4 Nations Face-Off Reaction: First Six Players from Canada, USA, Sweden and Finland Announced
Sidney Crosby and Auston Matthews Nick Turchiaro-USA TODAY Sports
The four teams participating in the 2025 4 Nations Face-Off announced the first six players on their rosters.
Hockey fans have been waiting for a best-on-best tournament featuring NHL players, and they will soon get it. The 24 players named so far are among the best in the world, and nothing gets a player more fired up than playing while wearing their nation’s colors.
Here are the first six players for Canada, USA, Sweden and Finland.
Team Canada
F: Sidney Crosby (Pittsburgh Penguins)
F: Connor McDavid (Edmonton Oilers)
F: Nathan MacKinnon (Colorado Avalanche)
F: Brad Marchand (Boston Bruins)
F: Brayden Point (Tampa Bay Lightning)
D: Cale Makar (Colorado Avalanche)
Having Crosby, McDavid and MacKinnon is a dream team.
McDavid may be the only one without a Stanley Cup (eight Cup wins between the rest), but he came incredibly close this year, and he's the best player in the world right now.
Makar is the lone defenseman named. The Norris Trophy finalist for the last four years (won the award in 2021-22) will be the conductor along Canada’s blueline in the tournament.
Team USA
F: Auston Matthews (Toronto Maple Leafs)
F: Matthew Tkachuk (Florida Panthers)
F: Jack Eichel (Vegas Golden Knights)
D: Charlie McAvoy (Boston Bruins)
D: Quinn Hughes (Vancouver Canucks)
D: Adam Fox (New York Rangers)
The American squad flexed their muscles on the blueline with two Norris Trophy winners in Quinn Hughes and Adam Fox.
There are only two Stanley Cup championships won within the six players, but they have come in the last two years with Jack Eichel in Vegas and Matthew Tkachuk recently in Florida.
Then there's the guy who missed the 70-goal mark this past year by only one goal and could challenge Wayne Gretzky and Alex Ovechkin for the most goals in NHL history later in his career. Auston Matthews hasn’t had success in the playoffs in Toronto, but he’s racked up individual awards with two Rocket Richard Trophies and one Hart Trophy, Ted Lindsay Award and Calder Trophy.
Team Sweden
F: William Nylander (Toronto Maple Leafs)
F: Mika Zibanejad (New York Rangers)
F: Filip Forsberg (Nashville Predators)
D: Victor Hedman (Tampa Bay Lightning)
D: Erik Karlsson (Pittsburgh Penguins)
D: Gustav Forsling (Florida Panthers)
Sweden elected not to name a goalie as one of the first six players on the roster, instead highlighting the nation’s strength along the back end.
Two-time Stanley Cup champion and 2017-18 Norris Trophy winner Victor Hedman will accompany recent Stanley Cup champion Gustav Forsling and three-time Norris Trophy winner Erik Karlsson.
Up front, the team announced three 40-goal scorers, led by Maple Leafs right winger William Nylander, who has recorded 37 points in 21 career games at the IIHF World Championship.
Team Finland
F: Aleksander Barkov (Florida Panthers)
F: Mikko Rantanen (Colorado Avalanche)
F: Sebastian Aho (Carolina Hurricanes)
D: Miro Heiskanen (Dallas Stars)
D: Esa Lindell (Dallas Stars)
G: Juuse Saros (Nashville Predators)
Two players on the roster have Stanley Cup championship pedigree: Mikko Rantanen and the first Finnish captain to win it, Aleksander Barkov. Barkov finished second in the Conn Smythe voting this year and won his second Selke trophy.
Finland's blueline is led by the smooth-skating Miro Heiskanen, arguably one of the NHL’s most underappreciated defensemen.
Saros probably hasn’t stopped smiling for the last 24 hours after being named the No. 1 goaltender for Finland and reportedly closing in on an eight-year contract extension worth more than $60 million with Nashville.
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