Canada announces 4 Nations squad: snubs, surprises and expectations

By Chris Johnston, Pierre LeBrun and Julian McKenzie

Team Canada announced its 23-man roster for the four-nation face-off tournament in February on Wednesday.

Forwards Mitch Marner, Sam Reinhart, Anthony Cirelli, Brandon Hagel, Travis Konecny, Mark Stone and Seth Jarvis were added to the Canadian roster, while defensemen Alex Pietrangelo, Shea Theodore, Travis Sanheim, Devon Toews, Colton Parayko and Josh Morrissey were added.

Forwards Connor McDavid, Nathan MacKinnon, Brayden Point, Brad Marchand and Sidney Crosby as well as defenseman Cale Makar were named to the first six members of Team Canada in June.

Canada’s goalie has been the subject of much debate leading up to Wednesday’s roster reveal. The Canadian trio consists of Jordan Binnington, Adin Hill and Sam Montembeault.

Canada is led by Tampa Bay Lightning head coach Jon Cooper behind the bench, flanked by assistant coaches Bruce Cassidy, Pete DeBoer, Rick Tocchet, Mishka Donskov and Lightning video coach James Emery. Cooper is also expected to lead Canada at the 2026 Olympics in Milan and Cortina d’Ampezzo, Italy.

The 4 Nations Face-Off will take place from February 12th to 20th in Montreal and Boston.

Full squad

(Note: Highlighted players have already been added to the roster.)

Snubbed

Each Team Canada has more qualified forwards than there are available roster spots, so the most notable omissions there can be found in Zach Hyman, John Tavares, Mark Scheifele and Connor Bedard.

Hyman is coming off a 70-goal season (including postseason) playing alongside Connor McDavid. Tavares has been in top form this season for the Toronto Maple Leafs and has an extensive international career, including captaining Canada at the IIHF Ice Hockey World Championship in May. Scheifele is scoring at a pace of more than a point per game for the dominant Winnipeg Jets. And Bedard is a 19-year-old prodigy who rewrote the record book when he represented his country at the Junior World Cup.

The snubs in the background include Evan Bouchard and Noah Dobson, ages 25 and 24, respectively. They are both top-notch puck distributors who are coming off big seasons. — Chris Johnston

Surprises

Jarvis is the player you would least expect to fight his way onto this version of Team Canada. He no longer has the resume of many other players at home. And at 1.70 m tall, he doesn’t have the necessary height either.

But the 22-year-old Carolina Hurricanes winger has skilled playmaking skills and a competitive spirit that make him a selection with potential. If things go well, he could become an integral part of Team Canada.

In the end, few saw Parayko earning a spot in Canada’s top seven, but as a big man with Stanley Cup-winning pedigree capable of logging heavy minutes, he brought more security than some other options.

Montembeault isn’t a surprise per se, but his save percentage this season trails Cam Talbot, Logan Thompson, Mackenzie Blackwood, Marc-Andre Fleury and Darcy Kuemper. Each of these other Canadian goaltenders will be watching the tournament from home. — Johnston

Expectations

Fair or not, any player who puts a Canadian national team sweater over his head is expected to win. That’s especially true in the men’s best-on-best competition, where Canada has won four of the last five tournaments and nine of 13 overall.

Even though the country’s decade of dominance is now long behind it, high hopes remain.

Canada will look to overwhelm their opponents with their depth. Cooper can pass McDavid, Crosby, Point and Cirelli in the middle. If that doesn’t work for some reason, he has MacKinnon and Bennett as ready-made options to slide into the middle.

And on top of that, Cooper has let Makar serve as the centerpiece of a blue line that features a nice mix of size, smarts and elite decision-makers.

Despite the questions (or doubts) in goal, this is a squad built to perform at a high level and keep opponents at bay in closely contested games by limiting mistakes. Canada expects three goals to be enough to win against any team in the tournament. — Johnston

Required reading

Other rosters

(Photo of Mitch Marner meeting Jordan Binnington: Jeff Curry / USA Today)