Canada 'must win' 1 of its early games in Montreal at 4 Nations, GM says

PLYMOUTH, Mich. -- The 4 Nations Face-Off is coming fast.

In less than a month, Canada will play Sweden at Bell Centre in Montreal on Feb. 12 (8 p.m. ET; MAX, truTV, TNT, SN, TVAS). The United States will play Finland there the next night.

Then we will be treated to a doubleheader of rivalry games there Feb. 15 -- Finland vs. Sweden, United States vs. Canada.

The early games will be critical, and the level of play should be eye-popping right from puck drop in the first best-on-best tournament since the World Cup of Hockey 2016 in Toronto.

“The way the tournament is set up, it’s incumbent upon you to get off to a good start,” Canada general manager Don Sweeney said. “You absolutely must win one of your first two games. You have no choice but to win one of your first two.”

Teams will receive three points for a regulation win, two for an overtime or shootout win, and one for an overtime or shootout loss.

Imagine the importance of the doubleheader at TD Garden in Boston on Feb. 17 -- Canada vs. Finland, Sweden vs. United States. It could come down to that to decide who makes the championship game there Feb. 20.

Sweeney, GM of the Boston Bruins, spoke to NHL.com about Canada while scouting the 2025 Chipotle All-American Game at USA Hockey Arena in Plymouth, Michigan, on Thursday. He gave great insight into the roster/lineup, the goaltending situation, potential injury issues and Canada’s competition.

ROSTER/LINEUP: ‘We know who the centers are going to be’

Part of the fun is sketching out dream lineups. Like, will Canada have a line of Nova Scotia natives Sidney Crosby, Nathan MacKinnon and Brad Marchand?

Sweeney smiled and deferred to coach Jon Cooper, but he provided a peek inside the roster-building process and how it will relate to the lineup.

Each team announced its first six players June 28 and had to determine the rest of its 23-man roster from there. When Canada’s management and coaching staffs met over the summer, they held breakout sessions and made mock rosters independent of each other. They talked about players rather than forward lines and defense pairs.

Canada has a deep talent pool, which means many options -- including many centers who can play on the wing -- but many difficult decisions. Each team announced its full roster Dec. 4.

Up front, Cooper and his staff settled on who they envisioned as their centers. That served as a starting point, and everyone committed to building around that. Cooper believes in working in sets of two with a complementary third player.

“He hasn’t gotten too, too locked in beyond that,” Sweeney said. “We know who the centers are going to be, so I think that was a really important exercise.”

On defense, Cale Makar and Devon Toews are an obvious pair, because they play together for the Colorado Avalanche.

“After that, it gets a little bit more into the matchups and the situations that we want to take advantage of,” Sweeney said.

GOALIES: ‘Would we liked to have waited? Yeah, ideally’

Goaltending is the biggest issue for Canada and ripe for second-guessing.

Among goalies born in Canada, Logan Thompson of the Washington Capitals leads the NHL wins (20). He and Darcy Kuemper of the Los Angeles Kings are tied for the lead in save percentage (.924), and Mackenzie Blackwood, now with the Avalanche, is second (.918).

None made the team.

But the decision had to be made more than a month ago. In Blackwood’s case, he was still playing for the San Jose Sharks, for whom he was 6-9-3 with a 3.00 goals-against average and .909 save percentage. He was traded to Colorado on Dec. 9 and has gone 9-3-1 with a 1.87 GAA and .931 save percentage for the Avalanche.

“Would we have liked to have waited?” Sweeney said. “Yeah, ideally. In a perfect world, we probably would have, so you do have the benefit. … But the rules are the rules.”

Canada is still comfortable with its goalies. Jordan Binnington won the Stanley Cup with the St. Louis Blues in 2019, and Adin Hill won it with the Vegas Golden Knights in 2023. Sam Montembeault won the IIHF World Championship with Canada in 2023.

Who will start the opener for Canada? Will Sweeney be there to scout Binnington and Hill when the Blues and the Golden Knights play each other twice in four days -- in Vegas on Jan. 20 and St. Louis on Jan. 23?

“A live viewing’s not going to change my opinion of the result and how they do,” he said with a laugh.

Sweeney said it will be up to the coaches, but he brought up another factor: workload.

“How taxed the goalies are going into this event may be a variable as well,” he said.

INJURIES: ‘I think they’re still unavoidable between now and then’

Sweeney said at this point the coaches are communicating the details of their systems to the players without overly taxing them while they play for their NHL teams.

The executives aren’t canvassing the League the way they were before, but they’re continuing to watch players in case of injuries.

“I think they’re still unavoidable between now and then,” Sweeney said. “We’re hopeful that they’re not, and we’ve got our team set. But the likelihood is, we will (need to make roster adjustments).”

Canada doesn’t have any active injury concerns, right?

“Um, we’re always aware of some players who may have some things that are lingering and they’re playing through, so we just have to be vigilant in the fact that we’re watching all the guys that we knew could step in in different roles and where they could play,” Sweeney said. “Now, we’re fortunate. We’ve got a lot of centers and a lot of people that can play two positions on our hockey club.”

Does Sweeney anticipate issues with players who have nagging injuries? Will there be delicate discussions with their NHL teams?

He brought up Bruins defenseman Charlie McAvoy, who is on the United States roster and has an undisclosed injury.

“McAvoy’s out for us right now,” he said. “We expect him to be back, but you just don’t know. And ultimately, we all have a day job, and that’s the priority.

“Players are players. They’re going to want to play in this event. They’ve been waiting for a long time. Several players haven’t even played in best-on-best. They’re going to do everything they can to make it into this tournament, I believe.

“Teams will have a say. Ultimately, it’s the player’s responsibility to be honest, I think. But it’ll be interesting.”

Sweeney pointed out the NHL has games on the schedule until Feb. 9, so injuries could pop up as late as three days before the opener.

“We’ve got our fingers crossed that we’re going to have the roster that we set, but we are prepared in terms of needing to replace player,” he said.

COMPETITION: ‘Not going to be intimidated by being in Montreal’

Canada has won the past three best-on-best tournaments, but Sweeney knows what it’s up against.

He called the United States “talent-laden,” from goalie Connor Hellebuyck out.

“I think their firepower’s there,” he said. “Their [defense] is incredibly mobile. We’re going to have to play behind them and make them work, because if you give them transition, I think they’re going to be able to do some damage.”

Some might overlook Sweden and Finland nations. Canada can’t afford to.

“We play the Swedes to open, and their [defense] has a lot of experience, played a lot of high-leverage hockey, not going to be intimidated by being in Montreal and in Canada,” Sweeney said. “They’re going to handle that environment perfectly well. They’re going to be ready to play. Their goaltending has been really good this year. They’re talented, and they don’t deviate. They don’t deviate how they play.

“And the Finns are the exact same way. They can beat you. They’re comfortable in a 1-0 hockey game, but they’ve got enough firepower with (Aleksander) Barkov and those guys to sting you.”

People say Canada has the depth to ice multiple teams that could compete with the other three nations.

That might be true.

Problem is, Canada can ice only one.

From that perspective, you could argue Sweeney had the hardest job of the GMs.

Asked if he felt relieved when the full roster was announced or if he continued lose sleep, Sweeney said: “You’re always going to wonder. We knew from the onset that we were going to get criticism no matter how we were building the team, and you just have to stick to what the group believes in.

“It’s not any one person’s decision. It was a collective decision how we were building. It was incredible how streamlined we became through the process of mocks and adopting each other’s philosophies. We still had some final decisions that we had to work through, but from the onset, we felt that was going to be the case.

“And we knew that we were going to disappoint [fans and players]. … These are really good guys, really good freaking players, that you realize, like, they could easily be on this team. It’s just a matter of how you wanted to build it right down to the final player.

“That’s what was the most challenging part of it -- not because you were worried about being second-guessed, but because that player’s probably equally deserving. You just made a different decision.”