U.S., Canada, Sweden and Finland unveil 1st 6 players for 4 Nations Face-Off tournament

Sidney Crosby, Connor McDavid and Nathan MacKinnon have never played together for Team Canada. Same for Auston Matthews, Jack Eichel and Matthew Tkachuk for Team USA.

That will change next year at the 4 Nations Face-Off, an international tournament that is a precursor to the 2026 Milan Olympics marking the return of NHL players to that world stage.

The U.S., Canada, Sweden and Finland each named their first six players for the NHL-run event scheduled for February in Montreal and Boston.

USA Hockey chose Matthews, Eichel, Tkachuk and defensemen Quinn Hughes, Charlie McAvoy and Adam Fox. Hockey Canada went with the obvious three - Crosby, McDavid and MacKinnon - along with Cale Makar, Brad Marchand and Brayden Point.

“These first six possess an immense amount of talent and will serve as a solid core for our team,” U.S. general manager Bill Guerin said Friday.

More announcements are ahead. Each of the four teams can have 23 NHL players, including three goaltenders.

Guerin, who is the Minnesota Wild GM, has a good problem to have in goal choosing among Jeremy Swayman, Jake Oettinger, Thatcher Demko and recently voted Vezina Trophy winner Connor Hellebuyck.

Canada has to figured out who will stop the puck. Scoring should not be a problem.

“These are six world-class players and leaders on their NHL teams that we can build a strong and successful team around,” said GM Don Sweeney, who runs the NHL’s Boston Bruins. “Sidney, Nathan, Cale, Brad, Connor and Brayden have been successful at various levels of their professional and international careers, and we look forward to all six being key contributors to our team as we look to win on the international stage next season.”

Finland, the defending Olympic champion from 2022 when the league canceled plans to send players because of pandemic-related scheduling issues, headlined its initial roster with Aleksander Barkov, who’s fresh off captaining the Florida Panthers to the Stanley Cup. He is joined by fellow centers Mikko Rantanen and Sebastian Aho, goaltender Juuse Saros and defensemen Miro Heiskanen and Esa Lindell.

Sweden opened with forwards Mika Zibanejad, William Nylander and Filip Forsberg plus defensemen Victor Hedman, Erik Karlsson and Gustav Forsling, who also just hoisted the Cup with Barkov and Tkachuk.