The San Jose Sharks will have at least one player participating in the 4 Nations Face-Off in February, as forward Mikael Granlund was chosen to represent Team Finland at the best-on-best event.
The versatile and experienced Granlund leads the Sharks with 29 points in 26 games this season and also leads all of the team’s forwards in average time on ice (20:51).
Granlund, 32, has represented Finland in international play several times, most recently at the IIHF World Championships in Czechia earlier this year.
The 23-man rosters for Finland and Sweden were revealed Wednesday morning, and the American and Canadian rosters will be announced at 3:30 p.m. (PST). All rosters had to be submitted by Monday.
No Sharks player was included on Sweden’s 23-man roster. A published report out of Sweden earlier this week indicated that forward William Eklund, a Stockholm native with 23 points in 27 games this season, would be one of the country’s 13 forwards. However, he and Fabian Zetterlund, who has 19 points in 28 games, were left off the team.
The next game for the Sharks (10-13-5) — with Granlund, Eklund, and Zetterlund — is on Thursday against the Tampa Bay Lightning.
The 4 Nations Face-Off will be played at the Bell Centre in Montreal and TD Garden in Boston. Seven games will be played over nine days from Feb. 12-20, along with two designated training/practice days (Feb. 10 and 11).
All 4 Nations Face-Off games will be played following NHL rules.
Each team will play three tournament games in a traditional Round-Robin format, using the following points system: three points for a win in regulation time, two points for a win in overtime/shootout, one point for a loss in overtime/shootout, and no points for a loss in regulation time. The two teams with the best tournament record will advance to a one-game final on Feb. 20.
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