United States 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 on sale at 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 staff writers Amalie Benjamin, Mike G. Morreale and Dan Rosen unveiled their original United States roster in February and an updated one in July. With the official rosters being announced in about a month, Benjamin, Morreale and Rosen 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 United States projected roster (listed alphabetically by position):

Forwards (13)

Cole Caufield, Montreal Canadiens
Kyle Connor, Winnipeg Jets
Jack Eichel, Vegas Golden Knights*
Jake Guentzel, Tampa Bay Lightning
Jack Hughes, New Jersey Devils
Clayton Keller, Utah Hockey Club
Chris Kreider, New York Rangers
Dylan Larkin, Detroit Red Wings
Auston Matthews, Toronto Maple Leafs*
J.T. Miller, Vancouver Canucks
Jason Robertson, Dallas Stars
Brady Tkachuk, Ottawa Senators
Matthew Tkachuk, Florida Panthers*

The voting this time around was fairly similar to the last time we did this with one change: Kreider edged Rangers teammate Vincent Trocheck by a tiebreaker when was named on two of the three ballots submitted for this process and Trocheck was on one. The question really becomes about value. Kreider's is in front of the net on the power play. Trocheck's is as a two-way center who wins face-offs. Kreider is a left-handed shooter. Trocheck is a righty, but he might be able to edge Larkin or Kreider could edge Miller and both Rangers forwards make it. Matthews, Eichel and Matthew Tkachuk were already named to the team, so they're locks. Brady Tkachuk, Guentzel and Robertson should be on the team as left wings. Kreider is at left wing too. His presence on the power play could be key. Jack Hughes is an obvious candidate to be a center. It could be Trocheck, Larkin or Miller as the fourth center. Matthew Tkachuk, Caufield, Keller and Connor all could play right wing, but don't sleep on Troy Terry (Anaheim Ducks), Alex Tuch (Buffalo Sabres) and Brock Boeser (Canucks) as potential candidates on the right, and Matt Boldy (Minnesota Wild) as an option at left wing. There's still time and Team USA has a lot of options. It's exactly what you want. -- Rosen

Defensemen (7)

John Carlson, Washington Capitals
Brock Faber, Minnesota Wild
Adam Fox, New York Rangers*
Quinn Hughes, Vancouver Canucks*
Charlie McAvoy, Boston Bruins*
Jaccob Slavin, Carolina Hurricanes
Zach Werenski, Columbus Blue Jackets

One change was made to the defense since our last projection four months ago, Carlson in place K'Andre Miller of the Rangers. Noah Hanifin (Golden Knights) just missed the cut this time around. Carlson, 34, becomes the savvy veteran of the group, a spot previously held by Slavin, 30. He logs big minutes and provides great stability and leadership on and off the ice. These seven defensemen bring a team-first mentality with an understanding that shot blocking and defending the zone are as important as generating and sustaining offense. Puck possession and a smooth transition are paramount against many of the finest players in the world and this group would certainly be up to the challenge. Faber, 22, brings exceptional poise and determination too good to pass up. We would expect each of the players to fill in at their natural positions; there are four right-handed shots (Faber, Fox, McAvoy, Carlson) and three left-handers (Hughes, Slavin, Werenski). Each can make timely plays and log heavy minutes. McAvoy, Fox, Carlson, Slavin and Faber offer significant time spent on the penalty kill and either Hughes, McAvoy, Fox or Faber is perfectly capable of quarterbacking a power play. Fox and McAvoy have a history of international success dating to their gold-medal winning performance for the United States at the 2017 IIHF World Junior Championship. -- Morreale

Goalies (3)

Connor Hellebuyck, Winnipeg Jets
Jake Oettinger, Dallas Stars
Jeremy Swayman, Boston Bruins

If there's one race the early season has shaken up, it's this one. Thatcher Demko of the Canucks made each of our previous rosters, coming in first in our last attempt. Now, though, Demko isn't on the list through no fault of his own. He's yet to play this season because of a knee injury and it's unclear when his return could come, putting any participation in the 4 Nations in doubt. Fortunately for the Untied States, this is their area of greatest strength with Oettinger sliding right into the vacated spot. He has certainly earned it by going 5-1-0 with a 1.84 goals-against average, .938 save percentage and one shutout, not far off from Hellebuyck (6-1-0, 2.14 GAA, .925 save percentage, one shutout). Swayman is lagging slightly, but that may be because he did not participate in training camp. He has a 2.97 GAA and .900 save percentage for a team off to the rockiest start of the three. Picking a starter won't be easy, but the good news for the United States is that it most likely can't go wrong. -- Benjamin