The 4 Nations Face-Off rosters have been launched, and now that the groups are public, it’s time to examine them and end with an influence rating for the 4 groups.
The event will start Feb. 12, 2025, and groups may have till then to make any modifications to their roster attributable to accidents. It has been a big time period since we’ve got had the chance to observe best-on-best hockey, and whereas there are definitely some nations and stars lacking, it is a nice begin.
Ahead Group Comparability
Canada
Workforce Canada is at all times a powerhouse, particularly on the subject of the forwards. There hasn’t been a time since 2005 that one in all Sidney Crosby or Connor McDavid wasn’t the unanimous finest participant within the NHL. Having them be the highest two facilities was a given, and following them within the lineup at heart is Brayden Level, who may problem for the Rocket Richard Trophy this season, and Anthony Cirelli, who will make for a superb fourth-line shut-down heart.
On the wings, there’s an unreal quantity of expertise. Nathan MacKinnon, who naturally performs heart, will possible be on the wing of Crosby and have Brad Marchand on the opposite aspect for an all-Nova Scotian line, with a large amount of talent and good two-way play.
Sam Reinhart, who at the moment leads the league in targets, Mark Stone, among the finest defensive forwards, and Mitch Marner, among the finest pure playmakers, will spherical out the highest finish of the ahead group very properly. Decrease within the lineup, Sam Bennett, Brandon Hagel, Travis Konecny, and Seth Jarvis will fill within the bottom-six wings, and having depth like that on a ahead group, even in a best-on-best event, is what wins video games.
There are some forwards that would definitely have a case to be on the workforce, however every of those forwards is greater than deserving, too.
USA
Workforce Canada’s largest competitors for the ahead group needs to be the USA. Offensive superstars Auston Matthews, Jack Eichel, Jake Guentzel, Matthew Tkachuk, Matt Boldy, and Kyle Connor will possible cleared the path on the high of the ahead group. There isn’t any doubt that these gamers can rating targets, they usually have an awesome mixture of pace, physicality, and two-way play to deliver alongside the scoring menace.
Deeper within the traces, gamers like Brady Tkachuk, Chris Kreider, Brock Nelson, and Vincent Trocheck will likely be robust to play towards. These gamers are ones who can put on you down, however after all, nonetheless have some wonderful offensive abilities.
Associated: Workforce USA Declares 4 Nations Face-Off Roster
Rounding out the forwards are J.T. Miller and Jack Hughes. Each gamers have some wonderful offensive instincts and might go away any participant within the mud behind them as they create offense all on their very own.
Workforce USA can come fairly near matching the offensive output from Canada, however the place they shine is the toughness. Canada has some gamers, however USA may have much more, and are in a position to deploy them in waves and at all times have a thorn on the ice.
There isn’t a lot to complain about with Workforce USA’s ahead teams, both. Some may level to the defensive reliability of a number of the forwards, however there are some underrated defensive gamers there together with Matthews, Dylan Larkin, and Trocheck. They’re greater than able to carrying a powerful defensive workload on high of being offensive.
Sweden
The ahead group for Workforce Sweden has a extremely robust mixture of bodily, defensive, and scoring gamers. When it comes to two-way forwards, they undoubtedly take the cake. Gamers like Elias Pettersson, Elias Lindholm, Joel Eriksson Ek, and Adrian Kempe are a number of the finest two-way forwards within the recreation, however can definitely chip in on the goal-scoring, too.
Their high gamers, Filip Forsberg, Mika Zibanejad, William Nylander, Jesper Bratt, and Lucas Raymond are all high-octane scoring gamers, and can be capable of take over any recreation. Seeing a three-goal efficiency from any of those gamers wouldn’t shock anyone, they usually all play with nice pace and talent.
To spherical out their workforce, Viktor Arvidsson, William Karlsson, Gustav Nyquist, and Leo Carlsson all play various kinds of hockey however can mix in properly with almost any participant. Arvidsson is an offense-first one, Carlsson is an efficient two-way participant with good physicality, Karlsson is a shot-first participant, and Nyquist is a good playmaker.
The Swedish workforce is filled with versatile gamers and has a superb defensive ahead group. Lots of Swedish stars comply with a defensively robust but offensively gifted prototype, which has at all times allowed Sweden to be aggressive in worldwide tournaments regardless of not essentially having big-name gamers like USA and Canada.
Finland
Similarly to Workforce Sweden, the Finnish workforce may have plenty of high-end two-way gamers. Aleksander Barkov, the highest defensive ahead in the complete league, is joined by facilities Roope Hintz, Sebastian Aho, and Anton Lundell. All 4 facilities might be dominant on both aspect of the puck. There may be plenty of pleasure in a whole recreation for these Finnish centermen.
On the left wing, Mikael Granlund is having an unbelievable season and has seemingly rejuvenated his profession with the San Jose Sharks, and has grow to be a 60+ level participant once more. Artturi Lehkonen and Teuvo Teravainen are robust skaters, with nice offensive instincts, and Eetu Luostarinen performed a giant function within the backside six of final season’s Stanley Cup Champions, the Florida Panthers.
The fitting wing consists of some gamers with a number of the finest photographs within the NHL. Mikko Rantanen and Patrik Laine have unbelievable goal-scoring capabilities, and whereas they haven’t proven to be one of the best defensively, there’s plenty of that already with the highest gamers. Under them will likely be Kaapo Kakko and Joel Armia, who’re each nice defensively and can be utilized properly on the penalty kill.
Finland may have an awesome alternative to upset the opposite three nations with their defensive presence. Pure shut-down hockey towards the most important names within the league is spectacular, but when any workforce can do it, it is going to be Finland.
Protection Group Comparability
Canada
Canada had plenty of transferring items when it got here to the protection group. Some gamers lacking from the record embody Evan Bouchard and Noah Dobson, who’ve established themselves as some fairly high-end defensemen however aren’t essentially the sort Canada was searching for.
The pairing of Cale Makar and Devon Toews has labored for the Colorado Avalanche, and can possible transition seamlessly into the worldwide event. Makar is one of the best defenseman on the planet, and has nice abilities offensively and defensively, and is unquestionably the highest possibility. Toews has proven to be among the finest within the league as properly, however hasn’t had a powerful season up to now.
Associated: Workforce Canada Declares 4 Nations Face-Off Roster
One other duo from the identical workforce is Shea Theodore and Alex Pietrangelo. Each defensemen have been nice over the previous few seasons, and helped carry the Vegas Golden Knights to a Stanley Cup. Pietrangelo has slowed down a bit, however he’s nonetheless an awesome defensive possibility with physicality. Theodore has some higher puck-moving abilities, however definitely isn’t a slouch defensively both.
The opposite three defensemen named to the workforce are Josh Morrissey, Colton Parayko, and Travis Sanheim. Morrissey has taken some big steps over the previous three seasons, and on high of his robust defensive efforts, he’s incomes much more factors, too. The identical may very well be mentioned about Sanheim, who has been an awesome possibility for the Philadelphia Flyers. Parayko was a little bit of a shock, however his physicality, measurement, and defensive play makes plenty of sense to combine into the group.
Canada has plenty of very robust puck-moving choices, however none of those defensemen sacrifice protection to do it.
USA
The American defensive group has the second-best defenseman on the planet, and is fairly near taking the crown. Quinn Hughes is an outstanding two-way participant who scores at a superb fee and performs robust defensively. Following him within the roster is Adam Fox, one other among the finest within the recreation at each ends of the ice.
Behind these two, and an ideal associate for every one, is Jaccob Slavin and Charlie McAvoy. Each play very properly defensive video games, and whereas McAvoy can chip in offensively, they each have distinctive types of being a shut-down defensemen.
Rounding the group out is Zach Werenski, Brock Faber, and Noah Hanifin. Werenski is having the finest season of his profession and is the most important a part of the success the Columbus Blue Jackets are discovering this season. Faber burst into the league and whereas enjoying extra minutes than virtually anyone else, dominated the ice each time he touched it. As for Hanifin, he is a good two-way defenseman who might be trusted by anyone in any function.
Workforce USA has one of the best defensive group on this event, and whereas some will argue Canada must be there, and even Sweden, it needs to be the People with how huge, cellular and gifted every of their defensemen are.
Sweden
Sweden introduced three defensemen to their workforce previous to the total roster announcement. Erik Karlsson and Victor Hedman had been two of one of the best defensemen within the league all through the 2010’s, and there was no shock to see them on the record. Karlsson is among the finest pure offensive defensemen the league has ever seen, and Hedman is a particularly well-rounded participant who performs with nice ardour and physicality.
Gustav Forsling was the opposite one named early, and over the previous few seasons, he has gone from a journeyman to one of many high defensemen within the league and can now characterize his nation as an awesome defensive participant.
Associated: Workforce Sweden’s 4 Nations Face-Off Roster Introduced
Behind these three is Rasmus Andersson, one of the underrated defensemen within the league, Mattias Ekholm and Jonas Brodin, two of one of the best shut-down defensemen within the league, and Rasmus Dahlin, who’s a younger up-and-coming celebrity defenseman.
This can be a defense-first group for positive, and with the choices they’ve, Sweden may have a really harmful blueline.
Finland
The Finnish defensive group isn’t as robust as the opposite elements of their roster. The highest of the group has Miro Heiskanen and Esa Lindell, two Dallas Stars defensemen who play excellent, structured hockey. They each are robust defensively, however Heiskanen provides a degree of offense the Finnish workforce will want as they gained’t get a lot from the remainder of the group.
Olli Maatta, Jani Hakanpaa, Niko Mikkola, and Lindell all play an analogous model of recreation. Huge, very bodily, robust defensive minds. They gained’t generate very a lot offense in any respect, which isn’t essentially an issue if Heiskanen and the forwards can get the job achieved, however they’re very robust to play towards.
Juuso Valimaki and Rasmus Ristolainen are the opposite two defensemen, and each play a great two-way recreation and might transfer the puck properly.
This defensive group goes to go one in all two methods. They may both be a superb defensive group that doesn’t enable any alternatives towards, or they are going to be uncovered for his or her pace and lack of offense and battle.
Goaltending Comparability
Canada
The weakest place on Workforce Canada is unquestionably their goaltending. Prior to now, Canadians have at all times had the posh of having the ability to decide goalies like Patrick Roy, Martin Brodeur, Carey Worth, Marc-Andre Fleury, and the record goes on and on. Now, there isn’t any dominant Canadian goalie, and whereas every of those goalies has had robust showings at factors in the previous couple of years, Adin Hill, Jordan Binnington, and Sam Montembault aren’t elite goaltenders within the NHL.
Binnington gained the 2019 Stanley Cup with the St. Louis Blues, and since then he has had some nice seasons, however hasn’t been constant, and with a brief event like this, it’s worthwhile to be dependable.
Adin Hill gained the Cup with the Golden Knights however hasn’t performed sufficient hockey in a single stretch to be convincing that he’s an elite goalie both. With Montembault, he began this season very robust, and whereas the Montreal Canadiens are a weak workforce, he has sustained good stats.
There isn’t a ton of confidence in these goalies to match up with the choices from the opposite nations, however they’re all definitely able to stealing video games and enjoying properly.
USA
An unreal crop of goaltenders for Workforce USA is what may make them victory on this event. Connor Hellebuyck, one of the best goalie within the NHL, simply gained the Vezina Trophy, and is simply the second lively goalie to win it a number of occasions.
Jake Oettinger and Jeremy Swayman, without having one of the best seasons of their careers, are within the Vezina dialog virtually each single season, and must be for a few years to come back.
The USA may have one of the best trio of goaltenders we’ve got seen in worldwide play in a really very long time. Even when their protection, which is as robust as may very well be, isn’t working, they’ve three of one of the best goalies on the planet to backstop them.
Sweden
Workforce Sweden has an awesome trio as properly, and whereas on paper, it could be a step down from USA’s, all it takes is a couple of good video games in a event this brief.
Their starter will possible be Filip Gustavsson, who is among the finest goalies this season, and the third Minnesota Wild participant on the workforce. If that isn’t working, confirmed goaltenders Jacob Markstrom and Linus Ullmark may have his again as they’ve every dominated at factors over the past decade.
The Swedish workforce, with their goalies and mixed workforce protection, may have an awesome shot at minimizing targets towards on this event.
Finland
Juuse Saros is unquestionably the highest goalie for Workforce Finland. He has been a perennial Vezina candidate, and has been one of the dependable goalies within the league for the previous variety of years.
Associated: Workforce Finland Names 4-Nations Face-Off Roster
Totally different from the opposite groups, Finland has one sure-fire starter and two lower-tier goalies. Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen and Kevin Lankinen haven’t confirmed themselves to be nice, dependable goalies, however this season, they’ve been essentially the most useful asset to every of their respective groups.
In an analogous manner Sweden has it, the Finnish workforce can construct on robust defensive workforce play, and Saros is greater than able to dominating a event.
Energy Rating
4. Sweden
Whereas the Swedish workforce has a ton of nice items, so do the opposite groups. One in all them ahs to complete final, and whereas this event will possible be very shut and Sweden may very well be simply as prone to win the entire thing, I’ve them ranked final.
3. Finland
The robust defensive play from Finland will land them in third place. They’ve so many elite defensive gamers in addition to two of one of the best goal-scorers in hockey, and backed by their bodily defensemen, they are going to be a tricky workforce to play towards.
2. Canada
It would come right down to the goaltending for Canada. It’s totally doable for Canada to win, they usually stands out as the favourite in lots of different rankings, however the degree of physicality will not be sufficient to compete with a number of the different groups on this event.
1. USA
Elite goal-scoring, nice bodily play, robust defensive minds, and one of the best goaltending is what is going to lead USA to victory within the 4 Nations Face-Off.
