Team Canada’s management team was basically given a clean slate to build a roster for the 4 Nations Face-Off.
With so much time having passed since the 2016 World Cup, hockey’s last best-on-best event, there were bound to be only a handful of holdovers for a country that has emerged victorious in four of the past five men’s tournaments featuring top players.
That gave general manager Don Sweeney plenty of leeway in finalizing a roster of 13 forwards, seven defensemen and three goaltenders for the Feb. 12 to 20 event. Working alongside a management team that featured 2026 Olympic GM Doug Armstrong, plus Jim Nill, Julien BriseBois, Kyle Dubas and Scott Salmond, Sweeney finalized the picks over the weekend.
On Wednesday, they will formally be announced across the United States and Canada on TNT and Sportsnet at 6:30 p.m. ET.
Narrowing down the list proved to be a comprehensive task that saw the management staff heavily scout the first eight weeks of the 2024-25 NHL regular season. They also held regular status calls and met face-to-face over a couple of days in Toronto last month. The goal was to identify the group best suited to come together for a compressed event, rather than simply taking all the top scorers. Championship pedigree was also an important consideration when making selections.
“We’re going to take the best players,” Sweeney told The Athletic’s Pierre LeBrun after accepting the job. “But they do have to be able to understand and embrace their roles. And personalities and character, all the things we all try to assess every day, will be important parts of all this.”
The coaching staff, led by Jon Cooper, had input as well. There were debates around the fringes right up until the roster had to be submitted.
“If it was a horse race, it would be a photo finish. That close,” Cooper told reporters in Tampa, Fla., over the weekend. “It’s been a process, but a super cool process. It’s amazing, the work that’s been put in by management. And it’s been extremely, extremely thorough.”
So who made the cut?
Team Canada’s management team has kept its cards close to the vest as the announcement approaches, but in speaking to dozens of sources across the league early this week, The Athletic has gotten a good sense of many of the inclusions — and the conversations around the final calls.
Sidney Crosby and Brad Marchand, who were among the initial six Canadian players announced in June, are believed to be the only returning two forwards who were part of the 2016 World Cup win. Alex Pietrangelo is believed to be the only returning defenseman.
That makes for many new faces spread across the rest of the roster. Here’s what we’re hearing about how the team came together.
Forwards
Named in June: Sidney Crosby, Nathan MacKinnon, Brad Marchand, Connor McDavid, Brayden Point
Presumed shoo-ins: Mitch Marner, Sam Reinhart, Mark Stone
The only real question about Stone’s inclusion came down to health because the Vegas Golden Knights captain has been sidelined since Nov. 6 with a lower-body injury.
On that front, it was encouraging to see him back on the ice at practice this week. Should Stone or any other player wind up being unavailable before the 4 Nations Face-Off begins, the Canadian management team has the option to call up a replacement. So he gets a roster spot.
🗿🗿 Mark Stone is skating with the team at practice today! pic.twitter.com/mQb4W9Bhwg
— Vegas Golden Knights (@GoldenKnights) December 2, 2024
That leaves five more openings.
Brandon Hagel, the Tampa Bay Lightning left winger, almost assuredly has his hands on one of them. Playing for Cooper, he’s trusted with significant penalty-kill and power-play responsibilities, and he’s among the top point-producing Canadians to boot. A five-assist game performance against Colorado last week certainly didn’t hurt his chances.
That leaves a potential top-nine that looks something like this:
Reinhart – McDavid – Marner
Marchand – Crosby – MacKinnon
Hagel – Point – Stone
There are plenty of deserving candidates for the four remaining spots, including Sam Bennett, Anthony Cirelli, Travis Konecny, Seth Jarvis, Zach Hyman, Mark Scheifele, Nick Suzuki, John Tavares, Tom Wilson, Matt Duchene, Steven Stamkos and Connor Bedard.
Tavares and Duchene have both had strong starts this season and carry significant Team Canada experience, but we can’t see them edging out a younger option at this stage of their careers. The same goes for Stamkos, who is still finding his footing after the move to Nashville.
Scheifele’s elite offensive instincts don’t slot him ideally as a fourth-liner.
The sense is that that role is more likely to be given to Cirelli, who regularly kills penalties and like Hagel, has the trust of the Lightning coaching staff. Bennett’s gritty game and Stanley Cup pedigree also hold appeal, while Konecny’s versatility and strong start caught the attention of management. They scouted the Flyers extensively in recent weeks.
There is a philosophical question about how the 13th forward role is best filled, but it’s believed to be going to Jarvis over someone like the 19-year-old Bedard, who will undoubtedly be a Team Canada mainstay down the road. Remember that Crosby was passed over as a teenager for the 2006 Turin Olympics.
Defense
Named in June: Cale Makar
Presumed shoo-ins: Alex Pietrangelo, Shea Theodore, Devon Toews
When you’ve got the opportunity to take two sets of teammates with Stanley Cup rings and an extensive track record of playing together, you take it. No reason to overthink those selections even if Team Canada’s coaching staff winds up running with different pairings.
Next up, Travis Sanheim.
The left-shooting Philadelphia Flyers defenseman lines up primarily on the right side but brings an added layer of versatility as someone who could comfortably be deployed on either. He also kills penalties and has logged more minutes in the NHL than any other Canadian skater this season, building on the massive steps he took in his game last season.
That leaves only two other spots.
Some candidates: Josh Morrissey, Colton Parayko, Drew Doughty, Evan Bouchard, Noah Dobson, Morgan Rielly, Dougie Hamilton, MacKenzie Weegar, Owen Power.
The challenge with this aspect of the roster is identifying the right fits since Makar will naturally slot as the team’s power-play quarterback. Different elements were prioritized to round out the group.
Our belief is Morrissey and Parayko — two other big-minute munchers — get the nod here. Morrissey has been a big driver of Winnipeg’s early-season success and is a smooth skater who can be counted on for two-way play, while Parayko brings penalty-killing chops and is another player with big-game experience and Stanley Cup pedigree.
Doughty had an inside track to a spot on this team before suffering a fractured ankle in October. The two-time Olympic gold medalist could still be another six weeks away from returning to action with the Los Angeles Kings.
However, he’ll remain on management’s radar as a possible injury fill-in assuming he can get back up to speed before the 4 Nations Face-Off gets underway.
Goalies
Presumed shoo-ins: Jordan Binnington, Adin Hill
While there has been considerable hand-wringing among Canadian fans and media about the state of the country’s goaltending, the concern wasn’t nearly as pronounced behind the scenes.
In Binnington and Hill, they have two Stanley Cup winners.
The feeling is that a Canadian goaltender just needs to avoid allowing a bad goal in this type of event while playing behind an incredibly high-end and predictable team. There aren’t likely to be major defensive breakdowns. They won’t be sending anyone out to the crease with the idea they need to steal a game.
“I don’t think we share that same angst,” Sweeney told The Athletic in October. “We’ve got guys that have proven they can win at the highest level. And we’ll have guys that are going to play well as we’re going through it. So I don’t think we quite see things the same way (as media and fans).”
There were many different directions they could have gone for the final spot.
The candidates: Samuel Montembeault, Logan Thompson, Cam Talbot, Stuart Skinner, Marc-Andre Fleury, Darcy Kuemper, Joey Daccord.
While Montembeault’s numbers may not have popped this season playing behind a Montreal Canadiens team that has had its defensive struggles, he’s believed to have been tabbed for the No. 3 role.
At age 28, he’s still relatively young and will be a candidate for future national team duty. Plus he was already the goaltender of record for Canada’s gold-medal win at the 2023 IIHF World Hockey Championship.
This goaltending trio represents a departure on a number of levels from Team Canada’s past. Not only does it not feature a surefire Hall of Famer like the country always did when it had Carey Price, Roberto Luongo and Martin Brodeur donning the Maple Leaf, but all three players have a legitimate chance of seizing the crease depending on their performance between now and Feb. 12.
Takeaways
Canada may not be the favorite entering the 4 Nations Face-Off, but no one should be surprised if it comes out on top.
Rolling out McDavid, MacKinnon, Crosby and Makar is a massive luxury.
While acknowledging recently that the United States is probably the team to beat on paper, Team Canada stalwart Shea Weber highlighted the challenge facing all four countries entering the event.
“I think the biggest thing will be which team can come together in a short little tournament like that and play like a team,” Weber said.
In the past, with a core of players accustomed to playing and winning together, that was always a Canadian strength.
The future is soon to be written.
(Top photo of Zach Hyman and Sam Bennett: Perry Nelson / USA Today)
