Teuvo Teravainen was the only current Chicago Blackhawks player in the 4-Nations Face-Off. This is different for Blackhawks fans who may remember 6-8 players participating in best-on-best international play the last time it happened. However, if more countries participated in this, a few more Blackhawks would have been involved.
Teravainen and Sweden were eliminated during round-robin play and now we are faced with the rematch of Team USA vs Canada in the championship. The first matchup between these two hockey nations on Saturday night did not disappoint and now they will fight for the whole thing on Thursday night.
Although there are no current Blackhawks involved, there is one former Blackhawk that fans might enjoy seeing have success. That would be Team Canada forward Brandon Hagel. During the rebuild, Chicago traded Hagel to the Tampa Bay Lightning and he has turned into a very good player. He's to the point where he made one of the two hardest hockey teams in the world to make.
Hagel is a player who can score you 30+ goals a season while playing a tough physical game in all three zones. The Hawks received a great haul for him so it was worth it for the future but seeing him thrive does make you think twice.
So far this season with the Lightning, Hagel has 26 goals and 36 assists for 62 points in 55 games played. He, if healthy, will blow past all of his career highs if he keeps playing at this pace. Flirting with 100 points is not out of the question.
As for Team USA, there are no former Blackhawks but a lot of Blackhawks fans will be cheering on their home country as they look to finally dethrone Canada in a best-on-best hockey tournament.
Blackhawks fans can also keep an eye on Team Canada forward Mitch Marner who will be an unrestricted free agent at the end of the season if the Toronto Maple Leafs don't extend him before July 1st, 2025. If he reaches the market, Kyle Davidson will likely take a look as he'd be a great option for Connor Bedard's wing.
Speaking of Connor Bedard, he loves this tournament and will be cheering for his native homeland of Canada. He probably came into the year thinking he would make the team but a sophomore slump out of the gate gave Hockey Canada pause.
"It's been unreal. It's probably been the highest level of hockey ever played. I mean, that Canada game, first 10 seconds there's 3 fights." Bedard said of the 4-Nations Face-Off. "I think people were wondering how it would be and it's been unbelievable to watch. It's great for the game, and obviously playing for your country shows a lot of pride. It's been fun to watch"
Watching this could make him more motivated to make the Olympic squad in 2026 which is good news for the Hawks because that would mean he is one of the best players in the world.
Fans can tune in on ESPN, ESPN+, Disney+, Sportsnet, and TVAS at 8 PM ET/7 PM CT. This is one of the most highly anticipated hockey games we've seen in a long time. It should be special.
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