Bubble Boys: Which NHLers will battle on the fringe to make the 4 Nations Face-Off rosters?

Credit: Apr 2, 2024; Montreal, Quebec, CAN; Montreal Canadiens forward Nick Suzuki (14) skates during the warmup period before the game against the Florida Panthers at the Bell Centre. Mandatory Credit: Eric Bolte-USA TODAY Sports

What will the 4 Nations Face-Off mean to NHL players when it debuts in February 2025?

For any of them hailing from a country other than Canada, the United States, Sweden or Finland, it will merely represent an eight-day break to heal the body and spend time with family during the dog days of the regular season.

For the superstars already named to their teams this past June, the 4 Nations represents an opportunity to enjoy best-on-best action for the first time since 2014 and finally play with teammates they’ve dreamed of having. We’ll see longtime friends Sidney Crosby and Nathan MacKinnon in the same sweater.

But what about the fringe players, the high-impact NHLers who aren’t superstars but could function as meaningful role players or, in some cases, gain vital experience on the road to eventual superstardom? The 4 Nations Face-Off means a ton to this demographic. It’s an audition of sorts for the ‘Bubble’ guys hoping to make an impact there and earn jobs at the 2026 Winter Olympics at Milan.

Many of those perceived Bubble players stopped by the NHL Player Media Tour in Las Vegas last week and shared their thoughts on what it would mean to crack the 4 Nations Face-Off rosters.

Of course, not all Bubble Boys are the same. They fall under several different archetypes.

THE GRIZZLED VET

The Washington Capitals’ John Carlson is a USA Hockey legend to anyone who follows the World Junior Championship. He helped his nation clinch its second-ever gold medal with his epic overtime goal against Canada at the 2010 tourney. Having broken in as a full-time NHLer by 2014, he earned a trip to the Sochi Olympics. But his entire prime, which included three top-five finishes in the Norris Trophy vote, coincided with the NHL’s 10-year hiatus from best-on-best play. Carlson is 34 now, still durable and capable of running a power play. He’ll be 36 by next winter when the Milan Games arrive. And he has stiff competition to make the team from right-shot defensemen such as Adam Fox, Charlie McAvoy and Brock Faber. But could Carlson’s Stanley Cup winning experience make him a viable veteran leader for the room? Is he still young enough to enter the Olympic conversation by first making the 4 Nations Face-Off squad?

Maybe but, for Carlson, the key isn’t to obsess, as much as he may care about making the team.

“It’s not the first time I would say for me that it’s kind of been an audition phase,” he said. “I think guys are mostly just focused on playing their best anyways. Maybe mentally going into the year, you want that little extra or whatever it is, because there is more on the table. But the league is the league and extremely difficult each day and each team that you play. Most guys would probably admit that they’re just focused on doing their best for their team at that point in time, and it’s probably easier to have that mentality.

“But it is a special thing. I’ve always been for as much international hockey as we’re allowed to do, and certainly it’s a good step in the right direction.”

THE REINVENTED ROLE PLAYERS

When we’re looking at teams as deep up front as Canada and USA, it’s a virtual guarantee that some first-line NHL forwards won’t even make their clubs. And those who do will have to get used to playing lower in the lineup than they normally would.

It stands to reason that the Bubble forwards who have good two-way sense might have a leg up in the battle to play on either nation’s fourth line at the 4 Nations Face-Off or the Olympics. Look at players such as Canada’s Bo Horvat and Nick Suzuki or USA’s Vincent Trocheck. All play premium scoring roles on their NHL clubs, but none is likely to sniff top-six duty on a stacked national team in best-on-best. It’s all about reinvention. Canada in particular has a history of executing with high-end forwards playing in checking assignments. Think Patrick Marleau, Joe Thornton and Dany Heatley at the 2010 Olympics. So any forward who blends skill and two-way acumen has the 4 Nations on his radar.

That includes New York Islanders center Horvat, who views it as more of an extra motivator than a primary goal.

“I think so. It’s always going to be in the back of your head, right?” Horvat said. “Myself personally playing well and my team having success is going to propel me to hopefully make that team. I’m not going into the season for, ‘This is my tryout, what I’m playing for is to make that team.’ Obviously it would be amazing to make that team, but my No. 1 priority is helping the Islanders win.”

Suzuki, on the other hand? Perhaps because he’s starved for competition on a Montreal Canadiens club that hasn’t made the playoffs since 2021, he’s all-in and won’t hide the fact it would mean the world to make the team.

“I want to be on that team. I’ve thought about it a lot,” he said. “I think I’m a player that can be put in any situation. I can play fourth line, I can shut other guys down, I play a shutdown role with my team every single night, so I’d like to be put in that position. So if I’m penalty killing and playing last minute, that’s fine with me. Obviously the forwards that are already on the team are pretty high end, and if I make the team I just want to carve out a role that can help the team win.”

THE NEXT WAVE

Crosby didn’t crack Team Canada for the 2006 Olympics. Steven Stamkos didn’t make the 2010 team. Sometimes the national brass prefer reliable veterans to rising young talents when picking their rosters. Then again, it’s been 10 years since we’ve seen anyone select best-on-best teams. The game has changed. It’s the fastest it’s ever been. East-west play and scoring chances are at all-time highs. So it’s possible the 4 Nations and Olympic teams skew younger than expected.

We therefore could see some of the game’s most promising youth get significant opportunities to audition for the Olympics by proving themselves at the 4 Nations Face-Off.

It would be an upset if the Chicago Blackhawks‘ Connor Bedard didn’t make Canada at this point. Faber, too, has proven to be such an all-situations horse already that he has a strong chance to make USA’s blueline even if it’s on the third pair, though he doesn’t feel he has an extra edge even though his Minnesota Wild GM Bill Guerin is the USA GM for the 4 Nations and Olympics.

“The months at the start of the season are important for that 4 Nations, but my No. 1 goal is to be the best I can for the Wild,” Faber said. “If I’m playing well enough or if I’m good enough and I’m taken on that team, that would be awesome. I’ve played with USA Hockey a bunch, and it gets better every time wearing the USA Hockey jersey. It’s a huge honor and it would be incredible.”

But if we look a bit deeper down the list of the best young players in the game today: What about breakout forwards such as the Los Angeles Kings’ Quinton Byfield or the Dallas Stars’ Wyatt Johnston? Both took such big steps forward last season that they could make legit best-on-best cases with continued strong play this year. It helps that, while both are natural centers, each has experience playing on the wing at the NHL level. In best-on-best, we often see teams forcing centers to play the wing if it means putting the most talent possible on the ice at once.

“It would be awesome,” Johnston said. “Growing up watching Team Canada play, it’s so much fun being able to watch. Just having that opportunity would be amazing. It would be a huge honor, and it would be really cool to play with all the guys that are going to be on that team.”

Get ready for the Battle of the Bubble. Whoever wins out will get to play with living legends – an opportunity that hasn’t been available for a decade.

“It would be pretty nerve-wracking,” Johnston said. “Those are guys I’ve been watching play for a long time, and it would be really cool and pretty awesome not having to play against them and getting a chance to play with them.”

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POST SPONSORED BY bet365

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Bubble Boys: Which NHLers will battle on the fringe to make the 4 Nations Face-Off rosters?

THE GRIZZLED VET

THE REINVENTED ROLE PLAYERS

THE NEXT WAVE

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