USA Hockey has announced Team USA’s official roster for the 2025 4 Nations Face-Off tourney. Also, the other three teams Canada, Sweden, and Finland all announced their respective teams on Wednesday. The tournament has been received with enthusiasm from most everybody and will be the first time the NHL has organized a World Cup-style event since 2016’s World Cup of Hockey. Without further ado, let’s dig into the roster for Team USA and discuss some of the selections.
Team USA https://t.co/33Qf1QPLva
— Elliotte Friedman (@FriedgeHNIC) December 4, 2024
Team USA 4 Nations Face-Off Roster
As stated before, it has truly been a long time since we last saw a best-on-best tournament in which players and staff represented their home nations. The NHL has not fully participated in the Winter Olympics since 2014’s hockey tournament in Sochi, Russia. Furthermore, there has not been a World Cup of Hockey in eight-and-a-half years, which had a badly received roster set-up. In 2016, players under 23 were not members of the Canadian and American teams. Instead, they were in their own group, Team North America. Now grown up and without the arguably odd grouping from the previous tournament, quite a few of those players will be representing their countries properly this February in the 4 Nations Face-Off.
Team USA general manager Bill Guerin (who will also serve in the role for the 2026 Olympics), alongside assistant general managers Tom Fitzgerald, Chris Drury, and Bill Zito, have put together one heck of a team. It will be interesting to see how head coach Mike Sullivan and assistant coach John Hynes will utilize each component in this playstyle-diverse team.
The Star-Spangled Forwards
Team USA’s forward group, for the most part, really packs a punch. The forward pool’s league centremen will be a thrill to watch, as Auston Matthews and Jack Eichel will be in the middle of it all. For Matthews, his appearance isn’t a surprise by any means. He has consistently remained a top-player leaguewide since his debut season. Jack Eichel, one of the NHL’s current top scorers, will also be in the lineup per previous announcements. Furthermore, Jack Hughes, Jake Guentzel, Brock Nelson, Dylan Larkin, and J.T. Miller will don the stars and stripes on the ice, as well.
The league wingers are a unique and somewhat surprising selection of talents. Today, it was announced that Vincent Trocheck and Matt Boldy will be joining the team. Kyle Connor has been having one heck of a season with the Winnipeg Jets, having already racked up 29 points, nearly half of his points total from last season, just a little over a quarter through this season. Meanwhile, Team USA will also have Chris Kreider, a power play legend with strong net-front presence. Additionally, it was announced that Brady Tkachuk would be joining his brother, Matthew, who was previously announced.
Red, White, Blueliners
Team USA will have one heck of a defensive line. Previously announced was Adam Fox, the top defenceman of the New York Rangers. The only Blueshirt with more ice time than Fox is goaltender Igor Shesterkin. Joining him on the blue line is the top D-man for the Carolina Hurricanes, Jaccob Slavin, who is considered one of the greatest shutdown defencemen of the modern game and currently leads the league in takeaways . Much like Fox, Quinn Hughes was previously announced, as well, and will unfortunately not be playing on the same team as his brother Jack Hughes for the first time in their NHL careers. Furthermore, Charlie McAvoy, Brock Faber, Noah Hanifin, and Zach Werenski will be joining the lineup.
The Ramparts We’re Watching in the Crease
The goaltender crease is perhaps the strongest component in this iteration of Team USA. The first selection we want to talk about is none other than the NHL’s Third Star of November and the latest William Jennings and Vezina Trophies Winner, Connor Hellebuyck. The 31-year-old netminder has been boasting a goals-against average of 2.16 and a save percentage of .927%. On top of that, he leads the league in shutouts and is ahead of all other US-born goaltenders in number of saves made. Up next is, of course, Jake Oettinger. The 6’6” goalie has notched another great GAA of 2.38 and a .915 SV%. Last on the list is Alaska’s own Jeremy Swayman. This season, he has managed a GAA of 3.09 and a .892% SV%. Together, they have a combined GAA of 2.53 and a combined save percentage of .912%.
Last Word on the 4 Nations Face-Off Team USA Roster
In the multiple best-on-best competitions between NHL players, the USA has rarely taken the win. Their only win was in the first World Cup of Hockey in 1996. With the lack of tournaments and the lack of wins under USA’s belt, extra elbow grease will likely go into this group. Team USA boasts a strong forward pool, a stronger defence, and what could be the best goaltending in the tournament.
The 4 Nations Face-Off is bringing excitement to spectator and player alike. In some cases, certain players will be on the same team as their fellow top talents for the first time. However, it is doubtful that it will be the last time we’ll see similar teams together. Only four teams will be representing their country in this event, but we have a lot to look forward to. Gary Bettman has confirmed that the NHL will be participating in the 2026 and 2030 Olympics. Furthermore, the aforementioned World Cup of Hockey will be making a return in 2028 and 2032.
Perhaps this event will be utilized by team general managers to get a feel for who all will be the best bet for the upcoming tournaments? We’ll just have to wait and see. Be sure to check out our coverage for Team Canada, Team Finland, and Team Sweden for all of the details and analysis you need to know before the 4 Nations Face-Off on February 12-20, 2025.
Main photo: Timothy T. Ludwig-Imagn Images
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