Best on best this isn’t. But it’s getting closer.
Not since 2016 has the NHL managed to either organize or participate in a true international event featuring the best players in the world. That’s a ridiculously long time for a sport that once embraced the brilliance and idiosyncrasies of the international game.
It won’t happen in 2024 or 2025, either. But what will happen is the 4 Nations Face-Off, which will replace the NHL all-star game this winter. And we can agree that anything, absolutely anything, is better than the vacuous all-star game, an anachronism that just won’t die. The tournament — featuring Canada, the United States, Sweden and Finland — will, in part, frame the 2024-25 season.
Training camps open this week after what had been a relatively quiet off-season until the senseless deaths of Columbus Blue Jackets star Johnny Gaudreau and his brother Matthew, the impact of which goes beyond Johnny Hockey’s significance to the league, the fans and his team. But the game, as it has after many previous tragedies, goes on — for better and for worse, always changing and evolving. The 4 Nations Face-Off is actually a bit of a throwback, similar to Rendez-vous ‘87 at a very different time in NHL history: a way to integrate a high-level international event into the NHL regular season as seamlessly as possible.
Rendez-vous ‘87 featured an NHL all-star team against the Soviet Union in a two-game series, and gave way to the truly memorable Canada Cup later that year that ended with Mario Lemieux’s dramatic winning goal against the Soviets. Since then, the number of non-Canadians in the NHL has increased dramatically with stronger presences from several top countries. The Soviet Union and its hockey empire dissolved after the fall of the Berlin Wall, and these days the Russians are banned from international hockey.
The 4 Nations Face-Off is noteworthy in that it takes place in a hockey world without Russia. But many NHL stars, from Leon Draisaitl to Roman Josi, won’t be eligible because their countries aren’t involved. So, what is it exactly, and how meaningful can it actually be? The hype will, as always, be over the top.
It’s clear that competition for roster spots, on Team Canada in particular, will lead to an awful lot of side conversations once the regular season begins. Each of the four teams has already named six players, leaving 17 per team still to be announced before the tournament opens in Montreal on Feb. 12 with a game between Canada and Sweden. It’s a round-robin format, with the top two countries meeting in the final on Feb. 20 in Boston.
This event, of course, will begin to get fans thinking again of international competition on a larger scale, with the NHL set to return to the Olympic stage in 2026 in Italy.
The 4 Nations Face-Off will give a bit of an advantage to the countries involved, with a chance to try out forward and defence combinations and begin the process of building a cohesive team. Tampa Bay Lightning head coach Jon Cooper, already grappling with changes to his NHL club with the losses of Steven Stamkos and Mikhail Sergachev, will coach Canada in the 4 Nations Face-Off and the 2026 Olympics. Will Cooper decide Mitch Marner is a good fit alongside Connor McDavid, and how would that impact Marner’s season and his free agency next year? Let the questions and debates begin.
Will 37-year-old Sidney Crosby be part of both of Canada’s teams, or neither? He still doesn’t have a new contract in Pittsburgh. Unsigned restricted and unrestricted free agents will be a major storyline as camps open. Boston’s inability to get RFA goalie Jeremy Swayman’s name on a deal after trading away netminder Linus Ullmark will be the biggest contract situation to watch. Swayman, a serious contender to play for the U.S. at the 4 Nations Face-Off, is likely to miss at least the start of training camp.
The champion Florida Panthers lost Brandon Montour, Ryan Lomberg, Vladimir Tarasenko and Oliver Ekman-Larsson, but did re-sign Sam Reinhart. The team they beat for the Cup, the Edmonton Oilers, is grappling with the loss of two good young players: forward Dylan Holloway and defenceman Philip Broberg. An offer-sheet raid by the St. Louis Blues seemed to catch the Oilers off-guard as the team transitioned from former general manager Ken Holland to the new boss, ex-Chicago Blackhawks executive Stan Bowman.
The Nashville Predators made the most noise by adding Stamkos, Jonathan Marchessault and Brady Skjei in free agency. No. 1 pick Macklin Celebrini is excepted to debut in San Jose, as will Matvei Michkov in Philadelphia.
So, a variety of storylines abound even after a quiet summer. The colossal waste of time that was NHL hockey in Phoenix is now thankfully over, and we’ll see whether Utah hockey customers embrace the game more warmly over time.
Training camps, meanwhile, may not be what they once were: an opportunity for players to truly fight for jobs. But camps begin the conversation anew, an annual rite of fall.