4 Nations fun: Stars players, staff excited for opportunity to represent home countries

The 4 Nations Faceoff in February will have both an adversarial and familial feel to it for the Stars organization.

On one hand, Finnish players Esa Lindell, Miro Heiskanen and Roope Hintz will be battling against a Team Canada management squad that includes Jim Nill, Pete DeBoer, and Misha Donskov, as well as a U.S Team that includes goalie Jake Oettinger. On the other hand, the entire organization should be lifted up by the experience.

“We’re all excited,” said Stars GM Jim Nill, who will serve as associate GM for Team Canada. “It’s a compliment to our organization. Pete is going to be one of the coaches, Misha is involved in the coaching staff. We’re looking forward to that. It’s a great opportunity to represent your country.”

DeBoer will serve as an assistant coach to head coach Jon Cooper (Tampa Bay), while Donskov is a special assistant who will do a lot of the work he does for the Stars with game preparation and analytics. Hintz, Lindell and Heiskanen will be on Team Finland, whose GM is former Stars player Jere Lehtinen. Oettinger is one of three goalies on Team USA, whose GM is former Stars player Bill Guerin. That makes for some nice rivalries, and also plenty of familiarity.

Hintz said he has played with a lot of his Team Finland teammates, not just the two in Dallas.

“It’s a dream come true to be on that team,” said Hintz, who was named when the rosters were finalized on Wednesday. “There are so many guys I know from our younger national teams and a lot of friends as well as a couple of guys from this team, so it’s going to be really nice.”

The Stars made a trip to Finland in November to play the Florida Panthers in a two-game set, and that sort of set the tone for the three Finns. Each got to play in front of friends and relatives and were able to feel the country’s passion for the sport. While these games will be played in Montreal and Boston, the Finnish players said they will take that energy with them.

“That was really cool for us that we got to experience that first and now this,” Hintz said. “They’re always behind us. Everyone loves to play for their country, so I’m really looking forward to it.”

While the full rosters were announced on Wednesday, DeBoer has been a part of these teams before and said there can be late changes. As a result, players who are “hot” in January and February could still get an invite.

“Having gone through the process, there’s also a whole ‘nother group of guys that weren’t named that are still in the mix, because this tournament is not until February and we’ve got some guys in our room who I know are in those conversations for all of the different teams,” DeBoer said.

Jason Robertson could be a candidate to play for Team USA, while both Matt Duchene and Mason Marchment could be in the mix for Team Canada. And even players who were named could be jockeying for position on their national rosters. Oettinger looks like a likely backup to Connor Hellebuyck for Team USA, but he could move into the No. 1 spot with his play in the next two months.

“Obviously, it would be one of the coolest things in my career to make that team,” Oettinger said after beating Hellebuyck on Sunday. “Hopefully I’ve done enough to do that.”

Each team will play the other one time in a round-robin format from Feb. 12 to 17. The two teams that have the most standings points will then play each other in the championship game on Feb. 20. The league will stop play during the period and this will serve as the All-Star Game for this season, so teams will have to come together quickly. That’s part of the fun of international play.

“You have to put it together quick,” said Heiskanen, who won gold at the 2022 World Championship with a Finland team that came together quickly. “I think it’s our strength that we pretty much know every guy who will be there, so that could make it easier.”

Whatever happens, the intensity will be high simply because fans and players have been waiting to see “best on best.”

“We forget, this generation of players hasn’t had this opportunity,” Nill said. “With COVID and the cancelation of the Olympics, they haven’t had these opportunities. The Connor McDavid’s, the [Nathan] MacKinnon’s, the Roope Hintz’s and Esa Lindell’s, they have missed out on this, so they’re very excited. Any time you play for your country, there’s something that kicks in.”

This story was not subject to the approval of the National Hockey League or Dallas Stars Hockey Club.

Mike Heika is a Senior Staff Writer for DallasStars.com and has covered the Stars since 1994. Follow him on X @MikeHeika.