I’m not sure there’s been quite a “just hook in into my veins” moment in the past little while at the office that matches discussing rosters for an international event.
It’s absolutely intoxicating.
That’s probably because it’s been nearly a decade since the 2016 World Cup provided us with our most recent best-on-best experience.
And while next February’s 4 Nations Face-Off falls short of fully scratching that itch, it still promises incredible high-level competition and plenty of fun roster debates along the way.
With that in mind, we’re devoting this week’s Power Rankings to examining who, from each of the NHL’s 32 clubs, could be in contention for a spot at the big event.
1. Vancouver Canucks (34-11-5) No Swede has more points this year than Elias Pettersson’s 65. And no less than four Canucks — Quinn Hughes, Thatcher Demko, J.T. Miller and Brock Boeser — could be on Team USA. Miller’s versatility is a nice consideration for the Americans, and Auston Matthews is the only Yank with more goals than Boeser right now.
Of course, newcomer Elias Lindholm should be a Swedish lock, too, though it’s hard to know who the pending UFA will be suiting up for in the NHL next season.
2. Boston Bruins (31-10-9) Eight years ago, Brad Marchand scored the game-winning goal at the World Cup of Hockey for Canada in what largely amounted to his coming out party as an elite offensive player. Nearly a decade later, Marchand — who had great chemistry with Sidney Crosby — will still be a strong consideration for Team Canada.
Right-shot D-man Charlie McAvoy will anchor an important American pair.
Linus Ullmark could begin as Sweden’s starter, while Boston’s other goalie, Jeremy Swayman, should be right in the Team USA mix. Hampus Lindholm is having a bit of a rough go after finishing fourth in Norris voting last season, but it’s hard to imagine him outside Sweden’s top-six blue-liners.
3. Colorado Avalanche (32-15-4) Mikko Rantanen is the top-scoring Finn in the NHL since his rookie season of 2016-17. Artturi Lehkonen’s big-game pedigree and tenacious game will land him on Team Finland, too.
Nathan MacKinnon, of course, will double the Cole Harbour contingent on Team Canada. Cale Makar and Devon Toews could well be a defence pair for Canada.
And don’t forget about Swedish captain Gabriel Landeskog, who will hopefully be in the midst of re-establishing himself as a top-tier NHLer next winter after missing two full campaigns with a serious knee injury.
4. Edmonton Oilers (29-16-1) Connor McDavid is a world champion and world junior champion with Canada, but he has never represented his country in an event where every entry has access to its very best players. Who among Canadian teammates Zach Hyman, Evan Bouchard, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins and Stuart Skinner will be at the Faceoff with him?
Whichever Oilers wind up representing Canada, they’ll surely bump into Edmonton teammate Mattias Ekholm on the Swedish blue line at some point.
5. Dallas Stars (31-14-6) Centre Roope Hintz and defenceman Miro Heiskanen will be two of Finland’s most important players, while blue-liner Esa Lindell will also be a big part of the Lions. And when you throw in Jani Hakanpaa, half of the Big D corps could comprise 50 per cent of Finland’s top six.
Jason Robertson is a Team USA lock and if this was a 2024 event instead of 2025, American brass would probably still be taking a long look at Joe Pavelski. Jake Oettinger is also firmly in the USA crease mix.
If Thomas Harley’s upward trajectory continues, could he squeeze into the Canadian conversation?
6. Florida Panthers (31-15-4) Aleksander Barkov figures to slot in as Finland’s 1C and it’s conceivable both Anton Lundell and Eetu Luostarinen could be playing the same position for Finland below him in the lineup. Dependable D-man Niko Mikkola is the fourth Florida Finn likely to crack the squad.
Matthew Tkachuk will be one of the faces of Team USA, while Sam Reinhart has played his way onto Team Canada.
Sweden has a loaded defence, so Oliver Ekman-Larsson and Gus Forsling are likely just on the wrong edge of the cut line.
7. Winnipeg Jets (30-13-5) Michigan boys Kyle Connor and Connor Hellebuyck are locks for the Stars and Stripes, while Mark Scheifele will be right on the line for Team Canada. Josh Morrissey is trending sure thing on the Canadian blue.
8. Vegas Golden Knights (30-15-6) Mark Stone’s complete game is perfect for Team Canada, because he could conceivably play just about any role for the squad and don’t count out 2023 playoff MVP Jonathan Marchessault. Alex Pietrangelo — a gold medalist with Canada at the 2014 Games and ’16 Cup — just might make the grade as a 35-year-old, right-shot veteran next February and fellow D-man Shea Theodore could be there, too.
Odd as it may sound, Adin Hill — as of this moment — has the inside track on Canada’s starting job.
Two centres — Sweden’s William Karlsson and American Jack Eichel — are nearly certain to represent their countries.
9. Carolina Hurricanes (28-16-5) Sebastian Aho will be a go-to Finn and Teuvo Teravainen could well be beside him on one of the top two lines. Jesperi Kotkaniemi has some work to do to join them.
Shutdown whiz Jaccob Slavin will surely line up on Team USA’s defence and Antti Raanta could get the call as a Finnish backup, depending on how he’s performing the week the team is picked.
10. New York Rangers (32-16-3) Defenceman Adam Fox is an American lock, winger Chris Kreider must have close to the same status, and Vincent Trocheck’s bounce-back season has re-entered his name in the Team USA chat.
Meanwhile, if you remove the not-technically-retired Nick Backstrom from consideration, no active Swedish forward has more points than Mika Zibanejad’s 653.
11. Toronto Maple Leafs (26-15-8) How fun will it be to see American Auston Matthews, Swede William Nylander and Canadians Mitch Marner and quite likely Morgan Rielly square off against each other?
12. Tampa Bay Lightning (27-19-5) Is it possible Brayden Point and Anthony Cirelli make Team Canada and Steven Stamkos does not? Point will certainly be there, but which Bolts will join him may come down to the type of players Canada opts for with its final couple of selections.
As for Victor Hedman, just go ahead and sew the “C” on his Tre Kronor jersey.
13. Detroit Red Wings (26-18-6) It certainly seems plausible that two-thirds of Detroit’s top line — centre Dylan Larkin and winger Alex DeBrincat — could be running mates with Team USA. The third member of the Wings’ top unit, Lucas Raymond, is tracking a spot on Team Sweden.
Defenceman Olli Maata’s name will at least come up with the Finnish brain trust.
If Patrick Kane, who turns 36 in November, is in the midst of a full, healthy NHL season next winter, could America come calling again?
14. Pittsburgh Penguins (23-17-7) This tournament could actually be an interesting window into the final chapter of Sidney Crosby’s career. We’ve been joking for years that he’s the best fourth-liner in the league because of his do-everything approach. Well, he’s likely a 3C on Team Canada and you start to wonder if he was content to just move down the lineup a notch or two every couple of years, how long could he stay a very effective NHLer in diminishing roles if he stays healthy? At least five more years, right?
Tristan Jarry is on the Canadian shortlist for goalies, and Jake Guentzel has to be knocking on the door as an American sniper.
Erik Karlsson will be a central figure on Sweden’s blue line, while Marcus Pettersson likely has his work cut out for him to make it as even a depth defender. Ditto for Swedish winger Rickard Rakell up front.
And what about Kris Letang? It’s wild to contemplate the fact he actually hasn’t represented Canada since being captain of the 2007 world junior team, at least in part because he’s so often been injured. As a right-shot D, you always get an extra-long look.
15. St. Louis Blues (26-21-2) Robert Thomas is likely on the Canadian bubble and could get on the good side of that with another step-forward season next year like he’s having this time out.
Jordan Binnington is squarely in the Canadian goalie mix and could Colton Parayko still push for a spot on the right side of Canada’s defence?
16. Los Angeles Kings (23-15-10) Drew Doughty, who turned 20 basically two months before representing Canada on home soil at the 2010 Games, will likely still have a spot on this team.
Adrian Kempe has to be eyeing a spot on the flank with Sweden and, who knows, maybe veteran Viktor Arvidsson comes back fully healthy next year and gets a look from the Swedish suits, too.
For what it’s worth, Trevor Moore’s 1.49 goals-per-60 at five-on-five is the most among American players not named Auston Matthews.
And what if hulking Canadian Quinton Byfield just breaks out in a monster way next fall?
17. Philadelphia Flyers (26-19-6) Rookie goalie Samuel Ersson has really shown something this year in Philly, so with a strong sophomore follow-up, he could be right there for the third goalie slot on Sweden.
Big man Rasmus Ristolainen will find a home on Finland’s blue.
A couple wingers — Canadian Travis Konecny and American Joel Farabee — could be knocking on the door with big years.
18. New Jersey Devils (25-20-3) Jack Hughes will be up front for Team USA, and Luke Hughes has to be in consideration to join brothers Jack and Quinn on the American squad.
Dougie Hamilton is one of those guys who, if we had best-on-best since 2016, likely would have suited up for Canada at some point as a right-shot D-man, but may have missed his window.
Jesper Bratt is one of the most dangerous Swedish wingers in the world.
Veteran Erik Haula should slot into a bottom-six role on Finland.
19. New York Islanders (21-17-2) Mathew Barzal likely has a spot waiting for him on Team Canada, and breakout boy Noah Dobson might snag one on the blue line, too.
Only seven Americans have scored more goals than Brock Nelson since the start of 2021-22, but it seems like a tough row to hoe for him now.
20. Seattle Kraken (21-19-10) Matty Beniers will need a sparking Year 3 in the NHL to get back on Team USA’s radar thanks to this jinx-iest of sophomore seasons. Big man Adam Larsson likely finds a spot on the right side of Sweden’s defence, and Vince Dunn might score his way onto Team Canada from the back end.
After that, you’re talking fringy forwards like Alexander Wennberg (Sweden) and Eeli Tolvanen (Finland).
If America’s crease wasn’t already so crowded, we’d at least have to throw out the name Joey Daccord.
21. Nashville Predators (26-23-2) If Finland wins the Four Nations Faceoff, the MVP of the event (we’re having one, right?) will surely be goalie Juuse Saros.
If Sweden wins, maybe winger Filip Forsberg fills the net.
22. Washington Capitals (22-19-7) Will John Carlson, who’ll be 35 next February, make the grade on the right side of Team USA’s defence? If not, the Caps might not have a representative at the event.
23. Arizona Coyotes (23-22-3) Clayton Keller figures to be on Team USA, and Matias Maccelli’s offensive game should land him on one of Finland’s top lines. We don’t want to get too crazy here, but with a wide-open Canadian crease, what if Connor Ingram sizzles next season?
24. Buffalo Sabres (22-24-4) It’s been a pretty miserable year for Tage Thompson, but it feels like he’ll really have to play his way off Team USA given his huge frame and goal-scoring ability. Two other Americans to at least monitor next year; big winger Alex Tuch and pivot Casey Mittelstadt.
Rasmus Dahlin will be a lynchpin on Sweden’s blue line, and Henri Jokiharju should crack Finland’s back end.
Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen has the best save percentage (.910) of any Finn in the NHL and is playing the best hockey of his career right now.
25. Calgary Flames (23-22-5) It’s mostly Swedes to watch in Southern Alberta. Jacob Markstrom could be the starter, Rasmus Andersson will be on the blue, and veteran Mikael Backlund will likely carve out a bottom-six role.
American Blake Coleman is having a career year at age 32 and does have big-game experience from his time winning championships in Tampa.
26. Montreal Canadiens (21-21-8) American Cole Caufield is one of those guys who, with another 12 months of development, could leap up and grab a spot on Team USA.
Don’t snicker; Sam Montembeault is absolutely on Canada’s goalie long list at this point.
27. Minnesota Wild (22-23-5) Joel Eriksson Ek will surely be on Team Sweden and, if he can avoid the injuries that have plagued him the past two years, perhaps steady D-man Jonas Brodin will be, too. Goalie Filip Gustavsson is a bounce-back year away from climbing into the Swedish crease conversation, too. Heck, an incredible rookie year from highly touted Jesper Wallstedt — assuming he’s with the Wild next year — might get him in the No. 3 conversation for the Swedes.
Is there any chance Brock Faber, as an NHL sophomore, pushes into the conversation for the Red, White and Blue’s blue line?
Even young American winger Matt Boldy, given his leap-forward potential, could pry his way into the conversation.
28. Ottawa Senators (20-25-2) Two members of Ottawa’s young core — winger Brady Tkachuk and defenceman Jake Sanderson — could be getting calls from Team USA, with the former having an inside track on a spot.
Semi-forgotten man Thomas Chabot is still young enough that you could see him finding a whole other gear and getting into Canada’s mix on defence.
29. Anaheim Ducks (18-30-2) A couple of years ago Troy Terry might have seemed like a sure thing for Team USA, but he’s got more than a little work to do to get there. John Gibson likely would have been a go-to stopper for the Americans had we had more best-on-best in the past decade, but his time has likely come and gone.
Young stud Leo Carlsson could absolutely be lining up somewhere among Sweden’s four lines up front.
30. Columbus Blue Jackets (16-24-10) A very short time ago it would be inconceivable to leave winger Johnny Gaudreau off a mock Team USA roster, but that’s certainly where this is trending. Zach Werenski has had awful injury luck the past two years, but could very well push his way onto America’s blue line.
Adam Fantilli might be in the Canadian conversation as early as the 2026 Olympics, but 2025 feels a bit premature.
Patrik Laine is a complete wild card at this point. For any number of reasons, it would be great to see the Finn back burying next fall. If he is, he’d add a much-needed scoring element to Finland’s attack.
31. San Jose Sharks (14-32-5) Mikael Granlund will probably still make the grade for Finland up front, and countryman Kaapo Kahkonen will be jostling for crease position after Juuse Saros.
32. Chicago Blackhawks (14-35-2) Yes, Connor Bedard stands a serious chance to represent Canada, maybe even on the top line. He could be in the midst of a 45-goal campaign next February.
