Minnesota connections in the 4 Nations Face-Off: What you need to know
MINNEAPOLIS — The 4 Nations Face-Off gets underway tonight in Montreal when Canada takes on Sweden.
The hockey world has long waited for what the NHL dubs a "best-on-best" tournament, almost eight years since 2016's World Cup of Hockey.
But, there is a caveat. With only the USA, Canada, Sweden and Finland in the tournament, it leaves out some of the world's best players, like Alexander Ovechkin (Russia) and David Pastrnak (Czech Republic). ESPN reports the NHL, which is running the tournament, chose to go without a Russian team due to the ongoing war with Ukraine.
One rule unique to this tournament is that each team must be rostered solely by NHL players. So a country like Switzerland, even with a few elite NHLers, would not have enough players to fill a roster.
Tournament setup
It's a round-robin format, with each team guaranteed three total games, facing all opponents at least once.
The two teams with the most points (3 for a regulation win, 2 for an overtime/shootout win, 1 for an overtime/shootout loss, and none for a regulation loss) will meet in a one-game championship.
The championship is Feb. 20 in Boston.
Minnesota Wild players, staff
Five current Wild players are in the tournament, and six Wild employees are working for Team USA.
Forwards:
Matt Boldy, USA; Joel Erikkson Ek, Sweden
Defenseman:
Brock Faber, USA; Jonas Brodin, Sweden
Goaltender:
Filip Gustavsson, Sweden
Team USA Staff:
Bill Guerin, general manager; John Hynes, assistant coach; Chris Kelleher, director of player personnel; John Worley, athletic trainer; Travis Green, athletic trainer; Dr. Joel Boyd, team physician
Former Wild players:
Erik Haula, Finland; Mikael Granlund, Finland; Gustav Nyquist, Sweden
State of Hockey connections
Team USA:
Jake Guentzel, forward, grew up in Woodbury and played high school hockey at Hill-Murray.
Brock Nelson, forward, from and played high school hockey in Warroad.
![BRUCE BISPING • bbisping@startribune.com St. Paul, MN.,, Friday, 3/13/2009] Boys State Hockey Tournament, Class A, Warroad vs St. Cloud Cathedral. (left to right) Warroad's Brock Nelson celebrated his 2nd period goal against St. Cloud Cathedral.](https://assets3.cbsnewsstatic.com/hub/i/r/2025/02/12/7c0d9445-d0ae-4bbb-b423-08153feb1f78/thumbnail/620x532/36a725572154ff511cd697a48d2dddae/gettyimages-1155669402.jpg?v=765ef194a4bf4701e45ec9d5712af42f#)
Jake Oettinger, goalie, from and played one year of high school hockey in Lakeville.
Team Canada:
Sydney Crosby, forward, played one year at Shattuck-St. Mary's in Faribault.
Other notes
All NHL teams are on break during the tournament. There is not an All-Star Game this season.
You can watch the tournament on ESPN, ABC, TNT and truTv.
The next time NHL players play in international competition will be in the 2026 Winter Olympics. The last time they played in the olympics was in 2014 in Sochi, Russia.
