Larkin and Raymond honored to participate at 2025 4 Nations Face-Off

OTTAWA -- Captain Dylan Larkin and Lucas Raymond share the ice every day as teammates and friends, but the Detroit Red Wings forwards will be on opposing sides when they represent their home countries at the 2025 4 Nations Face-Off, which will be held at Montreal’s Bell Centre and Boston’s TD Garden from Feb. 12-20.

On Wednesday, the NHL unveiled the full 23-man rosters for the United States, Canada, Sweden and Finland teams that will compete in the round-robin tournament. Each team will battle against each other, with the top two advancing to a championship game.

Larkin will play for the United States, and Raymond for Sweden.

“Very happy for [Larkin and Raymond], very well-earned,” Red Wings head coach Derek Lalonde said after Thursday’s morning skate at Canadian Tire Centre. “I think both are going to play significant roles for their federations, but [I] also have a little empathy for the guys that didn’t make it. We have a handful of guys in that room that would be right on that bubble, so it’s a good moment for those guys, for sure.”

Larkin said he’s extremely humbled to wear the red, white and blue at 4 Nations Face-Off.

“It’s a great honor,” Larkin said. “To see the list of players and be part of that is a great accomplishment. It’s something I’m very proud of. I thank my wife, my family and my teammates. It’s been a pretty cool honor.”

Raymond expressed similar feelings of pride and gratitude.

“Obviously excited,” Raymond said. “Any time you get the chance to represent your country and play in a tournament like that, it’s always a lot of fun.”

Neither Larkin nor Raymond are strangers to showcasing their skill on the international stage.

Larkin represented the United States at five consecutive International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) World Championships from 2015-19, skated at the 2016 World Cup of Hockey, played at the 2015 IIHF World Junior Championship, won a gold medal at the 2014 IIHF World U-18 Championship and took home bronze at the 2013 World U-17 Hockey Challenge.

Watching USA Hockey’s National Team growing up were special memories for Larkin, the Waterford, Mich., native.

“World Juniors is always special in our house,” Larkin said. “We always got together on New Years Eve for Canada-U.S. games. I know it wasn’t New Years Eve, but the goal John Carlson [scored] to win the gold medal at World Juniors was special. The Vancouver Olympics [in] 2010. Watching that game with all of our family, U.S.-Canada gold medal game -- we always got together to watch it and, you know, pretty cool.”

While donning the blue and yellow, Raymond secured a bronze medal at the 2024 IIHF World Championship, played at the 2023 IIHF World Championship following back-to-back IIHF World Junior Championship appearances in 2020 and 2021, recorded a hat trick at the 2019 IIHF World U-18 Championship, got another bronze at the 2018 World U-17 Hockey Challenge and earned silver at the 2018 Hlinka Gretzy Cup.

Raymond said playing international games is a bit different than the nightly action of the NHL.

“Usually, a lot shorter of a period, a lot more intense and a lot of fun,” Raymond said. “It brings a lot of emotions to a lot of people. Especially in Sweden, it’s a really big thing.”

Raymond added it’ll be a strange going against Larkin. Through 26 games this season, Raymond is first on Detroit with 27 points (nine goals, 18 assists) while Larkin is third with 20 points (12 goals, eight assists).

“We talked about it a little bit,” Raymond said. “It’d be a lot of fun. I’ve never played him, so we’ll see how that goes. It’s a special situation, but I think it’d be a lot of fun.”