4 Nations Roster Remix: 2005 United States 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 Senior Writer Tom Gulitti reveals what his Team USA roster would've looked like in 2005.

Forwards (13)

Keith Tkachuk -- Mike Modano -- Bill Guerin

Doug Weight -- Scott Gomez -- Brian Gionta

Erik Cole -- Chris Drury -- Brian Rolston

Mike Knuble -- Matt Cullen – Jamie Langenbrunner

Jason Blake

Having the guidelines of the U.S. rosters from the 2004 World Cup of Hockey and the 2006 Torino Olympics did not make this assignment easier. The U.S. lost in the semifinals in the 2004 World Cup and the quarterfinals in the 2006 Olympics and was in between the generation that won the 1996 World Cup and silver medal at the 2002 Salt Lake Olympics and the one that won silver at the 2010 Vancouver Olympics. For this forward group, I left Craig Conroy and Mark Parrish off from the 2006 Olympic team and added Cullen for his speed as well as Langenbrunner, a two-time Stanley Cup winner who was on the 2004 World Cup team and was in his prime at 29 at the time. Those left off from the World Cup team include Brett Hull (retired at start of 2005-06 season), Tony Amonte, Bryan Smolinski, Steve Konowalchuk, Jeff Halpern and Conroy.

Defensemen (7)

Derian Hatcher -- Brian Rafalski

Jordan Leopold -- Paul Martin

Ryan Suter -- Mathieu Schneider

John-Michael Liles

My goal on defense was to get younger, so I left off Chris Chelios, who was captain of the 2006 Olympic team and 2004 World Cup team but was 43 in 2005. I also dropped Bret Hedican, who was 34 at the time. I reluctantly kept Hatcher (6-foot-5, 235 pounds), who was 32, because of the need for some physicality and size. I added Paul Martin, a 23-year-old who was an emergency backup on the roster for the 2006 Olympics and did not play after playing in the 2004 World Cup. I also took a flyer on Ryan Suter, who was 20 and had yet to play in the NHL at that point (because of the 2004-05 lockout) but was an emerging stalwart for the U.S. internationally. Left off from the 2004 World Cup roster were Chelios, Brian Leetch, Aaron Miller, Eric Weinrich and Ken Klee.

Goalies (3)

Robert Esche

Rick DiPietro

Ryan Miller

Esche and DiPietro each made the 2004 World Cup and 2006 Olympic rosters. The only change I made was adding Miller, who probably would’ve made the Olympic team but was injured when the roster was selected. He went 30-14-3 with a 2.60 goals-against average, .914 save percentage and one shutout with the Buffalo Sabres in 2005-06. Miller replaced John Graham from the Olympic team and Ty Conklin from the World Cup roster.