4 Nations Face-Off preview: Players to watch, prediction for tournament

For the first time since the 2016 World Cup of Hockey, NHL players will compete in a best-on-best international tournament this week in the new 4 Nations Face-Off.

The tournament includes the United States, Canada, Sweden and Finland. It will follow NHL rules and use a round-robin format where each team plays three games. The top two teams will square off in the championship game.

A couple players have pulled out of the tournament due to injury, but many of the world's top stars will be on the ice in Montreal and Boston over the next two weeks.

Here's our complete preview for the 4 Nations Face-Off tournament.

Schedule

Wednesday, Feb. 12: Canada vs. Sweden, 8 p.m. ET at the Bell Centre (Montreal)

Thursday, Feb. 13: United States vs. Finland, 8 p.m. ET at the Bell Centre

Saturday, Feb. 15: Finland vs. Sweden, 1 p.m. ET; United States vs. Canada, 8 p.m. ET at the Bell Centre

Monday, Feb. 17: Canada vs. Finland, 1 p.m. ET; Sweden vs. United States, 8 p.m. ET at TD Garden (Boston)

Thursday, Feb. 20: Championship game, 8 p.m. ET at TD Garden

United States

Projected lineup

Kyle Connor--Jack Eichel--Matthew Tkachuk

Jake Guentzel--Auston Matthews--Jack Hughes

Brady Tkachuk--J.T. Miller--Matt Boldy

Brock Nelson--Vincent Trocheck--Dylan Larkin

Jaccob Slavin--Adam Fox

Zach Werenski--Charlie McAvoy

Noah Hanifin--Brock Faber

Connor Hellebuyck

Player to watch

Matthew Tkachuk is so hard to play against. He's an elite scorer, a huge physical presence and gets under the skin of opponents. These qualities, among others, have made him super effective in the Stanley Cup Playoffs for the Panthers over the last two seasons. He has scored or assisted on many clutch goals for Florida.

Tkachuk is fired up for this tournament, and his energy should be contagious throughout the Team USA lineup.

“I can promise you the players will be engaged,” Tkachuk told The Athletic's Chris Johnston earlier this month. “This is not an All-Star Game, that is for sure.”

No. 1 strength

Goaltending should be a huge strength for the Americans, but their top-six forward group is absolutely loaded. There's a huge amount of pure skill, toughness and leadership on these two lines.

Auston Matthews is a Hart Trophy winner and one of the best goal scorers of the last decade. Jack Eichel is an elite two-way center and a Stanley Cup champion. Tkachuk dominates in clutch moments. Jack Hughes is one of the best young players in the world. Kyle Connor has scored 30-plus goals in seven of the last eight seasons. Guentzel is great on the power play and has two Stanley Cup rings.

The combination of speed, skill and grit in the United States' top-six is impressive.

No. 1 weakness

There aren't many weaknesses on this roster. If we had to nitpick, the bottom-six forward group is one area that could potentially hurt the Americans. To be fair, there's a ton of talent on the third and fourth lines, but it doesn't quite stack up to Canada's (which would be true for any other team in the world). So if Canada shuts down the United States' top-six forwards, that could spell trouble for Team USA. The U.S. doesn't have the same kind of elite depth up front.

The United States also doesn't have the same international or Stanley Cup-winning experience as Canada. For example, Canada's projected lineup has two Olympic gold medal winners and 14 players with at least one Stanley Cup ring. The U.S. has zero Olympic gold medalists and three players with a Cup ring.

Canada

Projected lineup

Sam Reinhart--Connor McDavid--Mitch Marner

Mark Stone--Sidney Crosby--Nathan MacKinnon

Brad Marchand--Brayden Point--Seth Jarvis

Sam Bennett--Anthony Cirelli--Brandon Hagel

Devon Toews--Cale Makar

Shea Theodore--Drew Doughty

Josh Morrissey--Colton Parayko

Goalie TBD

Player to watch

Connor McDavid is the best player in the world and won the Conn Smythe Trophy as playoff MVP last season even though the Oilers lost to the Panthers in Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Final. He has represented Canada in the IIHF World Championships a few times, but hasn't played for his country on a roster anywhere near this stacked. It will be fun to watch him go against the best American, Swedish and Finnish players in the world.

No. 1 strength

Canada's top power-play unit in practice Monday consisted of Cale Makar, Nathan MacKinnon, Sidney Crosby, Connor McDavid and Sam Reinhart. It's pretty hard to come up with a more dangerous PP1 than that group. Taking penalties against Canada likely will have severe consequences.

How do you even begin to defend this power play?

"I would probably put three goalies in the net and just let them try to do the job," Brad Marchand joked to reporters Monday. "We were joking out there -- five of the best players to ever play the game are on that power play. Even as a fan of the game, it's fun to be out there and watch them do their thing. It's special."

No. 1 weakness

It's hard to find a serious weakness for Canada's loaded roster, but goaltending has the potential to sink this team's chances of winning the tournament. Jordan Binnington, Adin Hill and Sam Montembeault are Canada's three goalies, and none of them have a save percentage above .900 this season. Binnington and Hill both have Stanley Cup-winning experience, which is helpful, but they have not played well for their NHL teams this season.

Goaltending might not matter if Canada scores a ton of goals, but in close games, this group could be a liability.

Canada head coach Jon Cooper has not yet announced his starting goalie for the first round robin game.

Finland

Projected lineup

Patrik Laine--Aleksander Barkov--Mikko Rantanen

Artturi Lehkonen--Sebastian Aho--Teuvo Teravainen

Mikael Granlund--Roope Hintz--Kaapo Kakko

Eetu Luostarinen--Anton Lundell--Joel Armia

Esa Lindell--Olli Maatta

Juuso Valimaki--Urho Vaakanainen

Niko Mikkola--Henri Jokiharju

Juuse Saros

Player to watch

Mikko Rantanen is one of the league's best offensive players. He tallied 100-plus points in each of the previous two seasons for the Avalanche. He's also productive on the power play with 51 goals since the start of the 2021-22 campaign.

This tournament could be a high-scoring one, so for Finland to keep pace with the superb offensive talent on the other teams, Rantanen has to play at an elite level. And he's certainly capable of rising to the occasion. Rantanen has 101 points in 84 career playoff games, including a 2022 Stanley Cup ring.

No. 1 strength

Finland has pretty good depth and skill at center.

Aleksander Barkov is arguably the best two-way center in the league and the reigning Selke Trophy winner. He will be tasked with leading Finland offensively and shutting down the opponent's top forwards at the other end of the ice.

Barkov is a Stanley Cup champion and has plenty of experience in clutch situations. Sebastian Aho doesn't garner much attention in Carolina but he's been a very good player for a long time. He's on pace to score 30-plus goals for the sixth time. Hintz and Lundell are solid bottom-six centers. Lundell has Cup-winning experience with the Panthers.

No. 1 weakness

The Finnish blue line is by far the worst of the four teams in this tournament, and injuries are the primary reason why. That's not to say there's no talent here, but there's no superstar in the group. Not even close. It would have had one if Miro Heiskanen was healthy, but an injury will keep him out of the lineup. Injury also has sidelined Rasmus Ristolainen.

Sweden

Projected lineup

William Nylander--Mike Zibanejad--Rickard Rakell

Adrian Kempe--Elias Pettersson--Filip Forsberg

Jesper Bratt--Joel Eriksson Ek--Mason Raymond

Gustav Nyquist--Elias Lindholm--Viktor Arvidsson

Victor Hedman--Jonas Brodin

Mattias Ekholm--Erik Karlsson

Rasmus Dahlin--Rasmus Andersson

Filip Gustavsson

Player to watch

William Nylander is a highly skilled left winger who is on pace to score 40 goals for the third straight season. He's much more than a goal scorer, though. Nylander is a tremendous playmaker and very effective on the power play. Without much elite talent at center, Nylander will need to generate a lot of scoring chances for himself and teammates.

No. 1 strength

Sweden's blue line is fantastic. Hedman leads the group as a two-time Stanley Cup champion who will play in all situations. He's on pace to tally 68 points for the Lightning at age 34. Rasmus Dahlin is one of the best young defensemen in the sport. Mattias Ekholm is a dependable veteran presence. Erik Karlsson's offensive-minded skill set is well-suited to the international game.

This group has lots of experience and skill. Don't be surprised if Sweden's blue line drives a lot of the team's offensive production in this tournament.

No. 1 weakness

Jacob Markstrom probably would have started in net for Sweden if healthy, but he will miss the tournament due to a knee injury. As a result, it's unclear who will be the No. 1 goalie.

Filip Gustavsson has played well for the Wild this season with a 22-11-3 record, a .915 save percentage and a 2.63 GAA. He's the best option at the moment, especially with Linus Ullmark only recently returning to the Senators after an injury absence. Ullmark came back last week and gave up seven goals in two games. Before that, he hadn't played since Dec. 22. Samuel Ersson of the Flyers also is on the roster.

Sweden has a fantastic team, but goaltending could be a problem for them.

Prediction

The United States and Canada meet in the final at TD Garden in Boston on Feb. 20, and Team USA wins in overtime on an Auston Matthews goal. This result sets the stage for what should be a fantastic 2026 Winter Olympics in Italy.