NHL announces 4 Nations Faceoff details

The NHL isn’t holding an All-Star game next season and is replacing that event with a new idea to leach off some money of the Olympics err to bring hockey fans some the first best-on-best type of international hockey action since 2014 with an event called the 4 Nations Faceoff.

With Russia still being held out due to their invasion in Ukraine, the four nations involved will be the powerhouse countries US, Canada, Sweden and Finland. Times and dates of the games have been announced.

In a few weeks the teams will be naming their core six players for this event, which will make for a momentary bit of summer fun.

Here’s an educated guess at the jerseys. They’re..ok? Any USA without the classic and retro Olympic style jerseys are always going to have a lower level feel, but it’s kinda cool to mix the colors so each country will only need one set of jerseys.

Let’s take a stab at the initial six for each country. We’ll assume that each country is going to make their six players out of a normal lineup based out of three forwards, two defensemen and a goalie. Maybe some won’t, but that feels fairly logical as a starting point.

Canada: Sidney Crosby, Connor McDavid, Nathan MacKinnon, Cale Makar, Evan Bouchard, Stuart Skinner

—Hey, maybe Skinner wins it all and rides the high into being named! Otherwise the hidden secret is that Team Canada’s goalies aren’t blowing anyone away. Who else would it be, Jordan Binnington? Marc-Andre Fleury? Adin Hill? Canada is like a cheat code with the spoils of their pool to pick out of for forwards and defensemen but the goaltending can’t help but stick out as a weak point by comparison. Crosby as captain Canada is unblemished lately with victories in the 2010 and 2014 Olympics as well as the NHL’s 2016 World Cup of Hockey, so who can go against that?

USA: Matthew Tkachuk, Auston Matthews, Jason Robertson, Quinn Hughes, Adam Fox, Connor Hellebuyck

—Team USA is going to be straight up NASTY at the upcoming events with this tournament in 2025 and the Olympics in 2026 and should be right there in contention to take top flight. The amount of young/peak talent they have right now is as impressive as anyone out there. Bill Guerin (GM) and Mike Sullivan (coach) have a lot to look forward to in these events.

Finland: Aleksander Barkov, Sebastien Aho, Mikko Rantanen, Miro Heiskanen, Esa Lindell, Juuse Saros

—Finland might get a little light for defensive depth once the full rosters come out, but they have some great pieces to work with. In a short tournament, anything can happen and the Finns are known for relentless drive and work ethic that will serve them well.

Sweden: William Nylander, Elias Pettersson, Filip Forsberg, Victor Hedman, Erik Karlsson, Jacob Markstrom

—The Swedes are well-balanced and figure to be a force that will be reckoned with in this event. Giving Karlsson (their team captain at the recent 2024 World Championships) a legacy nod here over Rasmus Dahlin for the initial roster.