman, D (Tampa Bay) Erik Karlsson, D (Pittsburgh) William Nylander, F (Toronto) Mika Zibanejad, F (NY Rangers) |
🇺🇸 UNITED STATES Jack Eichel, F (Vegas) Adam Fox, D (NY Rangers) Quinn Hughes, D (Vancouver) Auston Matthews, F (Toronto) Charlie McAvoy, D (Boston) Matthew Tkachuk, F (Florida) |
Whether the IHLC will make it to the Face-Off will not be known until just under a week before the tournament kicks off in Montréal, as the third stage of the 2024-25 Euro Hockey Tour, the Beijer Hockey Games, will feature just two of the four participants in the Face-Off, Finland and hosts Sweden. If either of these teams hold the title by tournament’s end on 09 February, then the IHLC will be up for grabs in Montréal and Boston. But, if current World Gold and Silver medalists Czechia or Switzerland, respectively, end the Games with the title in hand, the IHLC will miss this tournament outright, moving on directly to April’s Euro Hockey Challenge.
What the rest of these rosters look like, and whether the IHLC will even be in contention, should lead to an exciting start to this tournament!
Photo Credit: Associated Press – IIHF – HHOF – IOC
International Hockey Lineal Championship 