The NHL is on break until a week from Saturday, but hockey fans are in for a treat over the next nine days as best-on-best international hockey finally returns with the 4 Nations Face-Off, beginning Wednesday night.
The United States, Canada, Sweden and Finland will compete in a round-robin tournament, with each team playing three games in the group stage. The two teams with the best record at the end of the group stage will play in the final.
The first four games of the tournament will be held at the Bell Centre in Montreal before the tournament then moves to Boston’s TD Garden next week for the last two group stage games and next Thursday’s final.
Here is the full schedule, including broadcast information:
At Bell Centre, Montreal
Wednesday, Feb. 12
Canada vs. Sweden, 8 p.m. ET; MAX, truTV, TNT
Thursday, Feb. 13
United States vs. Finland, 8 p.m. ET; ESPN, ESPN+
Saturday, Feb. 15
Finland vs. Sweden, 1 p.m. ET; ABC, ESPN+
United States vs. Canada, 8 p.m. ET; ABC, ESPN+
At TD Garden, Boston
Monday, Feb. 17
Canada vs. Finland, 1 p.m. ET; MAX, truTV, TNT
Sweden vs. United States, 8 p.m. ET; MAX, truTV, TNT
Thursday, Feb. 20
Championship game, 8 p.m. ET; ESPN, ESPN+
Here are five things to watch for during the 4 Nations Face-Off:
A long overdue return
It really is a travesty that we’ve gone nine years – since the 2016 World Cup of Hockey – without best-on-best international hockey. The NHL prevented players from going to the Olympics in 2018 and 2022, and a planned 2020 World Cup of Hockey fell apart amid CBA negotiations between the NHL and NHLPA (and probably would have been canceled by COVID anyways).
These tournaments always deliver terrific hockey and some incredible moments. That 2016 World Cup featured Patrice Bergeron and Brad Marchand scoring the tying and winning goals, respectively, late in regulation to lift Canada past Team Europe in the final. The 2014 Olympics had T.J. Oshie’s shootout heroics for Team USA against Russia in the group stage. The 2010 Olympics had Sidney Crosby’s golden goal for Canada against the U.S. in the gold medal game.
Fortunately, the NHL and NHLPA are planning for more frequent best-on-best international hockey moving forward, with this tournament kicking off a run that will include a return to the Olympics in 2026, a World Cup in 2028 and, if all goes well, a regular rotation from there that will feature one of those two tournaments every two years.
How big will it feel?
Of course, this isn’t quite the full-blown event that the Olympics or even the World Cup of Hockey are. There are only four countries involved. There’s no Russia, due in large part to that country’s ongoing invasion of Ukraine. There’s no Czech Republic, much to the chagrin of Bruins star David Pastrnak. Because this is just an NHL tournament with no IIHF involvement, the likes of Germany, Slovakia, Switzerland and others would not have been able to fill a complete roster.
That probably dampens the excitement level a little bit, especially outside of the four countries involved. Anecdotally, it also feels like a lot of NHL fans are approaching this tournament cautiously. It feels like a lot of people are a little unsure about how much they should care, or whether they even do care.
My guess is that’s going to change once the games start. If you’re a hockey fan, you’re going to flip it on to check it out, and you’ll quickly be reminded how great this kind of international hockey is. You’re telling me you’re not going to watch USA-Canada Saturday night? And if we get a rematch in the final, you’re not going to be kicking yourself for not buying tickets before prices went through the roof?
Speaking of tickets, there are still some available (via Ticketmaster here), although the cheapest for the final are $200. Ticket sales were a little slower than anticipated early on, but it seems like they eventually picked up quite a bit in both Boston and Montreal. The USA-Finland and Sweden-Finland games in Montreal are the only ones still lagging slightly behind.
The 4 Bruins
The Bruins will be represented in the tournament by four players: Charlie McAvoy and Jeremy Swayman for Team USA, Brad Marchand for Canada, and Elias Lindholm for Sweden.
Swayman is the one you’ll see the least, as he projects to be America’s third-string goalie behind starter Connor Hellebuyck and backup Jake Oettinger. In such a short tournament, it would seem unlikely that he plays at all.
The other three Bruins should all have key roles to play. McAvoy, who is an alternate captain for the U.S., has paired with Zach Werenski, who is having a Norris-caliber season for Columbus, in Team USA’s early practices. That pairing will have a big role to play on a defense that was dealt a late blow with the loss of reigning Norris Trophy winner Quinn Hughes to injury. McAvoy probably won’t get power-play time like he does in Boston, but should be part of the penalty kill.
Marchand was on a dominant top line with Sidney Crosby and Patrice Bergeron in the 2016 World Cup. This time around, it appears he’ll be starting on Canada’s third line with Tampa Bay’s Brayden Point and Carolina’s Seth Jarvis. Yes, that’s the Brayden Point who is tied for third in the NHL in goals centering the third line. Oh, the things you can do when you also have Connor McDavid, Nathan MacKinnon and Sidney Crosby in your lineup…
Lindholm, who is in the midst of a tough first season in Boston, has been centering Sweden’s fourth line in practice. He surely dreamt of playing higher in the lineup than that when this tournament was announced, but Sweden is loaded (even if it’s not quite as loaded as Canada or the U.S. on paper), and he ranks 12th among all Swedish forwards in scoring this season. So it goes. A checking role will still be critical for a Sweden team that is going to need to find ways to slow down the American and Canadian stars.
In the past, the Olympics have served as a springboard for players who participated, with the elite level of competition forcing them to raise their game. The Bruins would love to see McAvoy, Marchand and Lindholm come back stronger as they try to cling to some playoff hope. Even Swayman could benefit just from these Team USA practices.
The stars who haven’t done this before
Because it’s been nine years since the last best-on-best international tournament, we’ve missed out on some prime-year opportunities for some of the NHL’s biggest stars.
The likes of Connor McDavid, Nathan MacKinnon, Auston Matthews and Jack Eichel did play in the 2016 World Cup of Hockey, but as part of “Team North America” – a 23-and-under team that had both Americans and Canadians are on it. Now those four finally get the opportunity to wear their country’s colors - Canadian red and white for McDavid and MacKinnon; American red, white and blue for Matthews and North Chelmsford's Eichel – in this kind of tournament.
Other first-time stars include Jack Hughes, Adam Fox and the Tkachuk brothers (Matthew and Brady) for Team USA; Mitch Marner, Sam Reinhart and Cale Makar for Canada; William Nylander and Rasmus Dahlin for Sweden; and Mikko Rantanen for Finland.
On the other end of the spectrum is a player like Marchand, who missed out on two Olympics during his prime years and will be trying to use this tournament as a springboard to finally make his first Olympic team in 2026, when he’ll be 37 years old.
A goaltending edge for the U.S.
The most exciting part of this tournament as an American fan is that this may very well be the best team the U.S. has ever iced for an international tournament, with both the star power and the depth to go toe-to-toe with Canada.
And, there’s one crucial area where Team USA should have the advantage over everyone: Goaltending. Connor Hellebuyck, who played his college hockey at UMass Lowell, is simply the best goalie in the world right now, well on his way to a second straight and third career Vezina Trophy as he leads the Winnipeg Jets to the best record in the West.
Goaltending is a major question mark for Canada, with none of their three netminders (Jordan Binnington, Adin Hill, Sam Montembeault) posting a save percentage over .900 this season. Sweden lost presumptive starter Jacob Markstrom to injury, but still has the second-best goalie situation in this field with Minnesota’s Filip Gustavsson and Ottawa’s Linus Ullmark. Finland’s presumptive starter, Juuse Saros, has had a down season.
All that said, Hellebuyck does have something to prove. He has struggled mightily in the Stanley Cup playoffs the last two years, and hasn’t won a round since 2021. This will be his first major international tournament, too. He’s looking for a signature career moment, and has a great shot at one here.