The 4-nation rosters have all been released and we finally have best-on-best international hockey in our lives again

Vaughn Ridley. Getty Images.

It’s been a while since we’ve had top international hockey. The World Cup of Hockey was already 8 years ago at this point. Auston Matthews had just been drafted, Connor McDavid was only a year into his NHL career, and the Pittsburgh Penguins still knew how to play hockey. The world was a completely different place back then.

And even this tournament wasn’t perfect. It wasn’t a true international tournament considering we still had a Team Europe made up of about eight different countries and a Team North America 23U. But either way, ice hockey is always at its best when the best players in the world get the chance to represent their country or region.

The four-nation duel in February 2025 is even less of a real international tournament than the World Cup. As you can probably tell from the name of the event, only four countries will be taking part in the tournament: the USA, Canada, Sweden and Finland. It is far from what we should see. The fact that there is no Russia immediately makes it a Mickey Mouse tournament. Neither the Czech Republic nor Slovakia make it difficult to even consider this a real tournament and not just an exhibition event. And part of what makes international hockey so special is that smaller countries like Austria and Norway treat every game like an on-ice miracle when they have a chance to beat one of the powerhouses.

So no, the Four Nations Face-Off 2025 is not the best international hockey tournament we wanted. But it’s still better than the alternative, which is nothing. And now that we’re just about two months away from the event, the four rosters have been released. So let’s take a look.

Team USA

One of the biggest tragedies about the NHL not releasing players for the 2018 and 2022 Olympics is that USA Hockey quickly caught up with Canada in those years. USA Hockey is now at a point where they can field a roster that, on paper, can compete with Canada on a player-for-player basis.

Obviously, forwards like Auston Matthews and the Tkachuk brothers will be the headliners of this team. But I love this group of defenders they’re bringing with them. Just a bunch of guys who can be dangerous when they get in the game. A couple of Norris winners with Hughes and Fox. Brock Faber is probably the No. 1 defenseman in the NHL right now that people would want to buy from. Werenski also brings a little courage to this group. The blueline for the USA is stacked and on top of that, the USA brings the best group of three goaltenders to the tournament.

Would I have preferred to see Cole Caufield on this roster rather than a guy like Chris Kreider? Without doubt. But this forward group is made up of a bunch of big guys who will be a real challenge for opposing defenders to contain. So if the US had to sacrifice a pure goalscorer just to stay on top, it wouldn’t be the worst case in the world. Caufield deserves to be on this team, but it’s hard to get too upset about just one questionable snub.

Team Canada

I mean…what can I say? This team is staffed as it should be. Stanley Cup Champs, Conn Smythe Winners, Hart Trophy Winners, Norris Trophy Winners. They have the best player of the tournament in Connor McDavid. In Cale Makar they have the best defender of the tournament. They probably have the second best striker in the tournament in Nathan MacKinnon. And of course, you can’t ignore the fact that Sidney Crosby wins every time he throws on a Canadian jersey. 2 Olympic gold medals, a 2015 World Championship, the 2016 World Championship, a 2005 Junior World Championship.

Advertising

What I want to say now is that Canada is definitely at the top when it comes to top talent in this tournament. But I don’t think they’re quite as deep as Team USA. You have to get all the way down to like the 10th or 11th forward and the 5th or 6th defenseman to see where the US has the advantage. But that’s only on paper. I’m sure Connor Bedard would make this team look a lot better on paper, but I’m sure a guy like Anthony Cirelli will be able to fill a role they need more than one another elite goalscorer.

Goalkeepers are suspect, however. Pretty crazy that Canada just can’t produce goalies anymore. I understand it. There is too much skill in Canada right now. As a young hockey goaltender, it would be terrible to get the Michigan title every weekend.

Team Sweden

The format of this tournament is excellently designed for Sweden. It is a round-robin tournament where the top two teams play only one game for the final. This means you only have to play 4 games if you want to win this thing. The Swedes have more than enough goal scorers, an elite defensive core and great goalkeepers. Jesper Bratt can be one of the top five point scorers in the tournament, Elias Pettersson can get hot at any time and Victor Hedman is still one of the most complete defenders in the game. Maybe they were a little too considerate when they added Mika Zibanejad and Erik Karlsson to the squad? Secure. But these guys have meant a lot to Swedish ice hockey over the years, so sometimes you need them in the squad just for moral reasons.

Team Finland

Not exactly a squad that immediately catches your eye. Overall, I would love this team if the event was more than just 3-4 games over 8 days. I just don’t know if they have the same amount of high-end talent as the other three squads. Rantanen, Barkov and Aho are as good as it gets, but the forwards drop off a bit from there. Obviously, a guy like Mikael Granlund is having a great year, and Roope Hintz is starting to climb the ladder as one of the most underrated players on hockey’s roster. Miro Heiskanen and Juuse Saros will be enough to keep Finland in every game. But on paper, Finland is clearly the weak link in this event. Which means they’ll probably win the whole thing. Finns never make sense.

It starts on February 12th. Again, this is not the best-case scenario for real best-on-best ice hockey in an international comparison. But at least it’s a start to moving in the right direction again. And every time USA plays Canada, it’s worth looking forward to. I just wish we could sneak the Russians in real quick, but there’s probably too many signs up at this point for us to not change the name to “5 Nations Face-Off.”

Advertising

@JordieBarstool