SPORTS TALK: Will the 4 Nations Cup have the same wow factor as the Canada Cup?
By Greg Buchanan
Time is running short for bubble players who want to impress their countries' management teams ahead of the 4 Nations Face-Off.
Just four weeks remain until rosters featuring 20 skaters and three goaltenders need to be finalized and submitted on Dec. 2, and just 100 until play begins.
The February tournament will be the first to bring together all of the top players from the United States, Canada, Sweden, and Finland since the 2016 World Cup of Hockey. That lengthy window has created a nearly blank slate, with only a few holdovers from hockey's last best-on-best event.
With player evaluations still ongoing, we've taken a crack at forecasting what each country's roster could look like.
Canada is so deep at centre, it can contemplate shifting last season's Hart Trophy winner to the wing. And if it's not Nathan MacKinnon moving over, it'll probably be 50-goal man Brayden Point. Given how little preparation time teams will get before the tournament, there's comfort in familiarity for Canada with two defence pairings that have spent considerable time together in the NHL, plus the Zach Hyman-Connor McDavid duo from Edmonton and Brad Marchand–Sidney Crosby duo from the 2016 World Cup.
The goaltending is a major question mark for a country accustomed to lining up in front of surefire Hall of Famers at best-on-best events. Jordan Binnington and Adin Hill have at least both played their share of pressure-packed games — each winning a Stanley Cup — and the competition for playing time between them should remain open right up until February. Basically, the hottest hand gets the job. I went with Cam Talbot at No. 3 based on his strong start to the season in Detroit.
The toughest call(s): When you're picking a Team Canada, you're always going to be leaving multiple top forwards off the roster. In this case, they include Alexis Lafrenière, Mark Scheifele, Connor Bedard, Steven Stamkos, John Tavares and Quinton Byfield. The defenseman I had the toughest time passing on was Noah Dobson, who gets beat out by the experience of Josh Morrissey and the flexibility of MacKenzie Weegar. I opted for Weegar as the No. 7 because of his comfort playing either side of the ice. McDavid has come to having a NHL mentor like Crosby would be Duncan Keith. Keith was acquired from the Chicago Blackhawks back in 2021, and the two-time Stanley Cup champion and Olympic Gold medalist did have a positive impact on McDavid, but with much respect to Keith, playing on the same ice surface and sharing a dressing room with Crosby could be transformative for the Oilers captain.
If you're as old as me, you may remember the Canada Cup. I don't know if the 4 Nations Cup will have the same wow factor, but it won't be far off.