Maple Leafs' Marner, 16 others announced as Canada rounds out 4 Nations Face-Off roster
Joshua Clipperton | The Canadian Press | Posted: December 4, 2024 9:12 PM | Last Updated: December 5
Toronto winger joins potent attack already featuring McDavid, Crosby, MacKinnon
Mitch Marner skated alongside Connor McDavid and Sidney Crosby this summer in preparation for the season.
The Toronto Maple Leafs winger will get a chance to do it for real in February.
Marner was one of 17 players named Wednesday to round out Canada's 23-man roster for the NHL 4 Nations Face-Off tournament with the league poised to re-enter the international hockey sphere.
"Really looking forward to it," the winger said following Toronto's 3-2 victory over the Nashville Predators. "It's gonna be a very cool moment. You always want to wear your colours. It's always a great honour when you get to represent your country."
Linking up with Marner as part of an attack that already featured Nathan MacKinnon, Brad Marchand, Brayden Point, McDavid and Crosby — five star forwards announced back in June — are Sam Reinhart and Sam Bennett of the Florida Panthers along with Anthony Cirelli and Brandon Hagel of the Tampa Bay Lightning.
Also making the team up front are Vegas Golden Knights captain Mark Stone, Travis Konecny of the Philadelphia Flyers and Seth Jarvis of the Carolina Hurricanes.
The defence corps led by Cale Makar, who was also tabbed in June, will see Colorado Avalanche teammate Devon Toews suit up in red and white, and also include the Vegas duo of Shea Theodore and Alex Pietrangelo, Josh Morrissey of the Winnipeg Jets, Colton Parayko of the St. Louis Blues and Philadelphia's Travis Sanheim.
The biggest question mark for Canadian general manager Don Sweeney of the Boston Bruins and the rest of the country's hockey brain trust since the selection process began has been in the crease, especially with stud netminders like Carey Price and Roberto Luongo a distant memory.
Cooper likely to lean on Cup champions
Canada doesn't have the same goaltending pedigree as at past international events, but head coach Jon Cooper of Tampa will likely lean on Stanley Cup winners Jordan Binnington of the Blues and Adin Hill of the Golden Knights. Sam Montembeault of the Montreal Canadiens rounds out the puck-stopping trio.
"We are thrilled to unveil the group of players who have earned the opportunity to represent Canada," Sweeney said in a statement. "We believe we have assembled a roster that features world-class talent, as well as success at the NHL and international levels.
"We are confident this group will give us the best chance to accomplish our goal on the international stage."
The 4 Nations tournament, which also includes the United States, Sweden and Finland, runs Feb. 12-20 in Montreal and Boston, and will serve as an appetizer for the NHL's Olympic return in 2026.
It's also the closest hockey has got to a best-on-best men's tournament since the 2016 World Cup.
This showcase won't technically meet that threshold with Russia — because of its ongoing war in Ukraine — and reigning world champions Czech Republic not in the mix. But there should still be plenty of interest with McDavid, Crosby, U.S. star Auston Matthews and a host of other big names finally sharing the ice on the world stage.
"It's been a long time since we've seen NHL players in these kind of settings," said Matthews, who was named to his country's roster in June.
"Great for the game, great for the fans."
The NHL, which went to five straight Olympics between 1998 and 2014, announced at last season's all-star game players would participate at the next two Games after it skipped 2018 for business reasons and missed out in 2022 due to COVID-19.
"It's a pretty good precursor to the Olympics the following year," Matthews added. "I think everybody's very excited."
The goal of the league and NHL Players' Association is hold a World Cup in both 2028 and 2032 to get international events on a schedule of every two years.
Canada opens the 4 Nations on Feb. 12 against Sweden at Montreal's Bell Centre before facing the U.S. in the same building three nights later, with Marner and Matthews going toe-to-toe for the first time in their careers.
"Everybody's got depth, everybody's got great players, star power," Matthews said. "In these kinds of settings, in my experience, it's just the team that's able to gel together the quickest usually that has the most success."
The tournament then moves to Boston, where the Canadians will meet Finland on Feb 17.
The teams with the two best records after the round-robin will battle in the final Feb. 20 at TD Garden.
"It's gonna be crazy," Marner said. "All four teams are stacked. It's gonna be a great tournament. I'm super excited and super honoured that I get the privilege."
Added Cooper: "This is an exciting time for the NHL and international hockey. This event is an important part of the process as we continue to build teams that can be successful on the international stage."
Sweden, Finland take different approach with squads
Sweden and Finland rounded out their rosters for the 4 Nations Face-Off on Wednesday by choosing a handful of recent Stanley Cup champions to win the first international tournament with the NHL's best players since 2016.
"It's big value," said Finland general manager Jere Lehtinen, who was also in charge of the team that won gold at the 2022 Olympics without NHL talent. "You have a few players who have won and have been in tough situations through their careers, so when it comes to a tournament like that, it's a quick tournament. You have to be ready right away."
Sweden selected Vegas' William Karlsson, a 2023 Cup winner, and is stacked in goal with Minnesota's Filip Gustavsson, New Jersey's Jacob Markstrom and Ottawa's Linus Ullmark, the 2023 Vezina Trophy winner who was traded by Boston before the season.
The Swedish Hockey Federation opted for veteran experience on defence with Edmonton's Mattias Ekholm and Minnesota's Jonas Brodin, to go with young Buffalo captain Rasmus Dahlin. Up front, the Swedes did not overlook youth, choosing Anaheim's 19-year-old centre Leo Carlsson and Detroit's 22-year-old winger Lucas Raymond among their forwards.
"We went with an experienced group," Sweden general manager Josef Boumedienne said. "We've got a few really good young players that did not make the roster, but we decided with a short tournament like this, basically do-or-die games … we have a lot of leadership qualities in our group that we were excited about."
The Finns took some role players in piecing together a team in front of Nashville goaltender Juuse Saros, including Montreal's Joel Armia and San Jose's Mikael Granlund, who's having something of a career renaissance with the Sharks.
"As a young player in Finland, that's one of the biggest things you can have in a hockey career, to play for your country," Granlund said this week. "I've always just actually loved those moments and I've had good success on the national team. It's really cool and, having the 4 Nations, that's best against best, so that's special."
Canadiens' Laine added to Finnish roster
Among the final decisions, Sweden left off Hampus Lindholm to bring Brodin, citing the Boston defenceman's injury and tight timeline as the reason. Finland put Patrik Laine on the roster that had to be locked in earlier this week before the scoring winger made his season debut Tuesday night for Montreal.
The hope was to stage the event this past winter, but questions over how to handle Russian players given that country's war in Ukraine pushed it to 2025 and reduced the teams involved to these four.
Each country's first six players were named in late June:
- Canada: Sidney Crosby, Connor McDavid, Nathan MacKinnon, Cale Makar, Brad Marchand and Brayden Point
- United States: Auston Matthews, Jack Eichel, Matthew Tkachuk, Quinn Hughes, Charlie McAvoy and Adam Fox
- Sweden: Mika Zibanejad, William Nylander, Filip Forsberg, Victor Hedman,
- Erik Karlsson and Gustav Forsling
- Finland: Juuse Saros, Aleksander Barkov, Mikko Rantanen, Sebastian Aho, Miro Heiskanen and Esa Lindell for Finland
"The excitement is palpable, not just among fans but among the players," NHL commissioner Gary Bettman said Sunday in Boston. "That's one of the reasons we brought back international best-on-best [competition]. We know how important it is to our players to represent their countries, and so we're really looking forward to it."
The NHL has committed to participating in the Milan Olympics in 2026 and then again in 2030 in the south of France. The goal of the league and Players' Association is to get on schedule with an international tournament every even-numbered year with World Cups in 2028, 2032 and beyond.