Dahlin, Luukkonen to compete in 4 Nations Face-Off

Rasmus Dahlin and Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen will represent their countries at the NHL 4 Nations Face-Off, an international tournament featuring teams from Canada, Finland, Sweden, and the United States that will be held in Boston and Montreal from Feb. 12 to 20.

Finland and Sweden revealed their rosters on Wednesday afternoon. Canada and the U.S. will announce their rosters during a live selection show airing tonight at 6:30 p.m. on TNT.

The 4 Nations Face-Off will mark the first best-on-best international tournament since the 2016 World Cup of Hockey.

Dahlin joins a talented Swedish defense corps that includes a pair of Norris Trophy winners in Pittsburgh’s Erik Karlsson and Tampa Bay’s Victor Hedman, plus Florida’s Gustav Forsling, Calgary's Rasmus Andersson, Edmonton's Mattias Ekholm, and Minnesota's Jonas Brodin.

A native of Lidkoping, Sweden, Dahlin has represented the country at two of the last three IIHF World Championships, the 2018 Olympics, and twice at the World Junior Championship.

Dahlin, the top pick in 2018, is one of two Swedish players to be drafted first-overall in NHL history along with Hall-of-Fame forward Mats Sundin. At 24 years old, he ranks 17th all-time in career points by a Swedish defenseman (311) and fifth in points per game (0.67). Since entering the league in 2018-19, he ranks first in power-play goals (26); second in games played (461), goals (72) and game-winning goals (13); and third in assists (239) and points (311) among all Swedish defensemen.

Dahlin is tied for 11th among NHL defensemen with 19 points in 25 games this season, his first as captain of the Sabres. His six goals are tied for sixth.

Luukkonen backstopped Finland to gold medals at the U-18 World Championship in 2016 and the World Junior Championship in 2019. He was named to the tournament All-Star teams at both events.

"Every player who comes through and grows up in Finland wants to play for the men's national team," Luukkonen said. "Especially in a tournament like this, when it’s best-against-best hockey, I think every player wants to be a part of it.

"And it’s a great honor to put a Finnish jersey on again and be a part of the team.”

Since the start of the 2023-24 season, Luukkonen leads all Finnish goaltenders in save percentage (.909), goals-against average (2.60) and shutouts (6). Among those goaltenders, he ranks second in games played (71), games started (68), wins (35) and saves (1,774).

Luukkonen is one of three goaltenders on Finland’s roster along with Nashville’s Juuse Saros and Vancouver’s Kevin Lankinen.

"Everybody knows Finnish goaltending has always been good, and the three goalies we have in this tournament, we’ve all been starters for our respective teams this year," Luukkonen said. "It doesn't matter who is starting, we are able to win every game in the tournament."