4-nation face off tournament

[mjd1001]

The Hockey 4-nation tournament is now less than a year away. Canada. Sweden. USA. Finland.  As with most international tournaments, it appears Canada will be favorites to win.

I was just thinking, what are the likely lineups, and who has the best chance of beating Canada?

From what I can think of myself and read around the news, it looks like the teams will be mostly:

 

Canada:

Forwards: McDavid, MacKinnon, Crosby, Marner, Bedard, Point, Marchand, Barzal, Stone, Reinhart, Thomas, Marchand, Stamkos.

Defense: Makar, Morrissey, Toews, Dobson, Bouchard, Dunn

Goal: Skinner, Hill.

 

USA:

Forwards: Matthews, Tkachuk, Tkachuk, Eichel, J Hughes, Larkin, Tage, Connor, Robertson, JT Miller, Keller, Debrincat, Boeser.

Defense: Huges, McAvoy, Fox, Werenski, Trouba, Slavin

Goal: Hellebuyck, Demko or Swayman

 

Sweden:

Forwards: Backlund, Pettersson, Lindholm, Forsberg, Carlsson, Nylander, Backlund, Bratt, Eriksson Ek, Landeskog, Kempe, Zibanejad, L. Raymond

Defense: Hedman, Dahlin, Karlsson, Eckholm, Anderson, Lindholm

Goal: Ulmark, Gustavson

 

Finland:

Forwards: S Aho, Barkov, Rantanen, Granlund, Hintz, Teravainen, Haula, Tolvanen, Lundell, Kotkaneimi, Lehkonen, Luostarinen

Defense: Heiskanen, Lindell, Risto, Jokijarju, Mikkola, Hakanpaa

Goal: Saros, Raanta, or UPL

 

Would anyone think any changes would be made from the above? Also, I would rank them Canada #1, USA #2, Sweden #3, Finland #4.  What are the odds that anyone knocks off Canada though?

[Wyldnwoody44]

That Canada lineup is stupid. 

 

But Sweden has great D

[Claude Balls]

The only thing that might hinder Canada is age. Other than that, good luck. 

[mjd1001]

27 minutes ago, Claude Balls said:

The only thing that might hinder Canada is age. Other than that, good luck. 

Goaltending maybe. I think the guys they have for options in net are a couple steps behind the other teams.  All you need is to have a goaltender who is not at the top of his game mis-handle one or two shots, and that can be enough.  

There is no Patrick Roy, Marin Broduer, Roberto Luongo, Marc Andrey Fleury, Carey Price back there. Canada usually had the best 'roster' but they also usually had one of those guys between the pipes....not this time.

Don't get me wrong, I think they are the favorite, just its an issue they usually don't have.

Edited March 22 by mjd1001

[Claude Balls]

32 minutes ago, mjd1001 said:

Goaltending maybe. I think the guys they have for options in net are a couple steps behind the other teams.  All you need is to have a goaltender who is not at the top of his game mis-handle one or two shots, and that can be enough.  

There is no Patrick Roy, Marin Broduer, Roberto Luongo, Marc Andrey Fleury, Carey Price back there. Canada usually had the best 'roster' but they also usually had one of those guys between the pipes....not this time.

Don't get me wrong, I think they are the favorite, just its an issue they usually don't have.

I was gonna say, the only real weakness (talent wise, not age) would be the goaltending. Which is crazy to me, considering all the talented goalies Canada has produced. Maybe they should consider Levi? 🤔 

Edited March 22 by Claude Balls

[French Collection]

2 hours ago, mjd1001 said:

Goaltending maybe. I think the guys they have for options in net are a couple steps behind the other teams.  All you need is to have a goaltender who is not at the top of his game mis-handle one or two shots, and that can be enough.  

There is no Patrick Roy, Marin Broduer, Roberto Luongo, Marc Andrey Fleury, Carey Price back there. Canada usually had the best 'roster' but they also usually had one of those guys between the pipes....not this time.

Don't get me wrong, I think they are the favorite, just its an issue they usually don't have.

Canada will have to play a possession game to limit shots against because I don’t trust the goaltending. This is weakest goaltending I have seen for Canada in over 50 years of international hockey.

The way they played in the last Olympics, they gave up very few shots. USA has a huge advantage in net, I would take your third stringer.