Instead of having an All-Star Game this season, the NHL and NHLPA are staging the 4 Nations Face-Off, which will run from Feb. 12 through Feb. 20. This is a round-robin tournament that will feature four national teams — Canada, Finland, Sweden and the United States — with NHL players from those nations filling the rosters.
The top two teams in the standings after round-robin play will compete in the championship game on Feb. 20. The points system for the round robin will include three points for a regulation win, two points for a win in overtime/shootout, one point for a loss in overtime/shootout and zero points for a regulation loss.
The overtime format for round-robin games is 3-on-3 sudden death for a 10-minute period, followed by a shootout. In the championship game, the overtime format is full-strength sudden death in successive 20-minute periods until one team scores.
Read on for full coverage of the event, including rosters, team previews, betting picks, schedule and broadcast information from the opening round games all the way through the championship matchup.
Keys to winning the gold medal: Canada has arguably the most explosive crop of top-tier skaters in this tournament, and that talent has to be working for them in every period. Connor McDavid, Nathan MacKinnon, Cale Makar, Sam Reinhart, Brayden Point … and on down the list. Coach Jon Cooper can mix and match up front with some of the best offensive threats in the world, and that will be Canada’s weapon at 5-on-5 and the power play.
Scoring should be Canada’s superpower, and depending on how Cooper disperses ice time among the savvy veterans — looking at you, Sidney Crosby — and those under-the-radar finds — Travis Konecny as a 30-goal scorer on the fourth line (?) — Canada will be a nightmare to contain when they have the puck. That alone could carry them to a championship-worthy performance.
X factor: It’s the goaltending. How exactly is Canada going to fare between the pipes? Jordan Binnington appears to be their No. 1 (at least in the early goings) with Adin Hill as his backup. So, no Logan Thompson? Who has the second-best save percentage among NHL starters this season?
All credit to Hill and the fine season he’s had in Vegas, but Canada’s netminding could leave them feeling exposed (Sam Montembeault is the country’s projected third-stringer). And a swell of uncertainty — if it were to come — can seep into the defense, too. Canada’s depth on the back end wasn’t this tournament’s best to begin with, and it took a hit when Alex Pietrangelo — a veteran with championship experience — bowed out due to injury. If goalie confidence becomes shaky, does that also rattle Canada defensively? Mental toughness will be an element in all this as well. — Kristen Shilton
Keys to winning the gold medal: It’s not that Finland doesn’t have players who can score. But a hallmark of Finnish forwards who’ve come to the NHL is that many of them are consistent two-way players. How much does that factor in a tournament in which teams such as Canada and the United States are expected to have large chunks of possession?
Receiving those two-way contributions from forwards — such as two-time Selke Trophy winner Aleksander Barkov, Sebastian Aho, Mikko Rantanen and Roope Hintz — could prove even more crucial.
X factor: How they manage without Miro Heiskanen. Losing Heiskanen was significant beyond the fact that he’s one of the NHL’s premier defensemen. Heiskanen can do everything — from logging heavy 5-on-5 minutes to running a power play to anchoring a penalty kill to making life difficult for an opposing top line.
Figuring out how they can make up for his absence could be the difference in playing in the championship game or finishing in a less desirable place. — Ryan S. Clark
Keys to winning the gold medal: Sweden’s back end should be its backbone. Led by the incomparable Victor Hedman, the Swedish defense could be the tournament’s best, and that bodes well for their prospects. The Swedes’ blue line has a strong mix of talent with players who can provide offense — Hedman and Rasmus Dahlin, especially — with Gustav Forsling, Mattias Ekholm and Jonas Brodin locking things down behind them. Add Erik Karlsson’s general ability to that mix and no matter how you slice it, there’s something special for Sweden to tap.
If the forwards can complement a strong defensive game with consistent scoring, then the Swedes might have the right recipe for success.
X factor: Can Sweden overcome potentially losing both the goalies originally named to their roster? And, if the goaltending situation is impacted, will Sweden get the offensive performances it needs to outlast countries like the USA and Canada? Projected starter Jacob Markstrom was already replaced by Samuel Ersson; Linus Ullmark has been battling injury for much of this season.
That doesn’t speak to a possibly dominant showing in the crease. Leaving that aside though, can Sweden squeeze enough from their top-six forward group — with the likes of William Nylander and Filip Forberg leading the way — to keep pace with the aforementioned juggernauts? It might come down to will over thrill for this Swedish team to be victorious. — Shilton
Keys to winning the gold medal: Do they want to play fast? Do they want to be physical? Do they want to constantly apply pressure? Do they want to create lines that can score? Do they want lines that make two-way play a priority? Or do they want all of the above?
Asking this many questions about the U.S. speaks to how many directions the tactics can go, with a roster that is arguably the most talented in the tournament, top to bottom. The notion that there appears to be several identities the U.S. could have makes this roster adaptable to every situation. That could prove useful in their bid to win gold.
X factor: The defensive pairings. Let’s recap. Adam Fox and Quinn Hughes are Norris Trophy winners. Charlie McAvoy and Jaccob Slavin have finished in the top 10 in Norris voting on multiple occasions. Zach Werenski and his point-per-game average is factoring into this season’ Norris discussion. Noah Hanifin‘s athleticism and length makes finding time and space a problem, while Brock Faber was already a legitimate No. 1 option as a rookie last season.
And yet? One of them will be the U.S.’s seventh defenseman up in the press box. Which combinations would make the most sense for the U.S.? And can those pairings help lead the nation to a first-place finish in the build-up to the 2026 Olympics? — Clark
Betting pick
If nothing else, the Finnish defense and Canadian goaltending certainly suggest that a team of All-Star-caliber forwards on both sides of the puck can drive scoring to a total greater than 5.5. These forward lines are so stacked on each of these teams, how can we not go in expecting goalscoring showcases?
Not that many of the players involved will be the same, but the last four Olympics with NHLers had all four of these nations averaging close to four goals per game each. The 2016 World Cup of Hockey, which was much more condensed and NHL-roster heavy, had a total of 7.88 goals per game from both sides across all games.
These aren’t apples-to-apples comparisons, but when you distill the skill on rosters to the point that some fourth lines look like top scoring lines on some NHL teams, we anticipate lots of goals.
Give me the over on any game that doesn’t involve Connor Hellebuyck and the United States team defense. — Sean Allen
The 24-year-old Matthews closed out last season in the Twins’ rotation and fashioned a 1-4 record with a 6.69 ERA in nine starts. He has produced a 2-1 record with a 1.93 ERA in seven starts for St. Paul, which includes 38 strikeouts and nine walks over 32⅔ innings.
The Twins, who carry a 13-game winning streak into Sunday’s game, also selected the contract of outfielder Carson McCusker, a 26-year-old who has yet to make his big league debut. The 6-foot-8, 250-pound slugger is hitting .350 with 10 homers and 36 RBIs in 38 games this season for St. Paul.
The task ahead of Matthews is to try to continue a hot pitching streak that has seen the Twins record three straight shutouts, including in the first two games of the Brewers series. Minnesota enters Sunday with a collective 3.15 ERA that ranks No. 3 in the majors.
The active stretch of 33 straight shutout innings is the longest such streak in Twins history, which began in 1961. They had three longer shutout streaks when they were the Washington Senators, but the most recent of those took place in 1913.
To accommodate Matthews’ arrival, the Twins placed reliever Danny Coulombe (left forearm extensor strain) on the 15-day injured list, retroactive to Thursday. Coulombe has yet to allow a run this season in 16⅔ innings.
To make room for McCusker, the Twins shifted rookie Luke Keaschall to the 60-day IL to open a spot on the 40-man roster. Keaschall fractured his right forearm April 25 against the Los Angeles Angels.
The Associated Press and Field Level Media contributed to this report.
BOSTON — Red Sox manager Alex Cora will miss Monday’s series opener against the New York Mets at Fenway Park so he can attend his daughter’s college graduation.
Cora’s daughter, Camila, will be graduating from nearby Boston College.
“It’s going to be a very special day — one that I’m not going to miss,” Cora said before Sunday’s game vs. the Atlanta Braves. “I 100% will miss the game for that. I will do that any given day. It’s going to be a very special day for us.”
Cora reflected on how the time has seemed to go quickly and spoke about how fast his daughter seemed to grow up.
“It went fast, it went really fast,” Cora said of her time in college. “For a girl from divorced parents, her mom did an amazing job, staying the course while I was playing and coaching and doing my ESPN thing. … She’s actually a reflection of her. I appreciate everything she’s done for her and for us.”
Asked if he’ll be able to hold back his emotions at the ceremony, Cora smiled and said “We’ll see,” before bringing up memories of when his daughter was at the 2018 World Series victory celebration and a postseason series wrap-up win over Tampa Bay in ’21 at Fenway.
“It’s going to be an amazing day. It happened fast,” he said. “You put everything into perspective, you go back to the videos of ’18, she was a little girl.
“Then you go back to ’21 when she hopped onto the field when we beat Tampa, she was still a little girl. Now, she’s not a little girl,” he said. “She’s a woman. She had fun with it. She’s a great student and the future’s bright for her.”
MILWAUKEE — Brewers pitcher Tobias Myers is going back to the minors as he continues to struggle to match the success he enjoyed as a rookie last year.
The Brewers optioned Myers to Triple-A Nashville on Sunday while selecting right-handed pitcher Easton McGee from Triple-A and transferring left-handed pitcher Connor Thomas to the 60-day injured list.
Myers is 1-1 with a 4.95 ERA in six appearances, including five starts. He allowed four runs over 3 2/3 innings in a 7-0 loss to the Minnesota Twins on Saturday.
The right-hander had gone 9-6 with a 3.00 ERA last season and was selected the Brewers’ most valuable pitcher by the Milwaukee chapter of the Baseball Writers Association of America. He closed that season by pitching five scoreless innings in the decisive Game 3 of the NL Wild Card Series against the New York Mets, a game the Brewers lost 4-2 by allowing four runs in the ninth.
“I love the kid, man,” Brewers manager Pat Murphy said after Saturday’s game. “You saw it in Game 3, that’s in there. So we’ve got to get back to that.”
The Brewers had optioned Myers to Nashville a week ago, but he didn’t actually pitch there before rejoining the big-league club after left-hander José Quintana went on the injured list with a left shoulder issue. Now he’s heading back to Nashville.
Myers entered Saturday having walked 10 batters over 16 1/3 innings. He didn’t walk anyone Saturday, but gave up a career-high 11 hits.
“My goal was to fill the zone up and kind of get away from the walks I’ve been dealing with,” Myers said after the game. “I think I just filled it up a little too much.”
McGee went 1-0 with a 3.44 ERA and 20 strikeouts over 18 1/3 innings in 13 relief appearances with Nashville.
McGee appeared in one game for Tampa Bay in 2022 and one game for Seattle in 2023.In the only two games he has pitched in the big leagues, McGee has allowed just one unearned run over 9 2/3 innings while striking out three and allowing five hits and one walk.