4 Nations Roster Remix: 2000 Canada team

The top NHL players from Canada, Finland, Sweden and the United States will go head-to-head at the 4 Nations Face-Off, a best-on-best tournament that will be held from Feb. 12-20 in Montreal and Boston.

Though this is the first tournament of its kind to feature these four countries, NHL.com and NHL.com International have put together what the rosters and line combinations for each country would have looked like in the past, going backwards in five-year intervals. The rosters will follow the same format as the current 4 Nations teams: 13 forwards, seven defensemen and three goalies.

The stories will run each Friday and Sunday through Feb. 9.

Today, NHL.com staff writer Mike Zeisberger reveals what his Team Canada roster would've looked like in 2000.

Forwards (13)

Brendan Shanahan -- Steve Yzerman -- Luc Robitaille

Paul Kariya -- Joe Sakic -- Owen Nolan

Jarome Iginla -- Eric Lindros -- Theo Fleury

Ryan Smyth -- Ron Francis -- Mark Recchi

Adam Oates

The first thing that jumped out at me when piecing together this gaggle of forwards is the historical context of the group. Consider that 10 of these 13 skaters went on to be in the Hockey Hall of Fame, with Fleury, Smyth and Nolan the only exceptions. At the same time, I changed the chemistry up front with the collection of forwards from the Canadian team that had disappointingly come away without a medal from the 1998 Nagano Olympics. More than half the forward group -- Robitaille, Nolan, Recchi, Iginla, Smyth, Francis and Oates -- did not participate in the Winter Games two years earlier. There would be plenty of familiarity among the forwards on this team going forward. Shanahan, Yzerman and Robitaille would be teammates with the Stanley Cup-winning Detroit Red Wings in 2002; Kariya and Sakic spent the 2003-2004 season together with the Colorado Avalanche; Calgary Flames wings Iginla and Fleury are ideal flanks for the hulking Lindros; while Recchi and Francis helped the 1991 Pittsburgh Penguins win the Cup.

Defensemen (7)

Chris Pronger -- Al MacInnis

Scott Niedermayer -- Scott Stevens

Rob Blake -- Ray Bourque

Eric Desjardins

The Hall of Fame theme continues, as all but Desjardins from this group would go on to be enshrined. Pronger put together one of the most decorated seasons ever by a defenseman in 1999-2000, winning the Hart Trophy as NHL most valuable player and the Norris Trophy as top defenseman. This defense unit has three pairings featuring NHL teammates -- Pronger-MacInnis with the St. Louis Blues, Niedermayer-Stevens with the New Jersey Devils, Blake-Bourque with the Avalanche.

Goalies (3)

Patrick Roy

Martin Brodeur

Ed Belfour

Counting each of these three goalies, 19 of 23 players on this roster would go on to be inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame. In terms of all-time NHL goalie wins as of today, Brodeur ranks first (691), Roy third (551) and Belfour fifth (484). Another worthy candidate was Curtis Joseph, who ranks seventh (454). As of 2000, Roy (3), Belfour (1) and Brodeur (1) had each already led a team to at least one Stanley Cup with Brodeur on the way to win a second Cup in 1999-2000.