On Wednesday, Dec. 4, the NHL announced the final rosters for the 4 Nations Face-Off which will be in Montreal and Boston from Feb. 12-20, 2025. The Carolina Hurricanes will be represented by three players on teams Finland, United States, and Canada. It’s great to see the representation from a “non-traditional hockey market” to see not one, but multiple players in the upcoming best-on-best competition. Who made their respective nation’s rosters?
Jaccob Slavin – United States
Going into the roster announcements, some pundits around the NHL did not have defenseman and Colorado native Jaccob Slavin making the United States roster. However, thankfully they were wrong as the Denver-born defenseman made the roster. Slavin, in 25 games this season has tallied a goal and eight points with a plus-4 rating and is playing on the Hurricanes’ first defensive pair and the penalty kill. The notion of some pundits not having him on the roster shows how underrated Slavin still is around the league despite being one of the best defensive defensemen in the NHL. The two-time Lady Byng winner each season puts out an effort that any head coach would love to see. He only has two penalty minutes (PIMs) so far this season which is normal for a guy who has had only eight PIMs in each of the last two seasons.
Related: Team USA Announces 4 Nations Face-Off Roster
It’s a foregone conclusion that Slavin will play top-four defensive minutes because of his skill set. As of now, he is projected to play on the second defensive pair with the New York Rangers’ Adam Fox.
It’ll be interesting to see what the United States does with their lines and how they will do in the 4 Nations Face-Off, especially being one of the favorites with a stacked roster. Outside of Canada, the United States is the favorite to win.
Seth Jarvis – Canada
Out of the three players to represent the Hurricanes, Winnipeg native Seth Jarvis was considered the biggest long shot. That’s not because of his play, but how stacked Team Canada would be going into the 4 Nations. However, Canada did right by the rising superstar. Jarvis, since coming back from missing seven games due to aggravating his shoulder injury from last season, has been a bright spot for the Hurricanes despite their recent struggles. He was on a three-game goal streak including shorthanded and power-play goals, and currently sits with seven goals and 16 points in 18 games. What makes Jarvis being announced for Team Canada so much sweeter is that he was one of the final cuts from Canada’s 2021 World Junior Championship (WJC) roster. Now three years later, he sits as one of the top 23 Canadian players in the NHL to represent his country for the tournament.
Related: Team Canada Announces 4 Nations Face-Off Roster
An added sweetener to Jarvis making the roster is that the 25 players who made the 2021 Canada WJC roster were not named for 4 Nations. Talk about a chance for the 22-year-old to prove that leaving him off the WJC team was a mistake and that he is now one of the best 23 Canadians to represent them in February. Now that we know he will be playing in the tournament, maybe we will see Jarvis get the opportunities for some hilarious hijinx with teammates Slavin and Sebastian Aho.
Sebastian Aho – Finland
It was pretty easy to know Aho was going to make Finland’s roster since it was announced earlier in the season when the first six names were announced. It makes sense that Aho, one of the faces of the Hurricanes, was selected. He currently sits second on the team in points (26) behind leader Martin Necas (39) in 25 games played. Aho is, however, tied for fourth on the team in goals (seven) and second in assists (19). The new game-winning goal record holder (58) for the franchise is slowly getting himself going after a slow start to the season. It was obvious a slow start was not going to chance Finland’s mind on him.
Related: Team Finland Names 4-Nations Face-Off Roster
However, he has picked it up recently and there is a good chance he will play top-six minutes for his home country. All that remains to be seen is if he will be a center or a winger on a loaded Finland team that looks to be spoilers and win the 4 Nations. Either way, it’s good to see “Fishy” being named to Finland where he hopes to continue his success on the the international stage just like he did at the WJC back in the day.
Where to Watch the 4 Nations Face-Off
The games can be viewed on TNT, ESPN & ABC in US along with Sportsnet & TVA in Canada between Feb. 12-20. The opening games will be in a round-robin format and ultimately, the top two teams will square off in the final, located in Boston.
