While it feels like the Colorado Avalanche is piecing together lineups with duct tape and popsicle sticks this season, the rosters for hockey’s first best-on-best international competition at the highest level in nine years will be announced Monday.
The rosters for the 2025 4 Nations Face-Off will be revealed in two parts: Finland and Sweden in the afternoon (noon MT) on ESPN (and NHL Network), then the United States and Canada at 4:30 pm MT on TNT.
“You speculate with some of the guys a little bit,” Avs star Mikko Rantanen said. “Team Canada and the U.S. probably have the hardest choices, because they have so many players available. You speculate a little about who might make it and who might not. It is fun.”
Nathan MacKinnon, Cale Makar and Devon Toews have already been named to Canada’s roster. Rantanen was one of the “original six” named to Finland’s squad as well. Unless there is a surprise, Artturi Lehkonen joining Rantanen is likely to be the only other addition from the Avalanche.
This tournament is an NHL-run event, and only NHL players will be invited. It has been posited as an appetizer for the 2026 Winter Olympics in Italy when a full 12-team field will be in play. Whether or not Russia will be part of the tournament or not remains to be determined.
Here is one last best guess at what the rosters could look like on Monday:
Canada
Left wing
Center
Right wing
Sam Reinhart
Connor McDavid
Mitch Marner
Brad Marchand
Sidney Crosby
Nathan MacKinnon
Alexis Lafreniere
Brayden Point
Mark Stone
Anthony Cirelli
Mark Scheifele
Travis Konecny
Connor Bedard
John Tavares
Left defense
Right defense
Goalie
Devon Toews
Cale Makar
Jordan Binnington
Shea Theodore
Alex Pietrangelo
Adin Hill
Josh Morrissey
Dougie Hamilton
Marc-Andre Fleury
Evan Bouchard
(Click here to view chart in mobile.)
Canada doesn’t have a lot of great left-handed options at forward. How much will that matter? Probably not a lot.
The Nova Scotia Line needs to happen, obviously. Mark Stone’s health could impact the decisions made. Anthony Cirelli, Connor Bedard and John Tavares are the last three forwards here, and there are about eight other guys who could fit as well.
A spicy take? Canada should consider Macklin Celebrini over Bedard. They’ll both probably be on the team in Italy.
The first five for the defense corps is easy. A couple of other options for the last two spots include Noah Dobson and MacKenzie Weegar. Dougie Hamilton hasn’t always been a favorite for everyone among hockey decision-makers, so we’ll see if Hockey Canada trusts him.
Canada’s goaltending is the biggest wild card in the tournament. The Canadians should take Marc-Andre Fleury as the No. 3 just for the vibes. If any team plays all three guys, it is not winning.
United States
Left wing
Center
Right wing
Kyle Connor
Auston Matthews
Clayton Keller
Brady Tkachuk
Jack Eichel
Matthew Tkachuk
Jake Guentzel
Jack Hughes
Tage Thompson
Matthew Boldy
Dylan Larkin
Vincent Trochek
Cole Caufield
J.T. Miller
Left defense
Right defense
Goalie
Quinn Hughes
Charlie McAvoy
Connor Hellebuyck
Jaccob Slavin
Adam Fox
Jake Oettinger
Zach Werenski
Brock Faber
Jeremy Swayman
Jake Sanderson
(Click here to view chart in mobile.)
J.T. Miller is currently away from the Vancouver Canucks on a personal leave of absence, which makes his status for the tournament unclear. The Tkachuk brothers should definitely play together and with one of the Jacks, though the Americans could move Jack Hughes to the wing. There are plenty of center options.
It would also be fun if Hughes, Matthew Boldy and Cole Caufield got to take some shifts together, reuniting old development program teammates. That’s probably something for 2026 or a 2028 World Cup, though.
John Carlson would make plenty of sense if one more veteran defenseman is desired, but Brock Faber and Jake Sanderson are both worthy. The defense corps isn’t particularly big, but that’s a nitpick.
There are some really good players not on here: Carlson, Brock Boeser, Alex DeBrincat and multiple goalies who might have a chance to start for Canada just to name a few. We’ll see how the Americans deal with real expectations because plenty of people will pick the U.S. as the pre-tournament favorite.
Finland
Left wing
Center
Right wing
Artturi Lehkonen
Aleksander Barkov
Mikko Rantanen
Roope Hintz
Sebastian Aho
Kaapo Kakko
Mikael Granlund
Anton Lundell
Eetu Luostarinen
Teuvo Teravainen
Erik Haula
Jesse Puljujarvi
Jesperi Kotkaniemi
Joel Armia
Left defense
Right defense
Goalie
Esa Lindell
Miro Heiskanen
Juuse Saros
Nikko Mikkola
Rasmus Ristolainen
Ukko-Pekka Luukonen
Olli Maata
Juuso Valimaki
Kevin Lakinen
Henri Jokiharju
(Click here to view chart in mobile.)
Pairing players from the same NHL team will be a popular projection for all of these teams. Finland might be the country that needs “chemistry” the least because it always feels like the Finns just get together and have it in short order.
The one place where it might make even more sense to split up the teammates is on defense because the Finns might need Lindell to lead his own pairing instead of just riding shotgun to Heiskanen. The back half of Finland’s defense might be the weakest spot for any of the four teams, depending on how you feel about Canada’s goalies.
This forward group is still plenty scary, and one good week from Saros could mean plenty of headaches for the other three clubs.
Sweden
Left wing
Center
Right wing
Filip Forsberg
Elias Pettersson
William Nylander
Jesper Bratt
Joel Eriksson Ek
Adrian Kempe
Lucas Raymond
Mika Zibanejad
Rickard Rackell
Leo Carlsson
William Karlsson
Elias Lindholm
William Eklund
Gustav Nyquist
Left defense
Right defense
Goalie
Victor Hedman
Erik Karlsson
Jacob Markstrom
Rasmus Dahlin
Gustav Forsling
Linus Ullmark
Mattias Ekholm
Rasmus Andersson
Filip Gustavsson
Jonas Brodin
(Click here to view chart in mobile.)
This is a really strong team on paper, but there are a couple of key veterans who aren’t having great seasons. Then there’s also Hampus Lindholm’s injury, which made him enough of an uncertainty to leave off.
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Could Erik Karlsson go from “original six” roster member to healthy scratch? Probably not, but Sweden could absolutely field an excellent defense corps even without the future Hockey Hall of Fame member.
There are other, more veteran options if the Swedes don’t want to trust Leo Carlsson or William Eklund, but that wouldn’t be as fun. The last time NHL players were playing in best-on-best events with some regularity, Sweden’s No. 1 goalie was the easiest position to fill in for any country.
It should probably be Jacob Markstrom to replace Henrik Lundqvist, but Sweden is actually the second-deepest country of these four at the position right now.
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