After hockey fans went many years without best-on-best international competition, the NHL’s 4 Nations Face-off will see the best players from Canada, Finland, Sweden and the United States compete in Montreal and Boston from Feb. 12-20.
Each nation has named six players to its roster, with the rest to be named closer to the tournament. All four teams have a plethora of talent, so for the first time in nearly a decade, fans will get to see the best players in the world compete against each other on the international stage.
Sidney Crosby, Nathan MacKinnon and Connor McDavid skating for Canada. Auston Matthews, Jack Eichel and the Tkachuk brothers for Team USA. The stacked blue line for Sweden, and two-way center depth for Finland.
Before the NHL season gets rolling, here is our projection of what each of the four rosters will look like:
United States
The national team development program has done a fantastic job of developing American superstars. The reigning Rocket Richard, Norris and Vezina Trophy winners and the best goaltending depth in the tournament is a good start. The Americans are well set up at every position to have success, while the other three teams have weaknesses in one position.
It really doesn’t matter which centers play the wing, but Matthews, Eichel and Dylan Larkin make the most sense to be permanent fixtures in the middle for the all-around game. The luxury of a 40-goal man (Brock Boeser) as a spare — should any of the American forwards falter — is quite something. The forwards are likely to come down to who is in the best form when it comes to decision time, as the U.S. could take any of Clayton Keller, Cole Caufield or Vincent Trocheck. The gap between those on the team and those who just missed is razor thin, and it is easy to see a scenario where any number of those players make the team due to performance or injury.
The defensemen were relatively easy to select, with the Norris Trophy winners expected to the…
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