The rosters for the 4 Nations Face-Off were announced earlier this week by the participating nations. The Edmonton Oilers had three players selected, with Connor McDavid representing Canada and Mattias Ekholm and Viktor Arvidsson going for Sweden.
It’s never the players on the roster that spark the conversation, though. It’s always the players who aren’t going. The Canadian roster, while still great, left many wondering how the staff came to their final decision. Fans in Edmonton were left frustrated that Zach Hyman, who had 70 goals in 2023-24 between the regular season and playoffs, wasn’t given a spot on the team. Of course, the event isn’t until February so, if an injury happens, Hyman could sneak his way onto the roster.
After the rosters were announced, @ThomasEdmonton sent me a direct message on X with a very interesting idea. His idea was to build the four rosters under the salary cap rules. Here are a couple of other caveats…
- Each team can only have two players on entry-level contracts.
- Each team needs 13 forwards, seven defencemen and three goaltenders, which is how the original rosters were built.
Unsurprisingly, the teams become drastically different, especially Canada and the United States, whose two official rosters combine for a salary cap number of $349,529,991.
Today, we’ll take a look at Canada and Finland. There are only six players from the actual Team Canada 4 Nations Face-Off roster that made the salary cap team and then there are 12 from Finland’s original team.
Team Canada
Forwards
Matt Duchene | Connor McDavid | Zach Hyman |
$3,000,000 | $12,500,000 | $5,500,000 |
Brandon Hagel | Connor Bedard | Alexis Lafreniere |
$6,500,000 | $950,000 | $2,325,000 |
Travis Konecny | Sam Bennett | Dylan Guenther |
$5,500,000 | $4,250,000 | $894,176 |
Jake DeBrusk | Adam Lowry | Connor McMichael |
$5,500,000 | $3,250,000 | $2,100,000 |
Brett Howden | ||
$1,100,000 |
Even under a salary cap, you can build a strong Canadian lineup. Connor McDavid, Brandon Hagel, Travis Konecny and Sam Bennett are the four forwards from the actual Team Canada roster. Connor Bedard and Dylan Guenther are the two players on entry-level deals. There was also the option to go with Macklin Celebrini but Bedard is better and makes slightly less money.
McDavid will have Matt Duchene and Zach Hyman on his wings. Hyman and McDavid have shown great chemistry on the Oilers and should’ve been a duo on the 4 Nations roster too. Alexis Lafreniere is in the top six too alongside Connor Bedard and Brandon Hagel. Lafreniere had a great start to the season but hasn’t had that same consistency the past few weeks. If this roster was real, watching him play with Bedard would be fantastic.
Adam Lowry completes the centre group in a checking and penalty-killing role. Jake DeBrusk only scores goals on the road now so having him on this roster was essential considering there are no games in Vancouver. Connor McMichael joins the two of them on a line after scoring 14 goals for the Washington Capitals this season. Brett Howden is the 13th forward on the team.
Defence
Devon Toews | Evan Bouchard |
$7,250,000 | $3,900,000 |
Shea Theodore | Mackenzie Weager |
$5,200,000 | $6,250,000 |
Jacob Middleton | Braeden Schneider |
$2,450,000 | $2,200,000 |
Kevin Bahl | |
$1,050,000 |
Devon Toews and Shea Theodore both made the Four Nations roster and this budget team. The obvious absence is Cale Makar but, with his $9 million contract, it was difficult to fit him in. Instead, Evan Bouchard’s $3.9 million was much more team-friendly, so he’ll fill the spot on power play one.
Mackenzie Weager rounds out the top four as a guy who’ll help on the penalty kill and give Canada reliable minutes. Jacob Middleton has a fantastic value deal so he had to be on this team. He’s playing top pairing minutes for the Minnesota Wild this season, making his $2,450,000 salary a must-have. Braeden Schneider and Kevin Bahl fill out the final two spots.
Goaltenders
Jake Allen | Mackenzie Blackwood | Logan Thompson |
$1,925,000 | $2,350,000 | $766,667 |
Picking the three goaltenders was the easiest part of this roster. Logan Thompson has arguably the best contract in the NHL, so he was a lock. Then, Mackenzie Blackwood has been rock solid for the San Jose Sharks and should’ve probably made the initial roster. Finally, Jake Allen at 50% retain puts his contract under $2,000,000 and he’s used to being a backup so he fits the role nicely.
This Team Canada roster has a salary cap total of $86,710,843 with $1,289,157 remaining in cap space.
Nov 13, 2024; Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA; Pittsburgh Penguins right wing Jesse Puljujarvi (18) shoots against the Detroit Red Wings during the first period at PPG Paints Arena.
Team Finland
Forwards
Mikko Rantanen | Sebastian Aho | Eeli Tolvanen |
$9,250,000 | $9,750,000 | $3,475,000 |
Teuvo Teravainen | Sasha Barkov | Kaapo Kakko |
$5,400,000 | $10,000,000 | $2,400,000 |
Eetu Luostarinen | Mikael Granlund | Matias Maccelli |
$3,000,000 | $5,000,000 | $3,425,000 |
Emil Heineman | Brad Lambert | Kasperi Kapenen |
$897,500 | $886,666 | $1,000,000 |
Jesse Puljujarvi | ||
$800,000 |
Thank goodness Brad Lambert made his NHL debut last week otherwise Rasmus Kapri is making this team. Lambert brings plenty of skill to an already talented Finnish forward group. Due to the lack of money spent on the blueline, having Mikko Rantanen, Sebastian Aho and Sasha Barkov on the same roster was easy to achieve. Unfortunately, there wasn’t enough space for Patrik Laine and Roope Hintz but the Fins have value contracts with Matias Maccelli, Eeli Tolvanen, and Kaapo Kakko.
Defence
Miro Heiskanen | Henri Jokiharju |
$8,450,000 | $3,100,000 |
Esa Lindell | Juuso Valimaki |
$5,800,000 | $2,000,000 |
Niko Mikkola | Jani Hakanpaa |
$2,500,000 | $1,470,000 |
Ville Heinola | |
$800,000 |
Finland only has ten active defencemen in the NHL. The three not to make this roster were Rasmus Ristolainen, Olli Maatta, and Urho Vaakaninen. Ristolanien and Vaakaninen make too much money and Finland lacks right shot defenceman so Jokiharju was picked over Maatta. The seven defencemen picked should be self-explanatory most of the reasons why the other three weren’t selected.
Goaltenders
Juuse Saros | Kevin Lankinen | Joel Blomqvist |
$5,000,000 | $875,000 | $886,667 |
Much like Canada, the goaltender was easy.
Juuse Saros is the best Finnish goaltender and, thankfully, he only has a cap of $5 million. Kevin Lankinen was another lock to make the team with a cap hit of $875k. Then, Joel Bloomqvist looked solid for the Pittsburgh Penguins when he was in the NHL. He’s now in the AHL but he’ll still make Budget Team Finland as one of their two ELC players.
This Team Finland roster has a salary cap total of $86,165,833 with $1,834,167 in remaining space.
What changes would you have made to either roster?
