It’s been roughly eight years since the last time there was some sort of international hockey tournament where we saw the best players from the NHL represent their country. It was the World Cup of Hockey back in 2016 that featured eight teams.

This time around it’s a little different. The tournament set for February 2025 will only feature four teams — Canada, the United States, Sweden, and Finland — and will be called the 4 Nations Face-Off.

Before we get into naming each player that could make the United States’ roster it’s important to note that six players have already been named to each team. For Team USA, three forwards and three defencemen were selected.

F – Jack Eichel, Vegas Golden Knights
F – Auston Matthews, Toronto Maple Leafs
F – Matthew Tkachuk, Florida Panthers
D – Adam Fox, New York Rangers
D – Quinn Hughes, Vancouver Canucks
D – Charlie McAvoy, Boston Bruins

With the rosters for each team needing to be finalized by Dec. 2 (they’ll be announced two days after that), let’s take a look at 13 forwards, seven defencemen, and three goaltenders that could be heading to Montreal and Boston for Team USA, along with some honourable mentions.

Jack Hughes, New Jersey Devils
Cole Caufield, Montreal Canadiens
Kyle Connor, Winnipeg Jets
Clayton Keller, Utah Hockey Club
Dylan Larkin, Detroit Red Wings
Jake Guentzel, Tampa Bay Lightning
Matt Boldy, Minnesota Wild
Tage Thompson, Buffalo Sabres
Brock Boeser, Vancouver Canucks
Brady Tkachuk, Ottawa Senators
Jack Eichel, Vegas Golden Knights
Auston Matthews, Toronto Maple Leafs
Matthew Tkachuk, Florida Panthers

Honourable mentions: Jason Robertson, Dallas Stars; Alex Tuch, Buffalo Sabres; Chris Kreider, New York Rangers; Alex DeBrincat, Detroit Red Wings; Drake Batherson, Ottawa Senators; J.T Miller, Vancouver Canucks

Canada has the deepest forward group out of any of the four teams. That being said, the United States are a close second with the amount of talented, elite forwards they possess. There will undoubtedly be players who are good enough to make this team that won’t make the cut just because of how deep their pool of forwards is.

Zach Werenski, Columbus Blue Jackets
Noah Hanifin, Vegas Golden Knights
Jaccob Slavin, Carolina Hurricanes
Brock Faber, Minnesota Wild
Adam Fox, New York Rangers
Quinn Hughes, Vancouver Canucks
Charlie McAvoy, Boston Bruins

Honourable mentions: Neal Pionk, Winnipeg Jets; Jake Sanderson, Ottawa Senators; John Carlson, Washington Capitals; Brady Skjei, Nashville Predators

This is a very, very deep defensive group with two former Norris Trophy winners and a Calder Trophy finalist last season. While it’s primarily filled with offensive-minded defenceman, they have that shutdown presence with players like Slavin, Faber, and McAvoy. A very well-rounded, highly skilled group of defenceman, that is arguably the best core this tournament will see.

Connor Hellebuyck, Winnipeg Jets
Jake Oettinger, Dallas Stars
Dustin Wolf, Calgary Flames

Honourable mentions: Jeremy Swayman, Boston Bruins; Anthony Stolarz, Toronto Maple Leafs; Joey Daccord, Seattle Kraken; Thatcher Demko, Vancouver Canucks

The Americans have the best goaltending out of any of the four teams and it isn’t close. Team Sweden would be the only other team that would come close to having close to the same caliber of goaltending as the United States with Jacob Markstrom and Filip Gustavsson. Hellebuyck along with his Jets are playing at an unbelievable level and you can expect the consensus will be that he is the starter. If not for his injury, Thatcher Demko would be a lock for this team making the trio even stronger than it would be now. Outside of Hellebuyck and Oettinger that third spot is up for grabs.

While the popular pick would be for Swayman to fill that up the truth is he hasn’t been very good. Wolf on the other hand has put the Calgary Flames on his back, so why shouldn’t he be rewarded for it? Even if it is as the third string, Wolf has played his way into this discussion and no argument could be made as to why he doesn’t deserve this opportunity.

The Flames have a better shot at seeing some of their players involved in this tournament with other teams. Rasmus Andersson is likely a lock for Team Sweden while MacKenzie Weegar could be in the mix for Team Canada. Wolf is really the only American Flame that would have a realistic chance of making it.

USA general manager Bill Guerin has just a few days left to figure out who he wants to have representing the red, white, and blue from Feb 12-20, 2025.