The rosters for the inaugural 4 Nations Face-Off in February were released on Wednesday and fewer Oilers were involved than originally anticipated.
Connor McDavid was among the first six players announced for Team Canada back in June and he wound up being the only Oiler invited to wear the maple leaf. Edmonton will be represented most on Team Sweden, as defenceman Mattias Ekholm and injured winger Viktor Arvidsson were named to Tre Kronor’s roster.
As many as five Oilers were in the conversation to play for Canada following the team’s run to the Stanley Cup Final in the spring.
Evan Bouchard finished fifth in Norris Trophy voting for 2023-24 and looked like a slam dunk for Canada’s blueline but was left off the team in favour of safer, more defensive options in Colton Parayko and Travis Sanheim. Darnell Nurse was also one of the names mentioned as a possibility for those shutdown roles but didn’t get the call.
Zach Hyman and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, who have been among McDavid’s most common wingers over the past few years, both had solid cases to play for Canada get bogged down by slow starts this season. Hyman scored 54 goals last season and added 16 more in the playoffs but only has three goals in 20 games so far in 2024-25. Nugent-Hopkins has 12 points over 25 games, well down from his usual production.
With the Canadian goaltending situation completely up in the air, Stuart Skinner was a leading candidate to play between the pipes at the 4 Nations but he was passed over in favour of Jordan Binnington, Adin Hill, and Sam Montembault. This isn’t very surprising given Skinner’s inconsistent play thus far, as the Edmonton native has an .889 save percentage through 17 appearances.
At first glance, this is another gut punch in what’s been a disappointing follow-up to an incredible season and playoff run. The Oilers haven’t been able to consistently look like the team that challenged the NHL’s longest winning streak and reached Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Final yet in 2024-25 and the underwhelming play of some key veterans has played a role in that.
But that being said, this start shouldn’t be all that much of a surprise. The Oilers have one of the oldest rosters in the league and the 2023-24 season was a grind. The team dug themselves a massive hole with a 3-9-1 start and had to play with their backs up against the wall pretty much from mid-November onward. Multiple players have talked at length about how that adversity helped them in the playoffs but it’s difficult to carry that through another full season.
It would have been fun for fans to watch Connor McDavid have Zach Hyman and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins on his wings on Team Canada or Evan Bouchard scoring a one-timer goal from the point wearing the maple leaf but the 4 Nations Face-Off will do nothing to help Edmonton complete their ultimate goal of winning the Stanley Cup.
This series of exhibition games is happening in place of the All-Star Game and Skills Competition this year in Montreal and Boston between February 12 and 20. Though having only Canada, Sweden, Finland, and the United States means a handful of great players are left out, the 4 Nations Face-Off is a nice breath of fresh air considering there hasn’t been a true best-on-best international men’s hockey tournament since the 2014 Olympics in Sochi.
Players are going to care more about games representing their countries than playing for whatever division their team plays in, so the 4 Nations Face-Off is going to be much more of a physical investment than a typical All-Star Weekend. If the Oilers are going to go on another deep playoff run this spring, they’re better off having the likes of Bouchard, Hyman, Nugent-Hopkins, Nurse, and Skinner resting in February.
