What Russia, Czechia 4 Nations Face-Off rosters would look like

Credit: KHL

Take a look at the top of the NHL scoring race: you’ll find Russia’s Kirill Kaprizov and Czechia’s Martin Necas. But guess where you won’t find them? On a 4 Nations Face-Off roster.

The NHL received some muted reception during the announcement of the 4 Nations Face-Off, marking one of the smallest talent pools in best-on-best history. For just more than a week in February, Canada, USA, Finland and Sweden will battle it out for gold in what most are considering to be a pre-Olympic showcase event.

But with only four teams to choose from, so many top talents will be using the time to get extra rest instead. At the time of the roster announcements on Wednesday, seven of the top 10 players in NHL scoring won’t have a team taking part in the event, with Russia, Czechia, Germany and Slovenia being represented near the top of the scoring race.

Today, we’re looking at two teams with legitimate arguments to participate – Russia and Czechia. The Russians have been banned from IIHF competition since 2022, and while the governing body doesn’t run this, the NHL has seemingly followed suit. The Czechs, meanwhile, just won gold at the 2024 IIHF World Championship on home ice, with David Pastrnak later posting a picture with the trophy with a caption reading, “Maybe Four Nation invite now?”

The small team pool will keep some people from paying attention, but at least we’ll see a 12-team field at the 2026 Winter Olympics in Italy. Czechia will definitely be there, entering as one of the favorites to win Group B against the likes of Finland, Germany and Denmark. Russia is slated for Group C alongside USA, Slovakia, and Latvia, but with the current ban in place, the IIHF won’t make a final decision about their Olympic participation until early 2025.

So, while we won’t see these teams heading to Montreal or Boston, here’s what they COULD have looked like if they did. We kept to the tournament rules of only including players on NHL rosters – although, in Czechia’s case, they didn’t have enough defensemen to choose from, so we borrowed some on NHL deals in the AHL (since it doesn’t really matter anyway):

Team Russia

Kirill Kaprizov – Evgeni Malkin – Nikita Kucherov
Artemi Panarin – Pavel Buchnevich – Andrei Svechnikov
Alex Ovechkin – Ivan Barbashev – Matvei Michkov
Kirill Marchenko – Dmitri Voronkov – Valeri Nichushkin
Pavel Dorofeyev

Mikhail Sergachev – Vladislav Gavrikov
Ivan Provorov – Nikita Zadorov
Dmitry Orlov – Alexander Romanov
Pavel Mintyukov

Igor Shesterkin
Andrei Vasilevskiy
Ilya Sorokin

Cuts: Vladislav Namestnikov (C), Maxim Tsyplakov (RW), Vladimir Tarasenko (RW), Dmitry Kulikov (D)

Up front, this group already looks stronger than Finland’s, at the very least. Kaprizov is the best player in the NHL this season, and Kucherov has managed to keep himself relevant in both the Art Ross and Rocket Richard races this year. The one thing the Russians lack compared to the others, though, is pure center depth. Barbashev, for example, would be a middleman on this team, but he primarily plays wing alongside Jack Eichel in Vegas. The good news is they’ve got plenty of scoring wingers who can get the job done, and I feel like the bottom line would be so difficult to contain.

No matter what event it is, the Russians seem to struggle defensively, and this group doesn’t offer a ton to be excited about. There’s some size here, and they’ll definitely be able to move the puck. But they lack a high-end puck-moving defender like Quinn Hughes, Cale Makar or even Erik Karlsson.

But will it matter with the goaltenders they have? All three could be starters on nearly all the participating teams. It’s absolutely incredible – easily one of the best goalie trios the world could put together. The Americans would have something to say about that, but could you imagine the goaltending duels at an event like this?

Overall, this is a group that means business. You’ve got a mix of veterans (Ovechkin and Malkin) and up-and-coming talents (Michkov and Mintyukov) that would make them so much to watch. For now, we’ll just have to keep this group in our imagination.

Team Czechia

Ondrej Palat – Pavel Zacha – David Pastrnak
Tomas Hertl – Martin Necas – Jiri Kulich
Jakub Vrana – Radek Faska – David Kampf
Ivan Ivan – Filip Chytil – Jakub Lauko
Tomas Nosek

Jan Rutta – Filip Hronek
David Spacek – Radko Gudas
John Ludvig – David Jiricek
Stanislav Svozil

Lukas Dostal
Karel Vejmelka
Petr Mrazek

Cuts: Matej Blumel (RW), Dan Vladar (G), Vitek Vanecek (G)

Despite winning gold back in May, this NHL-based group might be the weakest of the bunch. There’s a solid top six with a decent mix of playmakers and goal-scorers, and that top line was excellent at the Worlds. But the scoring depth deeper down just isn’t there, with a couple of role guys taking center stage. They’d have some hard-working, fast-skating wingers to deal with, and there’s plenty of defensive forwards to choose from, too. But this isn’t a group that’ll inspire too much confidence.

We had to get creative on the blueline because the Czechs didn’t have enough defenders to fill the lineup. For example, both Spacek and Svozil are in the AHL. While the rules state players must be on an NHL roster as of Dec. 2, we’ll include these two as they’re on NHL contracts and looking darn good in the minors. John Ludvig is both Canadian and Czech, but was born in Liberec, so we’re putting him on this team.

Beyond that, there’s not a lot of depth to go around here. Hronek has had his ups and downs in Vancouver and is currently on the sidelines with an injury. But when he’s been healthy, he’s been a perfect complement alongside Hughes. He’ll do a lot of the heavy lifting with the puck on this pairing, with Rutta being the more shutdown option. Gudas can bring the boom, while Spacek and Jiricek can both move the puck around quite effectively.

In net, Dostal has been lights out for Anaheim this season and was named top goaltender at the 2024 World Championship. Vejmelka has looked solid in Utah, even if wins have been hard to come by. And any Chicago Blackhawks fans will tell you that Mrazek has been among their top players this year. Sure, this isn’t going to compete with Russia, but Dostal’s stats this year suggest he can hang with the best of them.

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What Russia, Czechia 4 Nations Face-Off rosters would look like

Team Russia

Team Czechia

Article presented by Fountain Tire

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