<p>The rosters for the 2025 4 Nations Face-Off were revealed last night – and as you’d expect, hockey fans had plenty of mixed opinions.</p>



<p>And that’s to be expected. Any time a roster is revealed, no matter the event, the discussion typically surrounds who won’t be participating. In a four-team tournament, that’s a lot of countries – and the NHL’s top two scorers, Kirill Kaprizov and Martin Necas – won’t be represented.</p>



<p>But for the teams that will partake in Montreal and Boston from Feb. 12-20, these are some of the most notable omissions who won’t participate – unless injuries arise, of course:</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">CANADA</h2>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading"><strong>Evan Bouchard, D (<a href="https://oilersnation.com/">Edmonton Oilers</a>)</strong></h2>



<p><a href="https://dailyfaceoff.com/breaking-down-canadas-4-nations-face-off-roster/">Daily Faceoff’s Matt Larkin summed it up perfectly, so we’ll just share that again:</a> “Perhaps Canada figured he wouldn’t displace Makar on the top power-play unit and wouldn’t be as useful playing shutdown minutes lower in the lineup. But the notion that Bouchard is a defensive liability is lazy and flat-out wrong. The tape can look ugly at times, as he’s prone to the big mistake, but the results tell us otherwise. Edmonton gets 59.82 percent of the scoring chances and 59.77 percent of the high-danger chances with him on the ice at 5-on-5 this season. He and Mattias Ekholm grade out as a top-two pair in the NHL at suppressing shots and shot attempts. Bouchard has even fared well when he’s not on the ice with Ekholm. Oh, Bouchard’s play-driving stats are strong because he shares the ice with elite forwards? Whom do you think he’d be playing with on Canada? He’s an&nbsp;<em>egregious</em>&nbsp;snub.”</p><div class="injected-ad injected-video" data-nn-ad-tech-injection-count="0" data-nn-ad-tech-max-gap="130" data-nn-ad-tech-current-gap="257"></div>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading"><strong>Mark Scheifele, C (<a href="https://www.dailyfaceoff.com/teams/winnipeg-jets/line-combinations">Winnipeg Jets</a>)</strong></h2>



<p>Canada’s center depth was going to be tough to overcome from the get-go. Scheifele hasn’t looked like himself as of late, but he’s still in the top 10 among Canadian scorers this year. With many other two-way threats to choose from on the wing, Scheifele was always going to have to blow out the competition to earn a spot, and it just wasn’t in the cards. Scheifele hasn’t represented Canada since the 2017 World Championship, but he’s been one of Canada’s better players in nearly every international event he has played in. Maybe he’ll get a chance to represent Canada at the Olympics in two years instead.</p>



<p><em>Others: Zach Hyman (D), Cam Talbot (G), John Tavares</em> <em>(C) </em></p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">USA</h2>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading"><strong>Tage Thompson, C (<a href="https://www.dailyfaceoff.com/teams/buffalo-sabres/line-combinations">Buffalo Sabres</a>)</strong></h2>



<p>Auston Matthews is the only American with more goals (115) over the past three seasons than Thompson, who even had a down year with just 29 last season. He’s on pace to become a 50-goal scorer for the first time in his career and doing it on a Sabres team that looks doomed to miss the playoffs again. The 6-foot-6 forward can play center and wing, and there wasn’t a better power forward available to the United States. This feels like a big miss.</p><div class="injected-ad" data-nn-ad-tech-injection-count="1" data-nn-ad-tech-max-gap="130" data-nn-ad-tech-current-gap="202"></div>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading"><strong>Cole Caufield, RW (<a href="https://www.dailyfaceoff.com/teams/montreal-canadiens/line-combinations">Montreal Canadiens</a>)</strong></h2>



<p>Speaking of goal-scoring, Caufield’s 16 are the most among any American in the NHL this year. He’s two goals behind Sam Reinhart for first in the league and doing it on a team at the bottom of the standings. So if you were going with the hot hand, wouldn’t you want a winger on a 52-goal pace? It’s not like he’s an unknown property to USA Hockey – until this past May, he held the USA Hockey National Team Program record for goals, and he had a decent showing at the last World Championship. At the very least, Caufield could have gone out there to spark some life or produce on the power play.</p>



<p><em>Others: Anthony Stolarz (G), Clayton Keller (LW), John Carlson (D)</em></p>



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<h2 class="wp-block-heading"><a href="https://www.dailyfaceoff.com/news/breaking-down-finlands-roster-for-the-4-nations-face-off">FINLAND</a></h2>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading"><strong>Jesperi Kotkaniemi, C (<a href="https://www.dailyfaceoff.com/teams/carolina-hurricanes/line-combinations">Carolina Hurricanes</a>)</strong></h2>



<p>Statistically, Kotkaniemi was the top player left off. He has 13 points in 25 games, and his advanced analytics are decent. Kotkaniemi’s <a href="https://www.naturalstattrick.com/playerteams.php?fromseason=20242025&amp;thruseason=20242025&amp;stype=2&amp;sit=5v5&amp;score=all&amp;stdoi=std&amp;rate=y&amp;team=CAR&amp;pos=S&amp;loc=B&amp;toi=0&amp;gpfilt=none&amp;fd=&amp;td=&amp;tgp=410&amp;lines=single&amp;draftteam=ALL">2.59 points-per-60</a> at 5-on-5 is third among all players on the Hurricanes, and he has the team’s fifth best goals-above replacement <a href="https://evolving-hockey.com/stats/skater_gar/?_inputs_&amp;gar_sk_team=%22CAR%22&amp;gar_sk_pos=%22All%22&amp;gar_sk_base=%22Replacement%22&amp;gar_sk_type=%22Totals%22&amp;gar_sk_col=%22Basic%22&amp;gar_sk_info=%22No%22&amp;gar_sk_status=%22All%22&amp;gar_sk_range=%22Seasons%22&amp;gar_sk_season=%2220242025%22&amp;gar_sk_span=%22Regular%22&amp;gar_sk_group=%22Team%2C%20Season%22&amp;gar_sk_dft_yr=%22All%22&amp;gar_sk_age1=%2217%22&amp;gar_sk_age2=%2250%22&amp;gar_sk_players=null&amp;gar_sk_toi_all=%2250%22&amp;gar_sk_toi_ev=%220%22&amp;gar_sk_toi_pp=%220%22&amp;gar_sk_toi_sh=%220%22">at 3.2</a>. But with the center depth the Finns had, it would have meant moving Kotkaniemi to the wing – but at that point, you might as well take an actual pure winger. Kotkaniemi’s NHL career has been a bit of a mixed bag, but Hurricanes fans can at least be happy with his year so far – even if it wasn’t enough to crack the Finnish squad.</p><div class="injected-ad" data-nn-ad-tech-injection-count="2" data-nn-ad-tech-max-gap="130" data-nn-ad-tech-current-gap="235"></div>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading"><strong>Matias Maccelli, LW (<a href="https://www.dailyfaceoff.com/teams/utah-hockey-club/line-combinations">Utah Hockey Club</a>)</strong></h2>



<p>Yeah, Maccelli is having a down year in Utah. He’s been especially quiet as of late, too. But Maccelli is coming off a 57-point season a year ago, and he was on pace to best that the year before before an injury slowed down his Calder Trophy campaign. You’d think they’d give Maccelli a chance to add a little skill over someone like Joel Armia. The reality is that Maccelli wasn’t going to bring enough to the table to be a bottom-line player, so it felt there was always a chance that he’d be on the outside looking in. Had this roster been assembled last February, we’re likely talking about Maccelli playing in the top six.</p>



<p><em>Others: Jesperi Kotkaniemi (C), Henri Jokiharju (D), Joonas Korpisalo (G)</em></p>



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<h2 class="wp-block-heading"><a href="https://www.dailyfaceoff.com/news/breaking-down-swedens-4-nations-face-off-roster">SWEDEN</a></h2>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading"><strong>William Eklund, LW (<a href="https://www.dailyfaceoff.com/teams/san-jose-sharks/line-combinations">San Jose Sharks</a>)</strong></h2>



<p>The 22-year-old winger is having quite the breakout season – he’s on pace for 70 points. Still, that wasn’t enough for Eklund to make it over, say, Gustav Nyquist, who is on pace for about half of that. Was it an experience thing there? Perhaps. Nyquist had 75 points a year ago and was part of the 2014 Olympic team. But overall, leaving Eklund feels like a brutal mistake.</p><div class="injected-ad" data-nn-ad-tech-injection-count="3" data-nn-ad-tech-max-gap="130" data-nn-ad-tech-current-gap="195"></div>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading"><strong>Fabian Zetterlund, RW (San Jose Sharks)</strong></h2>



<p>Sticking in San Jose, Zetterlund is tracking for around 25 goals and 55 points this year. And it’s not a fluke, either –&nbsp;he had 24 goals and 44 points in his breakout campaign last year. The Sharks might not be a great team, but Zetterlund is playing good hockey and definitely deserved a shot at making the final roster. They’ve got scoring options, but you can’t say Victor Arvidsson is a better option with a straight face right now.</p>



<p><em>Others: Hampus Lindholm (D), Rickard Rakell (LW), Alex Wennberg (C)</em></p>



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<h2 class="wp-block-heading">Nation Gear Black Friday Sale</h2>



<figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><a href="https://publish.dailyfaceoff.com/wp-content/uploads/2099/07/DFO-Article.png"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="727" height="404" src="https://publish.dailyfaceoff.com/wp-content/uploads/2099/07/DFO-Article.png" alt="" class="wp-image-186305" srcset="https://publish.dailyfaceoff.com/wp-content/uploads/2099/07/DFO-Article.png 727w, https://publish.dailyfaceoff.com/wp-content/uploads/2099/07/DFO-Article-300x167.png 300w, https://publish.dailyfaceoff.com/wp-content/uploads/2099/07/DFO-Article-150x83.png 150w, https://publish.dailyfaceoff.com/wp-content/uploads/2099/07/DFO-Article-600x333.png 600w, https://publish.dailyfaceoff.com/wp-content/uploads/2099/07/DFO-Article-696x387.png 696w" sizes="(max-width: 727px) 100vw, 727px"></a></figure>



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