It’s been a while since we’ve had some best-on-best international hockey.
The World Cup of Hockey was 8 years ago at this point.
The world was a much different place back then.
And even that tournament wasn’t perfect.
It’s far from what we deserve to see.
The fact that there’s no Russia immediately turns this into a Mickey Mouse tournament.
So no, the 2025 Four Nations Face-Off isn’t the best-on-best international hockey tournament that we wanted.
But it’s still better than the alternative, which is nothing.
So let’s take a look.
Obviously the forwards like Auston Matthews and the Tkachuk brothers are going to be the headliners for this team.
But I love this group of defensemen they’re bringing.
Just a bunch of guys who are dangerous as could be when they jump into the play.
A couple of Norris winners with Hughes and Fox.
Werenski throws a little grit into that group as well.
Would I have loved to see Cole Caufield on this roster over a guy like Chris Kreider?
Team Canada
I mean…what do you want me to say?
This team is loaded, as they should be.
Stanley Cup Champs, Conn Smythe winners, Hart Trophy winners, Norris Trophy winners.
They have the best player in the tournament in Connor McDavid.
They have the best defenseman in the tournament with Cale Makar.
They probably have the 2nd best forward in the tournament with Nathan MacKinnon.
But I don’t see them being quite as deep as Team USA.
But that’s just on paper.
Goalies are suspect, though.
Pretty crazy that Canada just can’t produce goalies anymore.
There’s too much skill in Canada right now.
You’d be miserable being a youth hockey goalie getting Michigan’d every weekend.
Team Sweden
The format of this tournament is set up great for Sweden.
It’s a round robin with the top 2 teams just playing 1 game for the final.
That means you’re only playing 4 games if you’re going to win this thing.
The Swedes have more than enough goal scorers, an elite defensive core, and great goalies.
Did they maybe get a little too considerate by adding Mika Zibanejad and Erik Karlsson to the roster?
Team Finland
Not exactly a roster that completely jumps out at you right away.
Miro Heiskanen and Juuse Saros are going to be enough to keep Finland in every game.
But on paper, Finland is clearly the weak link of this event.
Which means they’ll probably go on to win the whole thing.
Finns never make any sense.
It all gets going on February 12th.
Again, it’s not the best case scenario for true best-on-best international hockey.
But at least it’s a start going in the right direction again.
And any time you get USA vs Canada is worth getting excited for.
