4 Nations Face-Off

The 4 Nations Face-Off was announced at a press conference at the 2024 NHL All-Star Game on February 2, 2024, by NHL commissioner Gary Bettman.'''''' Also present at the press conference were NHL Players' Association (NHLPA) executive director Marty Walsh and four NHL players: Connor McDavid (Canada), Sebastian Aho (Finland), Elias Pettersson (Sweden), and Auston Matthews (United States). At the press conference, Bettman announced plans for NHL participation in international best-on-best tournaments in coming years. In 2025, players would participate in the 4Nations Face-Off, a tournament between NHL players representing Canada, Finland, Sweden, and the United States, which would be held in lieu of the 2025 NHL All-Star Game. Bettman stated that NHL players would play in the 2026 and 2030 Winter Olympics, after they had not been released for the 2018 and 2022 tournaments. Bettman also stated the league would host the next World Cups of Hockey in 2028 and 2032; the most recent edition was held in 2016. At the time of the tournament's announcement, all participating teams were ranked in the top six by ice hockey's worldwide governing body, the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF): Canada (1), Finland (2), United States (4), and Sweden (6). Germany, while ranked fifth, did not have enough NHL players to create a roster. Czech forward David Pastrnak called the omission of Czechia a "huge disappointment", though he said he understood there was limited time to organize the tournament. In early reporting on the tournament's format, journalist Greg Wyshynski wrote that the competition could not be considered best-on-best due to the omission of players from other ice hockey powers. The tournament took place among heightened political tensions between Canada and the United States due to American president Donald Trump's call for annexing Canada and plan to impose tariffs on the country. Before the final, Trump posted on Truth Social stating he would be calling the United States team and that "[Canada] will someday, maybe soon, become our cherished, and very important, Fifty First State". Before Canada's round-robin game against the United States in Montreal, fans booed the American anthem, which was responded to with fans booing the Canadian anthem in the final in Boston. Anthem singer Chantal Kreviazuk changed one of the lines of the Canadian anthem to sing "that only us command" instead of "in all of us command" in response to Trump's annexation rhetoric. Canada's coach Jon Cooper stated "I just hope Canada’s proud, because every player in that room is proud to be a Canadian, and yeah, did we need a win, not only like our team, but Canada needed a win. The players beared that on their shoulders and they took it seriously. This one was different, this wasn't a win for themselves, this was a win for 40+ million people and the guys knew it and they delivered." The political tension in the tournament between the United States and Canada was compared to the 1972 Summit Series between Canada and the Soviet Union. ==Venues==

The league did not initially announce the tournament venues, but stated that there would be two: one in Canada and one in the United States. The league confirmed on June 8, 2024, that the venues would be Bell Centre in Montreal and TD Garden in Boston, after months of reports by various media sources. ==Format==

Two practice days, February10 and 11, were held prior to the tournament. From February12–20, seven total games were played. The tournament was held in a round-robin format. Each team played three games, and the two teams with the most points advanced to a one-game final. • Head-to-head result (only if tie between two teams); • Total regulation wins; • Total regulation and overtime wins; • Total goal difference; • Total goals scored; • Goal difference in games played between tied teams; • Goals scored in games played between tied teams; • Most even-strength goals for in games played between tied teams; • Fewest even strength goals against in games played between tied teams. ==Teams==

Teams consisted of 23 players: 20 skaters (forwards and defencemen) and 3 goaltenders. Because the NHL did not have an agreement directly with the IIHF for the 4Nations Face-Off (only an agreement with the governing bodies which are IIHF members), the tournament could not include non-NHL players. The remaining players were announced on December4, with the complete rosters of Team Sweden and Team Finland announced at 2:00 p.m. ET on the NHL Network and ESPN's SportsCenter, and the complete rosters of Team USA and Team Canada announced at 6:30 p.m. during pregame broadcasts on Sportsnet, TNT, and TVA Sports. Initially, no players from the Seattle Kraken or Washington Capitals were selected to participate in the 4 Nations Face-Off; however, the Kraken gained a representative when they acquired Finland's Kaapo Kakko from the New York Rangers on December 18, 2024. About a week before the tournament, the San Jose Sharks lost their representation in the event by trading Finland's Mikael Granlund to the Dallas Stars, making the Capitals and the Sharks the only two teams to not appear in the event. Canada In April 2024, it was announced that Don Sweeney and Jim Nill were appointed by Doug Armstrong as Canada's general manager and associate general manager, respectively. Both were also named assistant general managers for the 2026 Olympic team. On June 25, Jon Cooper was named Canada's head coach for both the 4 Nations Face-Off and 2026 Winter Olympics. Rick Tocchet, Bruce Cassidy, and Peter DeBoer joined Cooper as assistant coaches for the 4 Nations Face-Off. On December 4, 2024, the entire roster for Canada was released. On January 26, 2025, defenseman Alex Pietrangelo withdrew from the tournament; Drew Doughty was announced as his replacement on February 9. On January 30, 2025, Team Canada named Sidney Crosby as its team captain for the 4 Nations Face-Off, with Cale Makar and Connor McDavid serving as alternate captains. After an injury to Shea Theodore in Canada's first game, and Makar facing a potential absence due to illness, Thomas Harley was named as emergency alternate for Canada; after Makar was officially ruled out for Canada's second game, Harley formally joined the roster, playing for Canada against the United States. Brad Marchand served as alternate captain in the absence of Makar. Head coach: Jon Cooper Finland Jere Lehtinen was the general manager, and his assistants were Mikko Koivu and Jarmo Kekalainen. Antti Pennanen was the head coach, and Tuomo Ruutu was the assistant coach. On December 4, 2024, the entire roster for Finland was released. On January 30, 2025, Aleksander Barkov was named captain for Team Finland; Sebastian Aho, Mikael Granlund, and Mikko Rantanen were named alternate captains. On the same day, defenceman Miro Heiskanen was ruled out of the tournament due to injury. On February 2, he and defenceman Jani Hakanpaa, who was also injured, were replaced by Urho Vaakanainen and Henri Jokiharju. On February 9, defenceman Rasmus Ristolainen was ruled out due to injury, and was replaced by Nikolas Matinpalo. Head coach: Antti Pennanen Sweden The general manager for Sweden was Josef Boumedienne, along with assistant general manager was Patric Hornqvist. was the head coach, and Daniel Alfredsson served as an assistant coach. On December 4, 2024, the full roster for Sweden was released. On January 29, 2025, goaltender Jacob Markstrom withdrew from the tournament due to injury, and was replaced by Samuel Ersson. On February 3, forward William Karlsson also withdrew due to injury, being replaced by Rickard Rakell. On January 30, Victor Hedman was named team captain for Team Sweden; Mattias Ekholm, Erik Karlsson, and William Nylander were selected as alternate captains. In May, Mike Sullivan was named head coach of the team for both competitions. John Hynes, John Tortorella, and David Quinn are the assistant coaches. On December 4, 2024, the entire roster for the United States was released. On January 30, 2025, Auston Matthews was named captain for Team USA; Charlie McAvoy and Matthew Tkachuk were chosen as its alternate captains. On February 9, defenseman Quinn Hughes withdrew from the tournament due to a lower-body injury, and was replaced by Jake Sanderson. On February 18, Quinn Hughes attempted to rejoin the tournament while Charlie McAvoy withdrew from the championship game after suffering an upper-body injury during the game against Finland, but ultimately did not rejoin and Team USA added Tage Thompson and Brett Pesce as emergency backups. Jack Eichel, Brock Nelson, and Brady Tkachuk served as alternate captains in the absence of Matthews, McAvoy, and Matthew Tkachuk. Head coach: Mike Sullivan ==Officials==

The NHL selected four of its referees and four linesmen to officiate the tournament: ;Referees • Gord Dwyer • Jean Hebert • Wes McCauley • Chris Rooney ;Linesmen • Scott Cherrey • Ryan Daisy • Kiel Murchison • Jonny Murray Standby referee Pierre Lambert officiated two periods after replacing Wes McCauley during the first intermission of the Sweden–United States game. ==Results==

:Note: All times listed are in EST (UTC−5). Round-robin Final ==Statistics==

Scoring leaders The following players led the tournament in points. Leading goaltenders The following goaltenders led the tournament in save percentage (minimum 40% of team's total ice time). ==Broadcasting==

The tournament was broadcast by the NHL's North American rightsholders. It was televised exclusively in Canada on Sportsnet in English and TVA Sports in French, and streamed on Sportsnet+. In the United States, the tournament was split between the ESPN networks and TNT Sports. TNT Sports' games were simulcast on TNT and TruTV, and streamed on Max via Bleacher Report sports. Canadian rightsholder, Sportsnet, served as host broadcaster for all games, including those held in the United States. The tournament was highly viewed in North America; in the United States, the championship game was seen by an average of 9.3 million viewers, overtaking game seven of the 2019 Stanley Cup Final as the fourth-highest rated NHL telecast of all time (behind game six of the 1973 Stanley Cup Final). Sportsnet reported an average of 5.7 million viewers in the championship game, ranking behind only game seven of the 2024 Stanley Cup Final as the second-highest rated hockey telecast in network history. ==References==