Why? Wrong question. Why not?



We have no idea what to expect from the 4 Nations Face-Off. Maybe the players and coaching staffs make good on their promise that we’ll witness a high-intensity best-on-best tournament. Or maybe it’s apparent five minutes into the first game that every punch will be pulled a la Jake Paul vs. Mike Tyson.



That’s why it’s a good idea to spice up your experience by playing in a 4 Nations Face-Off fantasy pool. Can’t find one? Start one.



Just in case any of you plan on trying an experimental pool, I’ve drafted up a player ranking list, encompassing all 92 participants from Canada, Finland, Sweden and the USA.



While I typically craft rankings according to a large list of stat categories, I suspect any 4 Nations pools out there will be extremely casual. So I’m basing the rankings here on one point for a goal, one point for an assist, one point for a win and one point for a shutout.<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="166"></div>



A few disclaimers:



(a) Every team will play at least three games and a maximum of four games. I predict Canada and USA meet in the Final and get that crucial extra game, so the rankings skew heavier toward their players at the top. (b) Line deployments will matter. Some depth players on Canada and USA are used to being first liners but have been assigned checking roles, so bear in mind that the rankings are highly specific to this tournament.



1. Nathan MacKinnon, F, Canada 2. Connor McDavid, F, Canada 3. Auston Matthews, F, USA 4. Cale Makar, D, Canada 5. Jack Hughes, F, USA 6. Mitch Marner, F, Canada 7. Sam Reinhart, F, Canada 8. Connor Hellebuyck, G, USA 9. Jack Eichel, F, USA 10. William Nylander, F, Sweden 11. Matthew Tkachuk, F, USA 12. Mikko Rantanen, F, Finland 13. Sidney Crosby, F, Canada 14. Zach Werenski, D, USA 15. Kyle Connor, F, USA 16. Sebastian Aho, F, Finland 17. Aleksander Barkov, F, Finland 18. Jake Guentzel, F, USA 19. Adin Hill, G, Canada 20. Victor Hedman, D, Sweden 21. Mika Zibanejad, F, Sweden 22. Filip Forsberg, F, Sweden 23. Mark Stone, F, Canada 24. Adam Fox, D, USA 25. Linus Ullmark, G, Sweden 26. Elias Pettersson, F, Sweden 27. Lucas Raymond, F, Sweden 28. Brayden Point, F, Canada 29. J.T. Miller, F, USA 30. Brady Tkachuk, F, USA 31. Jesper Bratt, F, Sweden 32. Matt Boldy, F, USA 33. Shea Theodore, D, Canada 34. Erik Karlsson, D, Sweden 35. Roope Hintz, F, Finland 36. Juuse Saros, G, Finland 37. Rasmus Dahlin, D, Sweden 38. Adrian Kempe, F, Sweden 39. Brad Marchand, F, Canada 40. Dylan Larkin, C, USA 41. Patrik Laine, F, Finland 42. Brandon Hagel, F, Canada 43. Jordan Binnington, G, Canada 44. Vincent Trocheck, C, USA 45. Filip Gustavsson, G, Sweden 46. Devon Toews, D, Canada 47. Seth Jarvis, F, Canada 48. Josh Morrissey, D, Canada 49. Drew Doughty, D, Canada 50. Rickard Rakell, F, Sweden 51. Artturi Lehkonen, F, Finland 52. Charlie McAvoy, D, USA 53. Brock Nelson, F, USA 54. Anthony Cirelli, F, Canada 55. Sam Bennett, F, Canada 56. Gustav Forsling, D, Sweden 57. Brock Faber, D, USA 58. Travis Konecny, F, Canada 59. Jake Oettinger, G, USA 60. Teuvo Teravainen, F, Finland 61. Joel Eriksson Ek, F, Sweden 62. Jake Sanderson, D, USA 63. Chris Kreider, F, USA 64. Kaapo Kakko, F, Finland 65. Elias Lindholm, F, Sweden 66. Colton Parayko, D, Canada 67. Mattias Ekholm, D, Sweden 68. Mikael Granlund, F, Finland 69. Viktor Arvidsson, F, Sweden 70. Gustav Nyquist, F, Sweden 71. Anton Lundell, F, Finland 72. Noah Hanifin, D, USA 73. Rasmus Andersson, D, Sweden 74. Jaccob Slavin, D, USA 75. Leo Carlsson, F, Sweden 76. Juuso Valimaki, D, Finland 77. Henri Jokiharju, D, Finland 78. Esa Lindell, F, Finland 79. Travis Sanheim, D, Canada 80. Jonas Brodin, D, Sweden 81. Joel Armia, F, Finland 82. Erik Haula, F, Finland 83. Niko Mikkola, D, Finland 84. Eetu Luostarinen, F, Finland 85. Olli Maatta, D, Finland 86. Urho Vaakanainen, D, Finland 87. Kevin Lankinen, G, Finland 88. Nikolas Matinpalo, D, Finland 89. Jeremy Swayman, G, USA 90. Sam Montembeault, G, Canada 91. Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen, G, Finland 92. Samuel Ersson, G, Sweden<div class="injected-ad" data-nn-ad-tech-injection-count="1" data-nn-ad-tech-max-gap="130" data-nn-ad-tech-current-gap="450"></div>



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



I don’t typically advise overreacting to line deployments in fantasy, but we have no choice when it’s a short tournament. At the moment, Stone, Guentzel and Rakell are top-six forwards for their respective nations, while Point, Brady Tkachuk and Bratt are not, so we must react accordingly with our valuations…with Quinn Hughes pulling out, fellow left-shot American Werenski looks like the most valuable blueliner not named Makar…Canada has listed Hill above Binnington on the depth chart, so we’ll presume Hill is the No.1 netminder, though I still expect both goalies to play…Nylander at his three World Championship appearances repping Sweden: 21 games played, 15 goals, 37 points. He always seems to elevate his game for his country…Even if the shine has worn off for Laine with the <a href="https://www.dailyfaceoff.com/teams/montreal-canadiens/line-combinations">Montreal Canadiens,</a> I like him as a sleeper for Finland. He’s capable of epic short-term goal binges when he’s hot, and Finland would be silly not to deploy his shot as a power-play weapon. Considering the No. 2 goalies aren’t all even guaranteed to see any action, I buried every team’s projected No. 3 at the bottom of these rankings…with Finland holding an optional practice for its banged-up squad Monday, we don’t have a perfectly accurate idea of who will play with whom yet.<div class="injected-ad" data-nn-ad-tech-injection-count="2" data-nn-ad-tech-max-gap="130" data-nn-ad-tech-current-gap="211"></div>



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