Nashville Predators Players Who Could Play in "Four Nations Face-Off" in 2025

There is a brand new international tournament coming to the hockey world in 2025, and it will be called the "4 Nations Face-Off" featuring the countries of Canada, United State, Sweden and Finland and will be in round robin format.

The announcement comes on the same day that the NHL has also confirmed that NHL players will be returning to Olympic action for 2026 and 2030, and Commissioner Gary Bettman even hinted at the possibility of a World Cup of hockey coming soon, per Pierre LeBrun of The Athletic.

There will be seven games total played in this tournament, with each team playing three games in the round robin portion, and then a finals game between the two teams who compile the most points. It will be NHL rules and each roster will have 20 skaters and three goalies.

Exciting news for diehard hockey fans around the world, and also a great way to grow the game with all of the new streaming options available for younger demographics where the sport is increasing in viewership.

Which Current Predators Players Could Play in Four Nations Faceoff?

So let's take a look at the Nashville Predators roster as it sits now, and who will likely still be on the team to be selected for the Nations Face-Off tournament next February.

First off, this is a difficult exercise because it seems pretty likely at this point that the Predators are about to be sellers at the trade deadline next month, but I'll do my best to projected some possible candidates.

You have to of course begin with Filip Forsberg, who represents his native country of Sweden. Forsberg is 26th all-time among Swedish-born players in career points with 562, which makes him fifth among active Swedish players.

Forsberg is a virtual lock to represent Sweden in the Four Nations Face-Off assuming he's not injured, and he's also the safest bet to still be on this team next season along with Roman Josi.

Forsberg is also a likely top choice to play in the 2026 Olympics for Sweden and it would be his first appearance on the international stage representing his native country.

Next let's go to Juuse Saros, who is one of the top Finnish goalies in the NHL. In fact, he's the undisputed top of the list among active NHL goalies from Finland. There are only eight that are currently active, and Saros has the most wins with 166 and Antii Raanta being next closest with 139 wins.

Now we're taking a big leap of faith that Saros is still on the Predators next season. There is currently trade buzz galore surrounding Saros, but whether he's on the Predators or not, he will 100 percent be one of three goalies representing Finland in the Nations Face-Off.

You can look at Ryan O'Reilly who represents Canada, but the Canada roster is going to be so loaded with ridiculous talent that it will probably be difficult for O'Reilly to even be considered. Canada will of course be the heavy favorite for this tournament.

Going back to Sweden, Gustav Nyquist is a strong possibility to be included in this. Among active players from Sweden, Nyquist is 10th in points with 466 and 8th in goals with 187.

Sweden's top players will be Filip Forsberg, Mika Zibanejad, Elias Lindholm and William Nylander. I think Nyquist gets onto the 23-player roster.

Unfortunately it's hard to see any other current Predators players making it to the inaugural Nations Face-Off. Roman Josi represents Switzerland, who isn't participating, and the rest of the Predators roster is either too young and represent Canada which is overloaded with talent to choose from.

One other player on the Predators that I wouldn't sleep on maybe getting an invite is Ryan McDonagh to represent the United States. He has captain qualities, well respected around the league, and among U.S. born defensemen he is top-10 among active players.

Quinn Hughes and Adam Fox are arguably your two best U.S. born defensemen right now, but don't sleep on McDonagh getting onto the team as a veteran that's well respected.

Top Preds Candidate for Nations Faceoff in 2025

1. Filip Forsberg, Sweden

Forsberg is 3rd among active Swedish born players with 562 NHL Points.

2. Juuse Saros, Finland

Saros is 1st among active Finnish goalies with 162 wins and .917 Save %

3. Gustav Nyquist, Sweden

Nyquist is 7th among active Swedish players with 754 NHL games.

4. Ryan McDonagh, United State

McDonagh is 9th among active U.S. defensemen with 295 career assists.

The list of realistic candidates on the current Predators roster stops there. At the very least, we'll definitely see Forsberg and Saros represent their native countries in this first time event that's reopening the international stage for hockey with the world's best players competing against each other.

It's worth noting that there will be no All Star game as of now for 2025, and won't be one for the foreseeable future with the Olympics and the World Cup coming each year after that.