The4 Nations Face-Off (French:Confrontation des 4 nations) was an internationalice hockey tournament held from February 12 to 20, 2025. The games were played inMontreal atBell Centre and inBoston atTD Garden. Hosted by theNational Hockey League (NHL) and featuring only NHL players, the 4Nations Face-Off temporarily replaced the NHL's annualAll-Star Game for 2025. In the tournament, teams representingCanada,Finland,Sweden, and theUnited States played each other in around-robin format, followed by a one-game final between the two top-placed teams. Although each team's respective national ice hockey governing body selected the rosters, the tournament was an NHL-only event, not affiliated with theInternational Ice Hockey Federation.
Canada won the tournament after defeating the United States 3–2 in overtime of the final. Reactions to the tournament from sports journalists were positive and the tournament was viewed as a welcome change from the All-Star Game format.[1]
At the press conference, Bettman announced plans for NHL participation in international best-on-best tournaments in coming years.[4][5] In 2025, players participated in the 4Nations Face-Off, a tournament between NHL players representing Canada, Finland, Sweden, and the United States. The NHL 4Nations Face-off took place in lieu of the 2025NHL All-Star Game.[6] Bettman stated that NHL players would play in the2026 and2030 Winter Olympics, after they had not been released for the2018 and2022 tournaments.[2][4] Bettman also stated the league would host the nextWorld Cups of Hockey in2028 and 2032; the most recent edition was held in2016.[4][7][8]
At the time of the tournament's announcement, all participating teams wereranked in the top six by ice hockey's worldwide governing body, theInternational Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF): Canada (1), Finland (2), United States (4), and Sweden (6).[10] Germany, while ranked fifth, did not have enough NHL players to create a roster.[11][10] Though they had enough NHL players to create a roster, Russia and Czechia—ranked third and eighth, respectively—were not included in the tournament,[9][11] with Russia specifically excluded due to the ban imposed on it by the IIHF for theongoing war in Ukraine.[12][13][14] Czech forwardDavid Pastrnak called the omission of Czechia a "huge disappointment", though he said he understood there was limited time to organize the tournament.[15][16] In early reporting on the tournament's format, journalistGreg Wyshynski wrote that the competition could not be considered best-on-best due to the omission of players from other ice hockey powers.[17]
The tournament took place among heightened political tensions betweenCanada and the United States due to American presidentDonald Trump's call forannexing Canada and plan toimpose tariffs on the country. Before the final, Trump posted onTruth Social stating he would be calling the United States team and that "[Canada] will someday, maybe soon, become our cherished, and very important, Fifty First State".[18] After Canada beat the United States in the final, Canadian Prime MinisterJustin Trudeau tweeted "You can't take our country – and you can't takeour game".[18] Before Canada's round-robin game against the United States inMontreal, fansbooed theAmerican anthem, which was responded to with fans booing theCanadian anthem in the final inBoston. Anthem singerChantal Kreviazuk changed one of the lines of the Canadian anthem to sing "that only us command" instead of "in all of us command" in response to Trump's annexation rhetoric.[18] Following the game, tournament MVPNathan MacKinnon stated "A lot of stuff going on with Canada and the USA right now, and us playing against each other was kind of a perfect storm for our sport. It was much more popular than even we would have imagined. It was getting so much attention from our whole continent."[19] Canada's coachJon Cooper stated "and yeah, did we need a win, not only [...] our team, but Canada needed a win. The players beared that on their shoulders and they took it seriously. This one was different, this wasn't a win for themselves, this was a win for 40+ million people and the guys knew it and they delivered."[20] The political tension in the tournament between the United States and Canada was compared to the 1972Summit Series between Canada and theSoviet Union.[21][22]
The league did not initially announce the tournament venues, but stated that there would be two: one in Canada and one in the United States.[23] The league confirmed on June 8, 2024, that the venues would beBell Centre in Montreal andTD Garden in Boston,[24] after months of reports by various media sources.[15][25][26][27]
Two practice days, February10 and 11, were held prior to the tournament. From February12–20, seven total games were played. The tournament was held in around-robin format. Each team played three games, and the two teams with the most points advanced to a one-game final.[23]
Games were played on NHL-sizedrinks, followingNHL rules.[23] For round-robin games,overtime was a 10-minute, 3-on-3sudden-death period, followed by a three-roundshootout. In the final, overtime was held in consecutive 20-minute, 5-on-5 sudden-death periods.[23]
Tiebreakers
Teams were ranked according to points earned (3 points for a regulation win, 2 points for anovertime orshootout win, 1 point for an overtime or shootout loss, 0 points for a regulation loss). If tied on points, tiebreakers would be applied in the following order:[30]
Head-to-head result (only if tie between two teams);
Teams consisted of 23 players: 20 skaters (forwards anddefencemen) and 3goaltenders.[23] Players were selected by their respective governing bodies:Hockey Canada, theFinnish Ice Hockey Association, theSwedish Ice Hockey Association andUSA Hockey.[23] The tournament was restricted to players who have a 2024–25 NHL contract and were on anNHL roster as of December2, 2024.[31] Because the NHL did not have an agreement directly with the IIHF for the 4Nations Face-Off (only an agreement with the governing bodies which are IIHF members), the tournament could not include non-NHL players.[11][14]
On June 28, 2024, the NHL announced the first six players on each team's roster.[32] The remaining players were announced on December4, with the complete rosters of Team Sweden and Team Finland announced at 2:00 p.m.ET on theNHL Network andESPN'sSportsCenter, and the complete rosters of Team USA and Team Canada announced at 6:30 p.m. during pregame broadcasts onSportsnet,TNT, andTVA Sports.[33] Initially, no players from theSeattle Kraken orWashington Capitals were selected to participate in the Face-Off;[34] however, the Kraken gained a representative when they acquired Finland'sKaapo Kakko from theNew York Rangers on December 18, 2024.[35] About a week before the Face-Off, theSan Jose Sharks lost their representation in the event by trading Finland'sMikael Granlund to theDallas Stars, making the Capitals and the Sharks the only two teams to not appear in the Face-Off.[36]
In April 2024, it was announced thatDon Sweeney andJim Nill were appointed byDoug Armstrong as Canada's general manager and associate general manager, respectively.[37] Both were also named assistant general managers for the 2026 Olympic team.[38] On June 25,Jon Cooper was named Canada's head coach for both the 4 Nations Face-Off and 2026 Winter Olympics.[39]Rick Tocchet,Bruce Cassidy, andPeter DeBoer joined Cooper as assistant coaches for the 4 Nations Face-Off.[40] On December 4, 2024, the entire roster for Canada was released.[32][41] On January 26, 2025, defensemanAlex Pietrangelo withdrew from the tournament;[42]Drew Doughty was announced as his replacement on February 9.[43] On January 30, 2025, Team Canada namedSidney Crosby as its teamcaptain for the 4 Nations Face-Off, withCale Makar andConnor McDavid serving as alternate captains.[44] After an injury toShea Theodore in Canada's first game, and Makar facing a potential absence due to illness,Thomas Harley was named as emergency alternate for Canada; after Makar was officially ruled out for Canada's second game, Harley formally joined the roster, playing for Canada against the United States.[45][46] Brad Marchand served as alternate captain in the absence of Makar.[47]
In February 2024,Bill Guerin was announced as general manager of the United States team for the 4 Nations Face-Off and 2026 Winter Olympics.[67] In May,Mike Sullivan was named head coach of the team for both competitions.[68]John Hynes,[69]John Tortorella, andDavid Quinn are the assistant coaches.[70] On December 4, 2024, the entire roster for the United States was released.[32][71] On January 30, 2025,Auston Matthews was named captain for Team USA;Charlie McAvoy andMatthew Tkachuk were chosen as its alternate captains.[72] On February 9, defensemanQuinn Hughes withdrew from the tournament due to a lower-body injury, and was replaced byJake Sanderson.[73][74] On February 18, Quinn Hughes attempted to rejoin the tournament while Charlie McAvoy withdrew from the championship game after suffering an upper-body injury during the game against Finland, but ultimately did not rejoin and Team USA addedTage Thompson andBrett Pesce as emergency backups.[75][76]Jack Eichel,Brock Nelson, andBrady Tkachuk served as alternate captains in the absence of Matthews, McAvoy, and Matthew Tkachuk.[77][78]
The tournament was broadcast by the NHL's North American rightsholders. It was televised exclusively in Canada onSportsnet inEnglish andTVA Sports inFrench, and streamed onSportsnet+.[83][84] In the United States, the tournament was split between theESPN networks andTNT Sports.[83] ESPN-produced games were further split, with two games on the cable channelESPN and two games carried on broadcast television byABC. Three games were also carried byESPN Deportes inSpanish. All ESPN-produced games were streamed onESPN+, andDisney+ also streamed both the one round-robin game and the championship game between Canada and the United States.[85][86] TNT Sports' games were simulcast onTNT andTruTV, and streamed onMax viaBleacher Report sports.[87] Canadian rightsholder, Sportsnet, served as host broadcaster for all games, including those held in the United States.[88]
The tournament was highly viewed in North America; in the United States, the championship game was seen by an average of 9.3 million viewers, overtaking game seven of the2019 Stanley Cup Final as the fourth-highest rated NHL telecast of all time (behind game six of the1973 Stanley Cup Final). Sportsnet reported an average of 5.7 million viewers in the championship game, ranking behind only game seven of the2024 Stanley Cup Final as the second-highest rated hockey telecast in network history.[89][90]
TNT/TruTV/Max (English) (February 12 and 17) ESPN/ESPN+ (English) (February 13 and 20) ABC/ESPN+ (English) (February 15) Disney+ (English) (February 15 and 20 USA v CAN games only) ESPN Deportes (Spanish) (February 13, 15, and 20)
^ab"NHL unveils trophy for 4 Nations Face-Off".Sportsnet.ca. February 11, 2025. RetrievedFebruary 12, 2025.The tournament starts in Montreal ... all games can be watched on Sportsnet and Sportsnet+
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Finland
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