Which Ottawa Senators Might Get a Look at the 2025 Four Nations Face-Off Tournament?

In a best-on-best tournament, which Senators will be considered for one of the four elite hockey countries in the world?

The NHL has announced its plans for the 2025 4 Nations Face-Off this February. As the name might suggest, only four teams will be invited to participate in the best-on-best event, with games to be played in Montreal and Boston.

Canada, the USA, Sweden, and Finland will play a round-robin, and the two teams with the best record will advance to the winner-take-all championship game. They'll be using NHL rules, except that winners will get 3 points for regulation victories.

It will be fascinating to see if it's fully embraced by hockey fans. Yes, it's country vs country with the best players from each competing but it's a brand new event with zero heritage and only four countries are invited. Without Russia, Switzerland, or the defending world champs from Czechia, it's certainly not the Olympics or a Canada Cup.

The 4 Nations Face-off will be a week-long tournament with seven games total and will replace next year's NHL all-star weekend. Here's the full game schedule:

MONTREAL | Bell Centre

Wed, Feb. 12, 8pm: CAN vs. SWE

Thur, Feb. 13, 8pm: USA vs FIN

Sat, Feb. 15, 1pm: FIN vs SWE

Sat, Feb. 15, 8pm: USA vs. CAN

BOSTON | TD Garden

Mon, Feb. 17, 1pm: CAN vs. FIN

Mon, Feb. 17, 8pm: SWE vs. USA

Thur, Feb. 20, 8pm: CHAMPIONSHIP GAME

To start the hype train rolling, the league will announce the first six names on each team's roster on June 28th, which is also day one of the NHL Draft. So it already has analysts wondering about who will be on each team.

Will there be any Sens content on any of the four teams? There will be some, but not a lot.

Team USA:

Brady Tkachuk

If the event were played on international ice, Brady Tkachuk would still be an excellent bet to make the team. But the fact that it's NHL rules on NHL-sized rinks makes Tkachuk a must-add. Bulls in a china shop with skill are rare. He and his brother Matthew will both be a nightmare in the slot for opposing defenders.

Jake Sanderson

Full team rosters will probably carry eight defencemen and Sanderson should fit comfortably in there. But he's probably right on the bubble right now to be in the starting six. Sanderson will have four months to bump his stock where it needs to be.

Team Canada

No.

Neither Drake Batherson (66 points) nor Claude Giroux (64 points) would look out of place on Team Canada, but the roster is just too stacked. Both would have to play out of their minds and bump up to an 80-90-point pace just to get on the radar.

Team Finland

Joonas Korpisalo

There's no question that Korpisalo had a difficult first season in Ottawa, but he remains well-regarded by the national program in Finland. He was one of only three Finnish goalies to start more than half of his team's NHL games this season. Juuse Saros will likely start and either Korpisalo or Buffalo's Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen will probably get the backup job.

In 2022-23, Leevi Merilainen was probably the best goalie in the Finnish League, setting the record for shutouts in a season. While Merilainen's stock is rising, he's still only 21. His time will come.

Team Sweden

No.

There was a time when the Senators were Stockholm West. But not anymore. You've got Erik Brannstrom and Anton Forsberg. Forsberg might have a chance at a third-string role. But he'll need a phenomenal start to next season to make people forget this season. It probably won't be enough to reel in Jacob Markstrom, Linus Ullmark, or Filip Gustavsson.