NHL
Connor McDavid knows what you might be thinking about the 4 Nations Face-Off, the best-on-best international tournament featuring NHL players that begins on Wednesday.
“Yes, it’s not the Olympics. I understand that,” McDavid told reporters on Feb. 2. “It’s not a World Cup of Hockey, but there is still something on the line and we want to represent our country well.”
Beyond that, though, you might be wondering how all this will work. We’ve got you covered. Here’s everything you need to know about the tournament.
It’s simple enough: NHL rules, but a modified points system. Each team will play once, round-robin style. Regulation winners will receive three points; overtime/shootout winners will receive two points; overtime/shootout losers will receive one point; regulation losers will receive zero points. At the end of the six-game round-robin schedule, the two teams with the most points will meet in the championship game.
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For round-robin games, overtime will be held in a 10-minute, 3-on-3 sudden-death period, followed by a three-round shootout. In the final, full 20-minute, five-on-five periods will be played until a goal scored.
Also, midway through the tournament, there will be a venue switch. Games on Feb. 12-15 will be held in Montreal; games on Feb 17-20, including the championship, will be held in Boston.
The games start on Wednesday night when Canada plays Sweden in Montreal. The U.S. opens against Finland on Thursday. Round-robin play continues until Feb. 17, with days off on Feb. 14 and Feb. 16. There are double-headers on Feb. 15 (featuring the U.S.-Canada matchup) and Feb. 17.
The top two teams will play in the championship on Thursday, Feb. 20, at 8 p.m ET in Boston. NHL games resume on Sat., Feb 20.
The full schedule, with TV info for each game:
Wednesday, Feb. 12: Canada vs. Sweden, 8 p.m. ET | U.S. TV: MAX, truTV | Canada TV: Sportsnet, TVA
Thursday, Feb. 13: U.S. vs. Finland, 8 p.m. ET | U.S. TV: ESPN, ESPN+ | Canada TV: Sportsnet, TVA
Saturday, Feb. 15: Finland vs. Sweden, 1 p.m. ET | U.S. TV: ABC, ESPN+ | Canada TV: Sportsnet, TVA
U.S. vs. Canada, 8 p.m. ET | U.S. TV: | U.S. TV: ABC, ESPN+ | Canada TV: Sportsnet, TVA
Monday, Feb. 17: Canada vs. Finland, 1 p.m. ET | U.S. TV: MAX, truTV | Canada TV: Sportsnet, TVA
Sweden vs. U.S., 8 p.m. | U.S. TV: MAX, truTV | Canada TV: Sportsnet, TVAS
Thursday, Feb. 20: Championship, 8 p.m., | U.S. TV: ABC, ESPN+ | Canada TV: Sportsnet, TVA
One major reason: This tournament is an NHL/NHLPA creation, designed to replace the All-Star Game and offer fans (and players) a taste of best-on-best international hockey before the 2026 Olympics. More teams would mean more games, a longer break in the NHL schedule and extra logistical headaches. Not ideal.
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Beyond that, countries like Czechia, Slovakia, Germany and Switzerland would need a fair amount of non-NHL players to fill out their rosters, and the IIHF isn’t involved in any official capacity. There’s no real benefit to European teams allowing their best players to go on leave for an NHL moneymaking venture.
When it comes to Russia, the NHL is taking its cues from the IIHF; the federation has banned Russian teams due to the country’s ongoing war in Ukraine.
On paper, it may well be the United States, largely based on their superior goaltending. That alone is a major change — not just from the 2014 Olympics, either. Canada starting a men’s hockey tournament as an underdog is a rare occurrence. In the last five Olympic tournaments featuring NHL players (1998, 2002, 20o6, 2010, 2010), Canada won gold three times. The U.S. has made it to the gold-medal game twice, losing to Canada both times.
Most major sports books, though, list the North American teams as co-favorites, Sweden solidly in third place and Finland as the long shot.
We’re going to count the eight-team 2016 World Cup of Hockey, even though the format was a bit wonky. In that tournament, held in Toronto over 12 days in September, Canada’s over-24 team took gold, beating Team Europe (made up of German, Slovak, Swish, Danish, Norwegian and Slovenian players) in a best-of-three final. Sidney Crosby led the tournament in scoring (10 points in six games) and was named MVP. The United States’ over-24 team, meanwhile, went 0-3-0 in group play and didn’t make it to the knockout round.
The tournament, though, is best remembered for Team North America, a collection of the best American and Canadian players 23 or younger. The bones of that roster — Connor McDavid, Nathan MacKinnon, Auston Matthews and Connor Hellebuyck — have become the biggest names in the sport. You’ll see plenty of them in the 4 Nations tournament and beyond.
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Also competing were Sweden, Russia, Finland and Czechia.
NHL players will be in Milan in 2026 and in France for the 2030 Games. Beyond that, nothing has been decided.
The IIHF has agreed to foot the bill on insurance and travel costs for players for those tournaments; that was a major issue in failed negotiations surrounding the 2018 Games. Four years later, the COVID-19 pandemic was the primary roadblock. Through it all, though, there was a clear appetite among players to get back to the Olympics, and the 4 Nations tournament is a welcome part of the process.
The plan moving forward, the NHL has said, is to rotate between the Olympics and a more robust World Cup of Hockey every two years. That makes the 4 Nations tournament, for now, a one-off; the NHL’s return to the Olympics was announced in February 2024, leaving a relatively short runway.
The Athletic asked more than 110 NHL players, bluntly, if they cared about the tournament — and more than 80 percent answered in the affirmative. Not a bad sign.
“The last time we had a full international, best-on-best tournament was the World Cup, and that was a week before I made the NHL,” one Team Canada player said. “In my entire career, we haven’t had this. … With the Olympics next year, you want to perform well — to obviously win the 4 Nations and hopefully be a part of more of these events in the next few seasons.”
“Just because it’s a precursor to the Olympics,” said another player who voted yes. “As a fan of hockey, I’m watching it. I remember growing up, those are just such big hockey moments. For hockey in general, it’s great. It’s unfortunate we’ve missed the Olympics because it’s such a big worldwide event. I want to watch the best-on-best, too, and the best players want to play in them. It’s long overdue.”
(Photo: Mark Blinch / NHLI via Getty Images)
Sean Gentille is a senior writer for The Athletic covering the NHL. He previously covered Pittsburgh sports with the The Athletic and Pittsburgh Post-Gazette and the NHL for Sporting News, and he’s a graduate of the University of Maryland. Follow Sean on Twitter @seangentille
