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 Derek Van Diest reveals what his Team Canada roster would've looked like in 1985.
Forwards (13)
Dale Hawerchuk -- Wayne Gretzky -- Mike Bossy
Brian Propp -- Mark Messier -- Glenn Anderson
John Tonelli -- Marcel Dionne -- Mike Gartner
Michel Goulet -- Brent Sutter -- Rick Middleton
Gretzky, Hawerchuk and Bossy, all members of the Hockey Hall of Fame, combined for 455 points (184 goals, 271 assists) in the 1984-85 NHL season and would have made an extremely formidable top line for Canada. Gretzky had 208 points (73 goals, 135 assists) in 80 games for the Edmonton Oilers, Hawerchuk had 130 points (53 goals, 77 assists) in 80 games for the Winnipeg Jets, and Bossy had 117 points (58 goals, 59 assists) in 76 games for the New York Islanders. Watching the three play together would have been an incredible sight. Following them over the boards on the second line would be Messier and Anderson of the Oilers along with Brian Propp of the Philadelphia Flyers, who set an NHL career-high with 97 points (43 goals, 54 assists) in 76 games that season. A 33-year-old Dionne, still a star with the Los Angeles Kings by virtue of the 126 points (46 goals, 80 assists) in 80 games he totaled in 1984-85, would have centered the third line flanked by the hard-working Tonelli of the Islanders and the speedy Gartner of the Washington Capitals. Brent Sutter of the Islanders, one of six Sutter brothers in the League at the time, would center the fourth line, between Goulet of the Quebec Nordiques and Middleton of the Boston Bruins who was coming off a 105-point season (47 goals, 58 assists) in 80 games with the Boston Bruins in 1983-84. The biggest question in 1985 would have been whether Lemieux, a Pittsburgh Penguins rookie who had 100 points (43 goals, 57 assists) in 73 games, or the Detroit Red Wings’ Steve Yzerman, who in his second NHL season had 89 points (30 goals, 59 assists) in 80 games, would have been named the 13th forward. I believe Lemieux would have won out. Many consider his performance in the 1987 Canada Cup, playing alongside Gretzky, as his coming-out party, but it could have occurred two years earlier with a tournament in 1985.
