It’s been far too long since there’s been a best-on-best international hockey tournament, but that’s soon about to change.

The National Hockey League has opted to forego the annual All-Star Game in favour of the 4 Nations Face-off, set to take place between Feb. 12-20, 2025, in Montreal and Boston. A number of players have already been named to the teams of Canada, Sweden, Finland and the United States, with Connor McDavid being the lone Oilers player locked into a roster spot.

Final rosters for the tournament are due on Dec. 2, one month from today, and on Friday, Daily Faceoff’s senior scribes all took a shot and projected what those rosters look like. Matt Larkin took team Canada, Steven Ellis took the Finns, Frank Seravalli looked at the USA team, while guest star Uffe Bodin handled Sweden’s roster.

McDavid was the obvious lock to the Canadian roster. He, alongside Nathan MacKinnon, Sidney Crosby, Brayden Point, Brad Marchand and Cale Makar were the initial players named to the team.

Larkin had McDavid centring Canada’s first line, flanked on one wing by MacKinnon, and on the other by a familiar face in Zach Hyman.

“Forget Hyman’s slow start this season,” Larkin wrote, adding, “we won’t mess with the chemistry he’s established already with Edmonton Oilers teammate McDavid.”

In Larkin’s eyes, they’ll be joined with another Oilers player in Evan Bouchard on the blue line, however, he’s the only other player projected to make the roster. Larkin chose to leave off Darnell Nurse, despite there being some reported momentum for him to make the team, as well as Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, as both were in the “also considered” category.

One notable Canadian Oiler left off the roster was goaltender Stuart Skinner, with Larkin instead opting for Jordan Binnington, Adin HIll and Logan Thompson as the trio in the crease. Skinner, however, was named his toughest cut.

“I know Stuart Skinner got to Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Final last season, but his inconsistency is a problem, so I couldn’t pick him,” he wrote.

There was only one other Oilers player named to any of the four rosters in defenceman Mattias Ekholm. It shouldn’t be much of a surprise, as Ekholm has been one of the best Swedish blue liners in the NHL over the last three years, ranking fifth in games played, sixth in goals and points, while having the second best plus/minus rating behind only Gustav Forsling, who was one of the first players named to their roster.

“Ekholm and (Hampus) Lindholm bring physicality and size,” Bodin wrote, leaving Jonas Brodin off the roster. “Brodin’s defensive awareness is among the best in the NHL, but I feel both Ekholm and Lindholm offer greater versatility and physicality.”

The full projected rosters can be seen at Daily Faceoff.

Zach Laing is the Nation Network’s news director and senior columnist, making up one-half of the DFO DFS Report. He can be followed on Twitter at @zjlaing, or reached by email at zach@thenationnetwork.com.