The Four Nations Face-Off is less than a week away and the fans are excited to support their home country starting next Thursday. The event will start on February 12th and end on February 20th. These Nations include the USA, Canada, Sweden, and Finland.
The Four Nations Face-Off will be a four-team tournament including a point system. Each team plays three games and the two teams with the most points go to a one-game playoff final. A regulation win equals three points, an overtime/shootout win equals two points, an overtime/shootout loss is one point, and a regulation loss is zero points.
The Americans are led by Auston Matthews, Matthew Tkachuk, Zack Werenski, Quinn Hughes, and Connor Hellebuyck. The Americans are arguably the best team with not only their forwards but also the best goalie core out of the four nations, led by last year’s Vezina winner Connor Hellebuyck. Hellebuyck is having another strong season and even as a goalie, he has a good shot at winning league MVP. The US also has Jake Oettinger and Jeremy Swayman as secondary options. The Americans also have a defense that consists of arguably the two best defensive defensemen Charlie McAvoy and Jaccob Slavin. They also have three elite offensive defensemen Zack Werenski, Adam Fox, and Quinn Hughes.
The US is going to put on a clinic with the strength they have on the defensive side.
Team Canada is led by Sidney Crosby, Connor McDavid, Nathan Mackinnon, and Cale Makar.
It is to nobody’s surprise that Team Canada has the strongest offensive core out of the four nations. While they might not have more well-rounded defensemen or goaltenders they do have Cale Makar who is a great offensive defenseman and can play exceptional defense, Connor Mcdavid has been named league MVP multiple times, Mackinnon was named league MVP last year, and Sidney Crosby has been one of the best players for the past 20 years. While they might not have the better defensive core, they can still absolutely tear up anybody’s defense.
The Swedes on the other hand are not the best team but are certainly underlooked. They have guys like William Nylander, Victor Hedmen, Rasmus Dahlin, and Elias Pettersson. William Nylander already has 30 goals this season and 52 points. On the other hand, Pettersson has had a bit of a down year but he had a great past two seasons and should succeed with a guy like Nylander to support him in the Four Nations Face-Off. Sweden also has a well-rounded defensive core with guys like Victor Hedman and Rasmus Dahlin paving the way for the men in yellow and blue. Hedmen is a former Norris Trophy winner and a two-time Stanley Cup winner who has proven for years that he is at the top of the list when it comes to Norris Trophy nominees year in and year out. Rasmus Dahlin is a young defenseman and a former first-overall pick back in 2018. He has excellence in both skating and playmaking. They also have a great goaltending core that consists of Filip Gustavsson and Linus Ullmark. Filip Gustavsson has had a great season for Minnesota, posting a 2.66 GAA and a .913 save percentage. Linus Ullmark left off exactly where he was last year and as a matter of fact, he improved. Ullmark has a GAA of 2.35 and a save percentage of .915 in his first season for the Ottawa Senators.
The Finns got hit with a couple of injuries before the tournament, losing top defensemen Miro Heiskanen and defensemen Jani Hakanpaa for the tournament. Team Finland is a very forward-heavy team. The Finns have a strong center core that is led by Alexander Barkov and Sebastian Aho. They have Mikko Rantanen, Patrik Laine, and Teuvo Teräväinen on the wings and Juuse Saros between the posts. The Finnish are going to be the underdogs heading into this tournament as they lost their top defensemen in Miro Heiskanen, but with their forward core, they could give the other three teams a run for their money.
