The Biggest Snubs and Complaints for the 2025 4 Nations Face-Off Rosters
Teams announced their rosters for the 2025 4 Nations Face-Off Tournament earlier this week, and you know what that means: It's time to complain.
Look, are we happy we're getting a big, international tournament with a true best-on-best vibe? Of course. Is it the Olympics? Not quite. USA, Canada, Finland, and Sweden are the four nations in question, so some of the best players in the world are left out. Then, we've got some inevitable snubs with 23-team rosters.
Now that we've seen the rosters, let's go through all the snubs and find even more to complain about along the way. (Seriously, though, thank you to the international hockey gods for even giving us an event to complain about.)
USA Snubs: Tage Thompson, Cole Caufield and Clayton Keller
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The most egregious snubs of the tournament came out of Team USA, with Tage Thompson, Cole Caufield, and Clayton Keller all left off the roster. To be fair, GM Bill Guerin admitted in an NHL on TNT interview that he was one of several GMs calling for expanding the rosters from 23 to 25.
Thompson is the Sabres' leading goal scorer (14) despite missing time and is averaging a point per game. Yes, we're waiting for him to make a big comeback return to that 94-point season he had a few seasons back, but he still deserved a better look.
Meanwhile, Caufield is tied for third in the league in goals with 16, which would make him the highest scorer on the current roster.
Keller's got 22 points in 25 games, ushering in a new franchise as captain.
Canada Snubs: Nick Suzuki and Connor Bedard
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I mean, it doesn't get more Canadian than literally being the captain and star center for the Montreal Canadiens, right? Not to mention, Suzuki has outscored seven Team Canada players on the tournament's roster.
Connor Bedard is obviously younger, and these tournaments value veteran experience to some degree, but he's already a star in this league and the people want to watch him play. The people especially want to see what he could do with a roster far more talented than the Chicago Blackhawks. That being said, this one at least makes sense.
USA Complaint: Choosing Veterans Over Young Kids
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Look, we get it: GMs value veteran play, postseason experience, and experiences with tournaments like this when building rosters like this. You see it throughout most sports—this isn't a uniquely hockey thing (Caitlin Clark comes to mind).
Still, their own GM would tell you that Vincent Trocheck and Chris Kreider aren't having particularly great seasons. No, this isn't purely about stats, or showcasing the league stars—it's about building a roster that can win, and you can't just have pure goal scorers. But you wonder if Caufield and Bedard would be on this roster if they were a few years older.
Canada Complaint: Goaltending
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OK, we know why the Kraken's Joey Daccord couldn't join Team Canada. Despite his dual citizenship, he doesn't have a Canadian passport. The rules are the rules.
But Jordan Binnington and Adin Hill have both boarded the struggle bus and have been unable to provide the same consistency they showed when they both helped their respective teams hoist the Stanley Cup. Sam Montembault has been a bright spot at times for the Canadiens, but that's not saying much for a rebuilding Canadiens team.
Perhaps Logan Thompson was a snub, or perhaps this is the best the GMs could do with what they have. Canada is stacked at every position except netminding, so we'll see how it goes.
Overall Complaint: Should Have More Teams
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It's pretty silly to have David Pastrnak watching a tournament held in Boston from the stands, no? Four Nations is better than none, and we're grateful the tournament exists, but Czechia hockey is robust enough for a full team. Obviously there are extenuating circumstances surrounding Russia's exclusion, but it's tough to consider this a true, pure, best-on-best international hockey tournament without a Team Russia.
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