Hockey fans have an extra reason to be excited for the 2024-2025 season, as the NHL has announced the NHL 4 Nations Face-Off tournament. This contest will pit the best hockey players in Canada, the US, Sweden, and Finland against each other over nine days in February 2025. Here are the details.
The NHL’s International Calendar Continues
The 4 Nations Face-Off was the latest announcement regarding the NHL’s international calendar. The NHL doesn’t venture outside of North America often but, with showings due for the 2026 and 2030 Winter Olympics, they revealed a whole new tournament that ropes Sweden and Finland in on the action.
This international affair will join the roster of upcoming NHL events, which includes the rest of this year’s playoffs for the 2023-24 season. Every year, hockey fans put their money where their mouth is by wagering on the outcome of NHL games. Most often this is the Stanley Cup competition, though the 4 Nations Face-Off will provide yet another online sport betting attraction for interested fans. The inclusion of Sweden and Finland, which both have their own national hockey fanbases, is sure to drive further interest.
How the 4 Nations Face-Off Works
Announced as a collaboration between the NHL and the National Hockey League Players’ Association (NHLPA), the 4 Nations Face-Off will feature exclusively NHL-signed players. However, those players have origins in Canada, the USA, Sweden, and Finland. Matches will be played in one US city and one Canadian city, though the specific locations were not announced yet. This new tournament will effectively replace 2024-25’s NHL All-Star Weekend.
The event will take up eleven days in total, starting with training and practice days on February 10th and 11th. Then nine days will be spent playing games between NHL players that have been selected by one of four associations. Those will be Hockey Canada, USA Hockey, the Swedish Ice Hockey Association, and the Finnish Ice Hockey Association. Every team will have 23 NHL players, with every player under contract during the 2024-25 season eligible for selection.
Selecting Participants
Participating leagues will choose their first six players this summer, then solidify their rosters later in the year once the next playing season has started. Given the NHL’s main role in organizing and playing these games, all matches will follow standard NHL rules.
That means:
- 3 points for a regulation win
- 2 points for an overtime win
- 1 point for a loss in overtime
- 0 points for a regulation loss
Every team will get to play three matches as part of this tournament, facing off against every other competitor. Three is the magic number in overtime, where three players from each team will face each other. If the match still hasn’t been resolved, a three-round tiebreaker shootout is planned. Once everybody’s scores are established, they will face each other in a one-game final. In the final overtime, the whole team will play 20-minute bouts until one side scores.
Hockey fans will have to wait until the summer for updates on how the teams will be split. When that happens, fans will have an opportunity to back their favorite players or those who are doing best in the NHL standings.