4 Nations Face-Off fantasy hockey rankings: All 92 players
Why? Wrong question. Why not?
We have no idea what to expect from the 4 Nations Face-Off. Maybe the players and coaching staffs make good on their promise that we’ll witness a high-intensity best-on-best tournament. Or maybe it’s apparent five minutes into the first game that every punch will be pulled a la Jake Paul vs. Mike Tyson.
That’s why it’s a good idea to spice up your experience by playing in a 4 Nations Face-Off fantasy pool. Can’t find one? Start one.
Just in case any of you plan on trying an experimental pool, I’ve drafted up a player ranking list, encompassing all 92 participants from Canada, Finland, Sweden and the USA.
While I typically craft rankings according to a large list of stat categories, I suspect any 4 Nations pools out there will be extremely casual. So I’m basing the rankings here on one point for a goal, one point for an assist, one point for a win and one point for a shutout.
A few disclaimers:
(a) Every team will play at least three games and a maximum of four games. I predict Canada and USA meet in the Final and get that crucial extra game, so the rankings skew heavier toward their players at the top.
(b) Line deployments will matter. Some depth players on Canada and USA are used to being first liners but have been assigned checking roles, so bear in mind that the rankings are highly specific to this tournament.
1. Nathan MacKinnon, F, Canada
2. Connor McDavid, F, Canada
3. Auston Matthews, F, USA
4. Cale Makar, D, Canada
5. Jack Hughes, F, USA
6. Mitch Marner, F, Canada
7. Sam Reinhart, F, Canada
8. Connor Hellebuyck, G, USA
9. Jack Eichel, F, USA
10. William Nylander, F, Sweden
11. Matthew Tkachuk, F, USA
12. Mikko Rantanen, F, Finland
13. Sidney Crosby, F, Canada
14. Zach Werenski, D, USA
15. Kyle Connor, F, USA
16. Sebastian Aho, F, Finland
17. Aleksander Barkov, F, Finland
18. Jake Guentzel, F, USA
19. Adin Hill, G, Canada
20. Victor Hedman, D, Sweden
21. Mika Zibanejad, F, Sweden
22. Filip Forsberg, F, Sweden
23. Mark Stone, F, Canada
24. Adam Fox, D, USA
25. Linus Ullmark, G, Sweden
26. Elias Pettersson, F, Sweden
27. Lucas Raymond, F, Sweden
28. Brayden Point, F, Canada
29. J.T. Miller, F, USA
30. Brady Tkachuk, F, USA
31. Jesper Bratt, F, Sweden
32. Matt Boldy, F, USA
33. Shea Theodore, D, Canada
34. Erik Karlsson, D, Sweden
35. Roope Hintz, F, Finland
36. Juuse Saros, G, Finland
37. Rasmus Dahlin, D, Sweden
38. Adrian Kempe, F, Sweden
39. Brad Marchand, F, Canada
40. Dylan Larkin, C, USA
41. Patrik Laine, F, Finland
42. Brandon Hagel, F, Canada
43. Jordan Binnington, G, Canada
44. Vincent Trocheck, C, USA
45. Filip Gustavsson, G, Sweden
46. Devon Toews, D, Canada
47. Seth Jarvis, F, Canada
48. Josh Morrissey, D, Canada
49. Drew Doughty, D, Canada
50. Rickard Rakell, F, Sweden
51. Artturi Lehkonen, F, Finland
52. Charlie McAvoy, D, USA
53. Brock Nelson, F, USA
54. Anthony Cirelli, F, Canada
55. Sam Bennett, F, Canada
56. Gustav Forsling, D, Sweden
57. Brock Faber, D, USA
58. Travis Konecny, F, Canada
59. Jake Oettinger, G, USA
60. Teuvo Teravainen, F, Finland
61. Joel Eriksson Ek, F, Sweden
62. Jake Sanderson, D, USA
63. Chris Kreider, F, USA
64. Kaapo Kakko, F, Finland
65. Elias Lindholm, F, Sweden
66. Colton Parayko, D, Canada
67. Mattias Ekholm, D, Sweden
68. Mikael Granlund, F, Finland
69. Viktor Arvidsson, F, Sweden
70. Gustav Nyquist, F, Sweden
71. Anton Lundell, F, Finland
72. Noah Hanifin, D, USA
73. Rasmus Andersson, D, Sweden
74. Jaccob Slavin, D, USA
75. Leo Carlsson, F, Sweden
76. Juuso Valimaki, D, Finland
77. Henri Jokiharju, D, Finland
78. Esa Lindell, F, Finland
79. Travis Sanheim, D, Canada
80. Jonas Brodin, D, Sweden
81. Joel Armia, F, Finland
82. Erik Haula, F, Finland
83. Niko Mikkola, D, Finland
84. Eetu Luostarinen, F, Finland
85. Olli Maatta, D, Finland
86. Urho Vaakanainen, D, Finland
87. Kevin Lankinen, G, Finland
88. Nikolas Matinpalo, D, Finland
89. Jeremy Swayman, G, USA
90. Sam Montembeault, G, Canada
91. Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen, G, Finland
92. Samuel Ersson, G, Sweden
NOTES
I don’t typically advise overreacting to line deployments in fantasy, but we have no choice when it’s a short tournament. At the moment, Stone, Guentzel and Rakell are top-six forwards for their respective nations, while Point, Brady Tkachuk and Bratt are not, so we must react accordingly with our valuations…with Quinn Hughes pulling out, fellow left-shot American Werenski looks like the most valuable blueliner not named Makar…Canada has listed Hill above Binnington on the depth chart, so we’ll presume Hill is the No.1 netminder, though I still expect both goalies to play…Nylander at his three World Championship appearances repping Sweden: 21 games played, 15 goals, 37 points. He always seems to elevate his game for his country…Even if the shine has worn off for Laine with the Montreal Canadiens, I like him as a sleeper for Finland. He’s capable of epic short-term goal binges when he’s hot, and Finland would be silly not to deploy his shot as a power-play weapon. Considering the No. 2 goalies aren’t all even guaranteed to see any action, I buried every team’s projected No. 3 at the bottom of these rankings…with Finland holding an optional practice for its banged-up squad Monday, we don’t have a perfectly accurate idea of who will play with whom yet.
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