The last time the NHL sent its players to the Olympics, in February 2014, Auston Matthews was a 16-year-old from Arizona trying to make a name for himself in his first season with the U.S. National Team Development Program. After missing nearly three months of the early season with a broken leg, he returned to action in December 2013.

At the same time, Quinn Hughes was 14 years old and playing hockey in Toronto, while his father, Jim, worked as director of player development for the Toronto Maple Leafs.

In February 2026, NHL players are expected to return to the Olympic Games in Italy after missing the last two Games. From February 12-20, 2025, the NHL will hold its own international tournament, called the ‘4 Nations Face-Off,’ as a warm-up for the event.

With Russia still banned from participating by the International Ice Hockey Federation and only active NHL players qualify for the event, the league has opted to go with a relatively compact format to prepare for the seven-game tournament, with only players from Canada, the US, Sweden and Finland participating.

The format is round-robin. The first four games will be held in Montreal between February 12 and 15. The last two will be held in Boston on February 17.

The championship game will take place on Thursday, February 20 at the TD Garden in Boston.

The international points system is used:

• 3 points for a regular win
• 2 points for a win in extra time or shoot-out
• 1 point for a loss in overtime or shootout
• 0 points for a regulatory defeat

Normal NHL rules apply during play.

In round robin, sudden-death 3-on-3 overtime lasts a maximum of 10 minutes, followed by a shootout if no goal is scored. If the championship game is tied after 60 minutes, teams play 5-on-5 sudden-death overtime in 20-minute periods until a goal is scored, similar to the Stanley Cup Playoffs.

Schedule overview

Each team consists of 20 skaters and three goalkeepers.

During draft week in Las Vegas last month, the names of the top six players from each of the four countries were announced. Matthews and Hughes both made the cut:

Canada – 5 forwards, 1 defender

• Sidney Crosby
• Nathan MacKinnon
• Brad Marchand
• Connor McDavid
• Brayden point
• Bald Makar

Coach: Jon Cooper (TBL), General Manager: Don Sweeney (BOS)

United States – 3 forwards, 3 defensemen

• Jack Eichel
• Auston Matthews
• Matthew Tkachuk
• Adam Vos
• Quinn Hughes
• Charlie McAvoy

Trainer: Mike Sullivan (PIT), General Manager: Bill Guerin (MIN)

Sweden – 3 attackers, 3 defenders

• Filip Forsberg
• Willem Nylander
• Mika Zibanejad
• Gustav Forsling
• Victor Hedman
• Erik Karlsson

Coach: Sam Hallam, General Manager: Anders Lundberg (both Swedish national team)

Finland – 3 attackers, 2 defenders, 1 goalkeeper

• Sebastian Aho
• Alexander Barkov
• Mikko Rantanen
• Miro Heiskanen
• Esa Lindell
• Juuse Saros

Coach: Antti Pennanen (Ilves, Liiga); General Manager: Jere Lehtinen (Finnish National Team)

Of the 24 players listed above, only three have previous Olympic experience. Crosby, of course, won gold with Canada in both 2010 and 2014. Karlsson was a member of Sweden’s 2014 squad. And Barkov earned a bronze medal playing two games with Finland as an 18-year-old NHL rookie.

Several players from these squads competed in the last international NHL event, the 2016 World Cup of Hockey. After a series of pre-tournament games in Canada, the US and Europe, the main tournament was held in Toronto with eight teams: the four countries mentioned above plus Russia, the Czech Republic and two mixed teams.

Team Europe consisted of players from other European countries, including Switzerland, Germany and Slovakia. Team North America consisted of players from Canada and the US who were 23 years old or younger at the time of the tournament.

On the American side, Matthews and Eichel skated for Team North America, while MacKinnon and McDavid did the same for Canada. The team was perhaps the most exciting in the tournament, but narrowly failed to advance beyond the group stage.

In the single-game semi-final, Canada defeated Russia 5-3, while Tomas Tatar was the hero as Team Europe surprised Sweden with a 3-2 victory in overtime.

In the best-of-three final, Canada won the first two games by scores of 3-1 and 2-1 to claim the championship trophy. Crosby and Marchand finished as the tournament’s top scorers, while Canadian Carey Price was the top goaltender.

Team USA looks strongest in net

The vacancy for Canada’s starting goalkeeper for 2025 is completely open.

Last season, Stuart Skinner led all Canadian goalies with 36 wins and then defended the Edmonton Oilers to Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Finals, so he certainly deserves consideration. Other possible names include 2023 Cup winner Adin Hill of the Vegas Golden Knights and 2019 champion Jordan Binnington of the St. Louis Blues. The best save percentages for an NHL regular in 2023-24 belong to a pair of reserves: Laurent Brossoit with the Winnipeg Jets and Joel Hofer in St. Louis.

The Americans will have no trouble finding qualified candidates. Their challenge will be deciding who will get the net for Game 1 in such a short tournament. Team USA GM Bill Guerin will be forced to choose between 2024 Vezina Trophy winner Connor Hellebuyck of the Jets, runner-up Thatcher Demko of the Vancouver Canucks, Jeremy Swayman of the Boston Bruins and Jake Oettinger of the Dallas Stars — and that’s without factoring in the possibility that another goalie seizes the spotlight with a strong performance when the regular season gets underway.

The Swedes are also in good form, with Jacob Markstrom and Linus Ullmark in the top flight. Keepers like Filip Gustavsson, Samuel Ersson and maybe even Jesper Wallstedt could be in contention for that third spot on the list.

For Finland, Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen and Joonas Korpisalo are currently the main candidates to replace Saros.

To make room for the 4 Nation Face-Off, there will be no NHL All-Star Game in 2025. However, the competition will return before the 2026 Olympics, held on Long Island at UBS Arena.

No NHL regular season games will be played between February 10 and February 21, 2025.