Finland projected roster for 2025 4 Nations Face-Off

The 2025 4 Nations Face-Off will be held from Feb. 12-20 in Montreal and Boston, with teams of NHL players from Finland, Sweden, Canada and the United States competing in a round-robin tournament. This will be the first best-on-best tournament since the World Cup of Hockey 2016 in Toronto.

The international tournament is about three months away with tickets going on sale Tuesday for the games in Montreal and Wednesday for the games in Boston on Ticketmaster.com. With the NHL season off and running, NHL.com wanted to take an updated look at what the rosters for each country could look like, using a panel of three staff writers and editors to compile a list of 23 players (20 skaters, three goalies) for each team.

NHL.com senior director of editorial Shawn P. Roarke, staff writer Tracey Myers and nhl.com/fi correspondent Sami Haapasalo unveiled their original Finland roster in February and an updated one in July. With the official rosters being announced in about a month, Roarke, Myers and Haapasalo take another shot at it now with some changes. Also, six players (marked by an asterisk) were named to the roster last month by their hockey federations.

Here is the Finland projected roster (listed alphabetically by position):

Forwards (13)

Sebastian Aho, Carolina Hurricanes*
Aleksander Barkov, Florida Panthers*
Mikael Granlund, San Jose Sharks
Erik Haula, New Jersey Devils
Roope Hintz, Dallas Stars
Artturi Lehkonen, Colorado Avalanche
Anton Lundell, Florida Panthers
Eetu Luostarinen, Florida Panthers
Matias Maccelli, Utah Hockey Club
Jesse Puljujarvi, Pittsburgh Penguins
Mikko Rantanen, Colorado Avalanche*
Teuvo Teravainen, Chicago Blackhawks
Eeli Tolvanen, Seattle Kraken

There's some fabulous talent among the Finnish forwards, no doubt. Let's start with Barkov, who returned Monday from a lower-body injury sustained Oct. 10. He brings great production and is the reigning winner of the Selke Trophy awarded to the League's top defensive forward. Aho and Teravainen were longtime linemates with the Hurricanes before the latter signed with Chicago on July 1. Hintz is off to a great start this season (as usual), as is Rantanen with the Avalanche. Rantanen will have familiarity with Lehkonen, who's still recovering from offseason shoulder surgery. Luostarinen and Lundell were big parts of Florida's march to the Stanley Cup last season and Lundell is among the Panthers' top scorers so far this season. Puljujarvi, a first-round pick (No. 4) by the Edmonton Oilers in the 2016 NHL Draft, has cracked the forward group this time around with a strong start for the Penguins and could provide some depth scoring. He gives Finland a 13th forward with Stars defenseman Jani Hakanpaa dropped from the July roster projection. -- Myers

Defensemen (7)

Miro Heiskanen, Dallas Stars*
Henri Jokiharju, Buffalo Sabres
Esa Lindell, Dallas Stars*
Olli Maatta, Utah Hockey Club
Niko Mikkola, Florida Panthers
Rasmus Ristolainen, Philadelphia Flyers
Juuso Valimaki, Utah Hockey Club

Heiskanen, one of the elite offensive defensemen in the NHL, will log the biggest minutes and quarterback the first power-play unit. Though he is the only star-caliber defenseman on the roster, Finland's blue line has plenty of size, strength and experience. Lindell is a defensive specialist and an excellent penalty killer. He and Stars teammate Heiskanen would make a great top pair. Mikkola, a left-hand shot and Ristolainen, a right-hander, could form a tough and towering second pair, and they also are good penalty killers. Similarly, Valimaki and Jokiharju would bring nice lefty-righty balance on the third pairing, and each can play in different situations. Maatta, a two-time Stanley Cup winner, is solid and can fill in as needed. His experience and reliability should not be underrated. -- Haapasalo

Goalies (3)

Kevin Lankinen, Vancouver Canucks
Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen, Buffalo Sabres
Juuse Saros, Nashville Predators*

Saros is still the goalie, even after a slower than expected start. He has struggled and the Predators have struggled in front of him so far, but he remains the best goalie available to the Finns. Lankinen, Saros' former backup now with the Canucks, has started fast, worked his way into the mix and could battle Luukkonen for the backup job. Speaking of fast starts, Joel Blomqvist is playing more than expected for the Penguins and the 22-year-old could force his way into the picture with a run across the next two months. -- Roarke