Four Nations Tournament

RP-29

RP-29

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Canada, Finland, Sweden and the U.S. will be participating in a "four nations" tournament February 12-20, 2025 played in Boston and Montreal.

Each participating nation submitted their "first six" participants today:

🇨🇦 CAN - Crosby, MacKinnon, McDavid, Makar, Marchand, Point
🇫🇮 FIN - Barkov, Saros, Heiskanen, Lindell, Aho, Rantanen
🇸🇪 SWE - Hedman, Karlsson, Forsling, Forsberg, W. Nylander, Zibanejad
🇺🇸 USA - Matthews, Eichel, M. Tkachuk, Fox, Q. Hughes, McAvoy

This will be some "must watch" hockey.
 
Sounds awesome
 
Full rosters announced yesterday:

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First impressions:

The US is probably the fastest team in this tournament overall and have strong goaltending. They've got some really good scoring punch and puck movement from all three D-pairs no matter how they mix and match.

Canada has the strongest collection of centers in the tournament. They do not look strong in net, though. They look rather old in a lot of spots, too. They also don't have the elite scoring at wing that we're accustomed to seeing in national competitions.

The Swedish team looks pretty balanced in all positions. They always play strong responsible hockey.

The Fins always seem to look not as good on paper as other elite hockey nations, but they always seem to play cohesively - which makes up for that perceived shortcoming of talent.

...This is gonna be good...
 
Canadian goalies weak
 
Brutus said:
Canadian goalies weak
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It's wild. We're accustomed to seeing Canadian national rosters backstopped by guys like Roy, Brodeur & Price and we're like "holy cow, how are other teams going to beat Canada?" Now we're like "how did Canada get this weak at goalie?"
 
It is bullshit that there are no Ruskies involved
 
Brutus said:
It is bullshit that there are no Ruskies involved
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Stanley Cup Sigh GIF by NBC Sports Washington
 
Yeah little hype when no Russia, Germany, Czech, ect
 
Brutus said:
Yeah little hype when no Russia, Germany, Czech, ect
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If Russia wants to be involved in global competitions, they know what to do. It's on them.
 
Deep Dish Pizza Goat said:
Stupid thing starts soon.
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I'll be watching to see how seriously the players take this tournament. If they glide around the ice with no defensive effort or contact like your typical all star game, I'll lose some interest. I don't think that will happen, though. I don't expect them to sacrifice their bodies to block shots like it's the NHL playoffs, but I do expect a significantly-higher level of competition than an all-star game. Coupling that with elite skill, it should be some fun hockey to watch.
 
RP-29 said:
I'll be watching to see how seriously the players take this tournament. If they glide around the ice with no defensive effort or contact like your typical all star game, I'll lose some interest. I don't think that will happen, though. I don't expect them to sacrifice their bodies to block shots like it's the NHL playoffs, but I do expect a significantly-higher level of competition than an all-star game. Coupling that with elite skill, it should be some fun hockey to watch.
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It's another dumb All-Star Game idea. 4 teams in a tournament is like youth hockey. Calling it "international" is more than a little misleading, since it's 4 countries only, and no one who isn't in the NHL is allowed to play on a team. It's not like they'll do this again next year for 4 different countries... only Russia and the Czechs have enough guys to theoretically field teams under those conditions. These guys will play each other only once, and as always, they'll be playing at 75% so that no one gets injured when the real season resumes.

If interest for the NHL All-Star Game (and let's face it- any pro sport's all-star game) is waning, then clearly it's not something we need every year.
 
Mofo said:
It's another dumb All-Star Game idea. 4 teams in a tournament is like youth hockey. Calling it "international" is more than a little misleading, since it's 4 countries only, and no one who isn't in the NHL is allowed to play on a team. It's not like they'll do this again next year for 4 different countries... only Russia and the Czechs have enough guys to theoretically field teams under those conditions. These guys will play each other only once, and as always, they'll be playing at 75% so that no one gets injured when the real season resumes.

If interest for the NHL All-Star Game (and let's face it- any pro sport's all-star game) is waning, then clearly it's not something we need every year.
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I think it's a good all-star game idea that builds more interest from the players than your typical all-star game would. More interest from the players should result in a better product.

But to your final point; if they do this every year, it'll quickly become just another lame all-star game format no one cares about.
 
RP-29 said:
I think it's a good all-star game idea that builds more interest from the players than your typical all-star game would. More interest from the players should result in a better product.

But to your final point; if they do this every year, it'll quickly become just another lame all-star game format no one cares about.
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Are you familiar with the NHL all-star format the last 15 years or so? The old, Western Conference vs. Eastern Conference format hasn't happened since like 2010. Before that, a "North America vs. The World" was the most interesting it tried to get, and I think that was around 2000. Team captains, fantasy drafts, 4 teams, friendly money wagers, etc.... none of it has really garnered the big ratings, which is why I think they should just name an all-star team annually, but only play events & game in a city every other year. Given the complaints about guys wanting to go to the Olympics every 4 years, this would help alleviate that a bit too.
 
Mofo said:
Are you familiar with the NHL all-star format the last 15 years or so? The old, Western Conference vs. Eastern Conference format hasn't happened since like 2010. Before that, a "North America vs. The World" was the most interesting it tried to get, and I think that was around 2000. Team captains, fantasy drafts, 4 teams, friendly money wagers, etc.... none of it has really garnered the big ratings, which is why I think they should just name an all-star team annually, but only play events & game in a city every other year. Given the complaints about guys wanting to go to the Olympics every 4 years, this would help alleviate that a bit too.
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Yes, I'm aware of the constant tinkering of formats. I'm in agreement with you on not holding a game every year. I don't know what they'll force players to do in those "off years", but I hope it doesn't devolve into swimsuit contests or poker tournaments.
 
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