PRAGUE -- The jersey designs for the 2025 4 Nations Face-Off haven’t been released publicly yet, so when Nashville Predators goalie Juuse Saros got a sneak preview of the Finland jersey during a video shoot Wednesday, he cradled it in his hands, studied the top-secret details and broke into a big grin.
“I think it’s really cool,” he said. “Really excited to wear that jersey. Looks good.”
The tournament featuring Canada, Finland, Sweden and the United States isn’t until Feb. 12-20, and it will be played entirely in North America, in Montreal and Boston. Still, it generated a buzz at the European Player Media Tour on Wednesday, a day of interviews and video shoots in Prague to promote the upcoming NHL season.
This will be the first best-on-best tournament with NHL players since the World Cup of Hockey 2016. International hockey means a lot in Europe, where fans watch the IIHF World Championship and World Junior Championship. And though Canada is the favorite and the United States a contender, Sweden and Finland each feels it can win too.
“Just as a fan of hockey, you know, you’re so happy that the best-on-best tournaments are back,” said Philadelphia Flyers goalie Samuel Ersson, a candidate to play for Sweden. “I feel like that’s something that hockey needs, and I think that’ll be a great thing for the sport, just to build the sport on the international stage.”
Players said European media asked them a lot about the 4 Nations Face-Off.
“Everyone’s pumped,” said Carolina Hurricanes forward Sebastian Aho, who will play for Finland.
Each team announced its first six players June 28. The rest of the rosters will be announced between Nov. 29 and Dec. 2. That means the start of the NHL season will double as an audition for many players from the four nations.
“Everybody wants to be part of the tournament,” said Buffalo Sabres goalie Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen, a candidate for Finland. “I think the start of the season will be more crucial than ever now. Team-wise, of course, everybody wants to start hot. But now everybody has a little bit of chip on their shoulder to make the 4 Nations team too.”
Each roster will be tough to crack. That doesn’t dampen the enthusiasm for the tournament for a player like Washington Capitals defenseman Rasmus Sandin, who will try to impress the Sweden executives.
“For me, I don’t really have any expectations for it,” Sandin said. “Even if I’m getting selected or not selected, it’s just going to be fun to finally get [best-on-best hockey] back, I feel like. But, of course, I would love to be a part of it. It is a little bit like a tryout the first month. It’s up to yourself how good you play and then see if they like it.”
Each team will play three round-robin games, earning three points for a regulation win, two for an overtime or shootout win, and one for an overtime or shootout loss. The two teams with the best records will advance to the championship game. The format might help Sweden and Finland.
“It’s not like a best-of-7 series,” Aho said. “That would be a little bit tougher to go up against some of the matchups. Tournament hockey’s a little bit different.”
Montreal will host four games: Canada will play Sweden on Feb. 12, the United States will play Finland on Feb. 13 and there will be a doubleheader of rivalry games on Feb. 15, with Finland vs. Sweden and the United States vs. Canada.
“It’s going to be very cool,” Luukkonen said. “Getting to play against Sweden, it’s always, always a big thing, but doing it on that big of a stage will be something special with the best players available, so it’s something that I feel everybody back home is looking forward to.”
The Finland-Sweden game will be at 1 p.m. ET -- critical for the TV audience, considering the time difference between North America and Europe.
“Prime time,” Aho said. “Unreal. That’s a big rivalry. I’m sure that in both Finland and Sweden a lot of people are going to watch that game, and there will be a lot of buzz around that game. That’s special.”
Boston will host three games: a doubleheader Feb. 17, with Canada vs. Finland and Sweden vs. the United States, and the championship game Feb. 20.
“I’m really excited,” NHL deputy commissioner Bill Daly said. “I think it’s going to be an unbelievable competition. I think the teams are closer in terms of their competitiveness than they’ve ever been before. … Just picking a squad of 25 players for any of those four countries is a spectacular team.”
Who knows who will win?
“I mean, obviously, they’re all great teams,” Ersson said. “I think Canada, U.S., they have very, very good teams, but it’s a short tournament. When you get a lot of big players, everybody might have to take on different roles than what they’re used to, and I think that might be a little bit easier for Team Sweden and the Finns, so that’s maybe something that speaks for us.”
