Nashville Predators have three representatives at the inaugural Four Nations Face-Off, with Filip Forsberg and Gus Nyquist being teammates on Sweden, and Juuse Saros patrolling the crease for Finland.
The Four Nations Face-Off will start Wednesday with Sweden against Canada, followed on Thursday by the United States taking on Finland.
The tournament is spanning across two host sites, Montreal and Boston. The first edition of this international tournament feels like a test run by the NHL in place of the All-Star game. If it is received really well by the fans and players alike through television ratings, attendance and social media interaction then we could see it return in the coming years, and maybe even expand to more nations and more host sites just like the Olympics.
If you blink, you might miss this tournament. There's only seven games and four teams. It's really just a revamp of the All-Star game weekend, which all of the major sports are having a hard time breaking away from the stale product of all-star games. Let's see if this gives fans some new juice for what is a glorified exhibition tournament.
Don't tell the players this tournament means nothing but a scrimmage between hockey hot beds. They're representing their home countries and it should have a much higher level of competitiveness that we don't usually see at the All-Star games. National pride is on the line, and that does mean something.
Filip Forsberg with an elevated role for Sweden
The Predators are considered a small market team and don't get nearly the national attention that the blue bloods get. So this tournament will be an opportunity for Forsberg to showcase his elite puck skills to the hockey world, something that Predators fans get to see regularly and have been for a decade.
Sure, the diehard hockey fans know all about Forsberg. But if this tournament pulls in the more casual NHL fans, something the league is really hoping for, then Forsberg jumping off their screen with his elite stick handlings will be a new experience for some.
Not to be overlooked, Nyquist also making the Swedish roster is awesome to see. The 35-year-old winger has put in 837 games of NHL experience while amassing 523 career points.
Nyquist's 523 career points puts him 34th all-time among Swedish-born players, with his much younger teammates Forsberg being 18th all-time with 658 points.
No one in the near future will ever catch the all-time Swede in NHL points which is Mats Sundin with 1,349 NHL points. Depending on how long Forsberg can remain around a point-per-game player, he could push for top-10 among Swedish players in points if he plays for at least six more seasons, putting him around age 36 and near Peter Forsberg's 885 career points.
According to Daily Faceoff's line projections, Forsberg will line up on Sweden's second line Elias Pettersson at center and Lucas Raymond at right wing. Nyquist is projected to slot in on the fourth line former Predators great Viktor Arvidsson and Elias Lindholm at the center position.
It's a roster that obviously has some great talent, but it will have trouble matching the depth of Canada and the United States. Forsberg has a chance to be the offensive leader for this team throughout the tournament, along with Pettersson, William Nylander and Mika Zibanejad.
Saros and Finland considered the heavy underdogs
Finland has already lost some talent through injuries that are forcing players to back out, including Norris Trophy caliber defenseman Miko Heiskanen.
Stop and tell me if you've heard this one before as a Predators fan, but Saros might have to stand on his head to give his team Finland a chance to hang with the United States in their first matchup on Thursday.
Saros joins a goalie trio for Finland that includes former Predators teammate Kevin Lankinen and Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen of the Buffalo Sabres. Saros I have to believe is the top goalie in this room for Finland.
Like the entire Predators roster aside from Forsberg a couple others, Saros is in a major slump entering this tournament. His .898 save percentage would be the lowest of his NHL career while also giving up a GAA of 2.95.
To add to Sweden's Predators flavor, they also have Mattias Ekholm in their defensive corps. I'm suspecting Predators fans are going to link heavily with Sweden in this tournament, with the diehard Saros fans pulling for Finland.
It would be really fun to see Saros get on a hot streak and push the heavy underdog Finland to the championship match. Everyone loves a good underdog story, right?
International Rules
The biggest rule change for the Four Nations Face-Off is getting rewarded three points for a regulation win rather than just the standard two points. So if the United States and Canada dominate the other two teams (Sweden and Finland) like they're expected to, then both teams might have the perfect amount of points making their matchup on Saturday, February 15 as the most critical.
The Four Nations Face-Off championship game is scheduled for Thursday, February 20 in Boston right in primetime at 8 PM EDT.
Superstar Rosters for Canada and USA
As you would expect, Canada and the United States rosters are loaded with elite talent and future Hall of Famers.
Starting with the United States, they got the Tkachuk brothers, Matthew and Brady, getting a lot of the headlines. We'll get to see young phenom Jack Hughes of the New Jersey Devils, while also getting to see the elite offensive weapons of Auston Matthews, Jack Eichel and Kyle Connor.
The secret weapon for the United States very well might end up being their goalie room. Connor Hellebuyck is the best goalie in the NHL right now, and Jake Oettinger is right close behind him. Then you also have Jeremy Swayman as the third goalies. Almost not even fair to have that trio of goaltenders on the same roster.
As for Canada, they're overloaded as well. Plenty of pure scorers and also a very impressive defensive corps. On defense they have Norris Trophy caliber players like Cale Makar and Josh Morrisey, while having some veteran leadership in that group as well with Colton Parayko and Drew Doughty.
In the forwards, just Hall of Fame talent everywhere you look. Sidney Crosby, Nathan MacKinnon, Connor McDavid, Brayden Point and Brad Marchand. Do you I need to elaborate anymore? My goodness this squad is going to pile up the goals most likely.
Four Nations Face-Off Prediction
Sweden can be a sneaky underdog in this one. I like their defense and their goalie room with Linus Ullmark being the top dog there. Can they find enough offense to hang with Canada and the United States? Maybe, but it's going to be very difficult.
Finland is going to need to be near perfect on defense. I don't see them getting a ton of offense to hang in a track meet style game. If they can win through discipline on defense and special teams while getting strong goaltender from Saros and company, then maybe they pull of a huge upset.
I'm sticking with Canada to win this thing. I know that's a chalk pick, but they're just ridiculously loaded with offense and even USA's great goalies are going to have a nightmare holding Canada back.
I got Canada winning in a very close and exciting championship game over USA. Sweden has a chance to pull off an upset, but the points system will come into play to keep Sweden out of the championship round.