2025 NHL 4 Nations Face-Off Roster Predictions Team Canada

As we approach the 2025 4 Nations Face-Off, I'm sure the question on everyone's mind is who will my country be bringing to this event? Well, fear not, we have provided who we think will end up on each of the Four Nations rosters plus two bonus Countries. We'll start this segment off with none other than Team Canada.

Extra: Brad Marchand

For the most part, this team should be self-explanatory. Sam Reinhart was unstoppable last season and seems he will continue his dominance this year putting up 23 points in 15 games. Connor McDavid as the top centreman needs no explanation. They are joined by Brayden Point on right wing who has plenty of skill, speed and smarts to play with the best of them.

Although Sid isn’t much of a kid anymore, he has continued to show he is still a top performer in the NHL even while the Penguins have struggled out of the gate. Also, are we really going to have a Team Canada without the Vancouver Winter Olympics golden goal scorer, Sidney Crosby? I hope not. On right wing we have fellow Cole Harbour Tim Horton’s employee, Nate Mackinnon. And, on left wing we have… Connor McMichael?

McMichael – Hear me out. He is currently tied for fourth in the NHL for goal scoring, sitting only 1 goal back for the overall lead. I’m not going to dive too far into his advanced stats for now but he’s near the top in a ton of categories. While his Corsi is only slightly above average at a modest 53% and Fenwick at 57%, he is 9th overall in the league for high danger shot attempts per 60 minutes and 10th overall in expected goals. He has been the Capitals’ best player up to this point in the season and one of the main reasons for the team’s somewhat surprising 10-4-0 start. Doug Armstrong had better get over that 8-1 loss and put this kid on the squad. My fellow blog-mate may not agree with my choice here but that’s only because CMM was responsible for ousting his team in a Minor Midget tournament. Heavy Dan needs to get over it.

The third line features three guys who are all quite good at hockey but just not on the same level as Nate-Dog and McDavid. At one point in time, I had Matt Barzal occupying that third line right wing slot but after an underwhelming start to the season, I think that’s Marner’s spot to lose. I wasn’t sure about Scheifele either but who can argue with his dominant start and the Jets 14-1-0 record.

As if going up against McDavid and Mackinnon wasn’t enough, you then have to deal with super-star agitators Travis Konecny, Sam Bennett and Tom Wilson. This should be a very difficult line to play against in a tournament that will feature players predominantly known for their endless amount of skill. Make no mistake though, all three of these guys are around a point per game players this season and have no issue depositing a few pucks in the back of the net.

I would love to see Bedard out there with McDavid or Mackinnon but I’m not sure he’s proven enough to justify handing him a spot. I will say he has absolutely no help in Chicago and still sits at 13 points in 16 games so maybe he’s worth a look to see what he can do with other players of his calibre. While he was named as one of the inaugural 6 players to be on this team, Brad Marchand should not be in the opening lineup. With 13 points in 18 games and a minus 2 rating, it's safe to say Marchand's better days are behind him at 36 years of age. Sure, he is still an effective hockey player, but father time catches up with everyone at some point. There are way too many other deserving and talented Canadian hockey players for this team than to be including Jack Edwards long lost son. The old boys club strikes again, well done Hockey Canada.

Now, on to the defensive group.

Extra: Morgan Reilly

The top pairing is probably the most obvious and is pretty much set in stone at this point. Cale Makar is the best D in the game and who better to compliment him than his very own partner in Colorado, Devon Toews. Toews has had a bit of a rocky start to this campaign, however, Toews is still easily one of the best two-way defenders out there and has never finished a season in the negative column for +/-. I would expect him to turn this around anytime now.

Alex Pietrangelo has been a lock on Canadian Teams for a while now and I thought that may start to be in jeopardy as he got older, but at 34 years of age and 13 points in 14 games, he’ll be on this Canadian roster as well. Now, this is where the guessing game really starts. There are a ton of good Canadian defencemen, but none that stand out like the top 3 I’ve mentioned.

I have Owen Power starting this tournament as Pietrangelo’s partner. Power has 10 points in 15 games and a plus 2 on a very average Sabres squad. These 10 points come despite being buried behind Dahlin offensively on PP1. Power is more than capable of providing stability in his own end and can put up numbers at the other. The youngster would excel given some top-notch talent to play with for once.

For the third pairing, we have Bouchard and Morrissey. I’m not entirely sure Canada has a use for the services of Evan Bouchard given the fact that Cale Makar will be the primary blueliner eating up powerplay minutes. His numbers this season have been pretty average and let’s be honest, his skating isn’t great. So, with no clear role, why do I have him on the team? Because of the mere fact he put up 82 points last year. That alone will be enough to win over the hearts and minds of the Hockey Canada decision makers. Do I agree with this? No. But we’re predicting the roster, and I think they will include him. Given how this season has started for the Jets, I have Josh Morrissey slated to be his D partner. However, this is basically a coin flip between him and Morgan Reilly.

I honestly have no clue who the starting netminder will be come day one of the tournament. Not even the slightest. Canadian goaltending has been weaker than its peers for a while now. It used to be Price and Fleury as automatic locks for this team. With Price retired and Fleury soon to be in his grandparent era, it leaves the crease open for a new generation of Canadian goaltenders. So, who has been good to start this year? Well, not many of the expected candidates for this team. Binnington, Skinner, Montembault and Hill are all currently sporting a save percentage under 0.900. The advanced stats don’t paint a much better picture for any of those guys either. The way last season went for Connor Ingram, I thought he might be a candidate however he has also struggled heavily to open this season. With Canadian goaltending in general resembling Zach Bryan’s love life, you have to resort to some of the favourites prior to the start of this season who have the ability to be game breakers for their team. My first choice here is Stanley Cup champion – Jordan Binnington. Sure, he has some anger issues to work past but if he wants to get into a fight on the NHL’s version of the international stage, I’m all for it. Next up we’re going to go with another recent Stanley Cup champion – Adin Hill. Hill has been spectacular in the past two playoffs for the Golden Knights and that’s good enough for me to prove that he has what it takes when games matter most. Lastly, we’re going with Logan Thompson. With a 7-0 start to the year and no sign of slowing down, its hard to imagine the Canadian Brass keeping him off the roster given the struggles of many Canadian netminders this year.

Next up - Team Sweden