Matthews_Yandle_Bishop_4Nations-bug

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 Editor-in-Chief Bill Price reveals what his Team United States roster would've looked like in 2020.

Forwards (13)

Patrick Kane -- Auston Matthews -- Kyle Connor

Matthew Tkachuk -- Jack Eichel -- Johnny Gaudreau

Blake Wheeler -- J.T. Miller -- Alex DeBrincat

Phil Kessel -- Dylan Larkin -- Jake Guentzel

Brock Nelson

Talk about a dream team. This team has incredible center depth, and it starts on top line with Matthews, who was 22 at the time and in his fourth NHL season. Put the new face of U.S. hockey on a line with THE face of U.S. Hockey in Kane, add Connor and you have quite a start. The second line features two up-and-coming stars in Eichel and Tkachuk, and an established star, Gaudreau, Tkachuk's Calgary Flames teammate who had 157 points (54 goals, 103 assists) combined from 2018-19 to 2019-20. Wheeler and Miller give the third line some grit. The fourth line, with a young Larkin, 23, and Guentzel, 25, teaming with a then-33-year-old Kessel (82 points; 27 goals, 55 assists in 2018-19), had some scoring pop. The last spot was a tossup between Nelson and Zach Parise, and I went with Nelson.

Defensemen (7)

John Carlson -- Ryan McDonagh

Keith Yandle -- Torey Krug

Jeff Petry -- Ryan Suter

Zach Werenski

This was the toughest group to pick with some great players being left off. I had to go with McDonagh for his endurance and leadership despite a dip in production in 2019-20. He gets paired with Carlson, a power-play points machine with 59 in 2018-19 and 2019-20 combined. Yandle and Krug make a solid second pair, as do Petry and Suter. The last spot came down to Werenski, Charlie McAvoy and Seth Jones, and it was hard to ignore Werenski's scoring output of 85 points (31 goals, 54 points) from 2018-19 to 2019-20. If this team was selected in 2021, you figure Quinn Hughes and Adam Fox would be in the running, but not this time.

Goalies (3)

Ben Bishop

Connor Hellebuyck

John Gibson

Had this been the 2018 team, Bishop likely would get the No. 1 spot, but Hellebuyck by 2019-20 had established himself as the best United States-born goalie in the NHL by winning the Vezina Trophy. Still, Bishop would make a solid backup and any team that has the underrated Gibson third on the depth chart is dangerous.

Related Content