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    Vinnie Parise
    Vinnie Parise
    Dec 4, 2024, 12:00

    The Chicago Blackhawks aren't having the best season but there are a few players who deserve a Four Nations Faceoff roster spot.

    The Chicago Blackhawks aren't having the best season but there are a few players who deserve a Four Nations Faceoff roster spot.

    The Chicago Blackhawks are not a great NHL team right now. They currently have the fewest amount of standings points and they have lost three games in a row.

    Chicago may be struggling but there are a lot of reasons to like the farm system that Kyle Davidson and his staff have built. Still, at the NHL level, there aren’t enough impactful players that help them win.

    When your roster is constructed the way that Chicago’s is right now, you probably aren’t going to have a lot of players worthy of a “best on best” tournament. 

    There are only two guys that have a chance of being named to one of the “Four Nations Faceoff” rosters. Anyone else named would be a surprise.

    1. Connor Bedard - Canada

    Coming into the 2024-25 season, it felt like Connor Bedard had a very good chance of making Team Canada for this event. Then he got off to a hot start in the regular season which all but confirmed it.

    Then, Bedard hit a lull. He went 12 games without a goal and only had a handful of assists. There were many games during that stretch where he looked invisible.

    Since then, he has heated up a little bit and started to get back to his old scoring ways. Bedard has a lethal shot and an underrated ability to make plays. When he skates at his highest level, he is hard to stop.

    Now, Canada may regret it if they don’t select him to be on their team. His obsession with winning along with all of his skills would mesh well with top stars like Connor McDavid, Nathan MacKinnon, Sidney Crosby, and Brayden Point amongst others.

    It is hard to just go by what you’ve seen from Bedard with the lowly Blackhawks. It’s about picturing what he can do with incredible linemates that he would have on Team Canada.

    Despite the one slump, what Bedard has done on this underachieving Blackhawks team should make him look even better in the eyes of most people. 

    He will end up being considered one of the greatest teenagers to ever play in the NHL. He already is that for the Blackhawks organization.

    Someone elite would be left off the roster if Bedard made it but he can be elite too. A tourney like this would bring it out of him.

    2. - Teuvo Teravainen - Finland

    The Chicago Blackhawks got Teuvo Teravainen back over the summer in free agency. After a few good years with the Carolina Hurricanes, he has become known as a high-end player in the league.

    Unfortunately for him, he hasn’t had the best season to this point. He isn’t scoring as much as he’d like and it is obvious that his confidence is shaken.

    Despite his struggles, he will be on Team Finland. He has a better chance than Bedard who is a much better player but Canada is just that much deeper than Finland.

    If Teravainen is granted a spot in Finland’s top six, you may see his confidence come back a little bit. Guys like Mikko Rantanen, Aleksander Barkov, and Sebastian Aho are going to be there trying to make an impact. Teravainen could be a beneficiary.

    If this tournament went well for Teravainen and all of Finland, he may return to the Hawks feeling great about his game. Teravainen playing at his best will help Chicago in the second half of the year in more ways than one.

    Bedard and Teravainen have had their ups and downs this season but they are still two of the team’s three leading scorers. They don’t have much to work with but they each deserve the chance to at least be considered for their respective countries.

    The Four Nations Faceoff will take place from February 12-20, 2025 in Boston and Montreal.

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