Final 4 Nations Face-Off roster projections before this week’s unveiling
The moment is upon us. By Monday’s deadline, the brass for Canada, Finland, Sweden and the United States will have submitted their final rosters for the 2025 4 Nations Face-off. Finland and Sweden’s teams will be announced to the public Dec. 4 at 2:30 p.m. ET, while Canada and the U.S. will be revealed at 6:30 p.m. ET.
Each roster will consist of 20 skaters and three goalies. The tournament goes down Feb. 12-20, 2025 in place of an NHL All-Star Game and will consist of a round-robin in which each team plays each other, followed by a one-game final between the two teams with the best records.
Before this week’s unveilings, here’s one final look at our projected rosters. Did anyone flinch and make a last-minute tweak?
The team builders:
Canada – Matt Larkin
Finland – Steven Ellis
Sweden – Uffe Bodin
USA – Frank Seravalli
Players already named to the First Six and thus locked in are tabbed with asterisks.
CANADA – By Matt Larkin
Forwards
| Zach Hyman | Connor McDavid* | Nathan MacKinnon* |
| Brandon Hagel | Brayden Point* | Mitch Marner |
| Brad Marchand* | Sidney Crosby* | Sam Reinhart |
| Alexis Lafreniere | Anthony Cirelli | Travis Konecny |
| Connor Bedard |
Defensemen
| Devon Toews | Cale Makar |
| Josh Morrissey | Evan Bouchard |
| Shea Theodore | Alex Pietrangelo |
| MacKenzie Weegar |
Goaltenders
| Jordan Binnington |
| Adin Hill |
| Logan Thompson |
IN: Josh Morrissey, Anthony Cirelli
OUT: Noah Dobson, Nick Suzuki
Why: Did the mob finally sway me? You can pat yourselves on the back if you like, angry Winnipeg Jets fans. The truth is that I was oh-so close to including Morrissey last time. I do worry a bit about skill-set redundancy with three mobile puck-movers and very little physicality on that left side, but Josh Morrissey has been too good to deny. I’m not budging on Mark Scheifele, however. I still believe his game is one-way and only works if he’s a top-six forward in a purely offensive role. I had Nick Suzuki in the shutdown 4C spot when Canada coach Jon Cooper’s shutdown center in Tampa was sitting right in front of me, hence my shift to Cirelli.
FINLAND – By Steven Ellis
Forwards
| Artturi Lehkonen | Aleksander Barkov* | Mikko Rantanen* |
| Mikael Granlund | Roope Hintz | Teuvo Teräväinen |
| Erik Haula | Sebastian Aho* | Patrik Laine |
| Eetu Luostarinen | Anton Lundell | Kaapo Kakko |
| Jesperi Kotkaniemi |
Defensemen
| Esa Lindell* | Miro Heiskanen* |
| Juuso Valimaki | Rasmus Ristolainen |
| Niko Mikkola | Henri Jokiharju |
| Olli Määttä |
Goaltenders
| Juuse Saros* |
| Kevin Lankinen |
| Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen |
No changes to Steven’s roster this time around.
SWEDEN – BY Uffe Bodin
Forwards
| Filip Forsberg* | Elias Pettersson | William Nylander* |
| Jesper Bratt | Mika Zibanejad* | Lucas Raymond |
| Adrian Kempe | Joel Eriksson Ek | Elias Lindholm |
| Rickard Rakell | William Karlsson | Fabian Zetterlund |
| William Eklund |
Defensemen
| Victor Hedman* | Rasmus Dahlin |
| Gustav Forsling* | Erik Karlsson* |
| Mattias Ekholm | Rasmus Andersson |
| Jonas Brodin |
Goaltenders
| Linus Ullmark |
| Jacob Markstrom |
| Filip Gustavsson |
IN: William Eklund, Jonas Brodin
OUT: Leo Carlsson, Hampus Lindholm
Why: Leo Carlsson went down with an injury recently. It probably won’t hold him out for that long, but I can’t overlook the great play of William Eklund anymore. I feel like he could be just as much of a joker for the Swedish team as Carlsson, although the latter might have a higher ceiling. On defense, Hampus Lindholm has missed a lot of time with injury during the fall and despite that he might have been the Boston Bruins’ best player before that, I will end up going with Brodin instead. He also happens to be injured at the moment but has played regularly during the season. He’s also a guy who is comfortable playing on his weak side (to the right) which makes him valuable on a defense full of lefties.
USA – By Frank Seravalli
Forwards
| J.T. Miller | Auston Matthews* | Matthew Tkachuk* |
| Kyle Connor | Jack Eichel* | Brady Tkachuk |
| Dylan Larkin | Jack Hughes | Jason Robertson |
| Jake Guentzel | Vincent Trocheck | Matt Boldy |
| Tage Thompson |
Defensemen
| Quinn Hughes* | Charlie McAvoy* |
| Jaccob Slavin | Adam Fox* |
| Zach Werenski | Brock Faber |
| Noah Hanifin |
Goaltenders
| Connor Hellebuyck |
| Jake Oettinger |
| Jeremy Swayman |
In the end, this wasn’t a terribly agonizing process. That won’t make the last cuts feel any better, but it felt like watching the start of this season, most of the Team USA roster fell into place. It was really difficult to leave off names like Chris Kreider, Clayton Keller, Jake Sanderson – and by nature of his injury, Thatcher Demko – but with all due respect to the generation-defining 1996 World Cup of Hockey squad, this is the best roster that USA Hockey has ever entered into a best-on-best tournament. That’s a big statement. Wherever the chips fall after this, be it as they may.
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