Canada may be in tough as goaltending options emerge for 4 Nations Face-Off
Canada may in tough in February as potential goaltending options emerge for the 2025 4 Nations Face-Off.
Best-on-best international hockey will return in February for the first time in nearly nine years years with four of the world's top nations - Canada, Finland, Sweden and the United States will battle it out in the 4 Nations Face-Off.
The first six players for each of the four participating teams were announced back at the end of June and while final rosters likely won't be revealed until after Christmas, NHL Network has taken a look at some of the goaltending options for Canada.
No disrespect to the six goaltenders mentioned by the NHL Network, but none of them hold a candle to Carey Price, who was the backbone to Canada's gold medal at the 2014 Winter Olympics, as well as their World Cup win just two years later.
With Price's career over due to a knee injury, Canada will have to turn their attention elsewhere in the crease and as mentioned, NHL Network shared six potential options for them at the tournament - Tristan Jarry, Jordan Binnington, Adin Hill, Stuart Skinner, Connor Ingram and Logan Thompson.
Who should be Canada's goaltender at the #4Nations Face-Off in February? 🇨🇦"
Team Canada General Manager Don Sweeney will likely wait until the last possible moment to choose his goaltenders for the roster as he wants to see who is performing the best to start the 2024-25 season before making his final decision. All six goaltenders named by the NHL Network are worthy of being on Canada's roster, but only three can be named and it'll be a very tough decision for Sweeney and the rest of the management group.
Jordan Binnington likely has an inside track over the other five goaltender mentioned, considering his experience and that he went to represent Canada at the 2024 IIHF World Hockey Championship in Czechia in May. Hockey Canada, along with USA Hockey, pushed to have their best players at the World Championship back in May in order to use the tournament as an evaluation tool for their respective rosters, with the return of best-on-best on the international stage in early 2025. While Binnington may not be Canada's starter for the tournament opener, he'll certainly be one of the three goaltenders on the roster.
Again, it all depends on how these goaltenders start the 2024-25 campaign, but another name that seems like a shoo-in for Canada's roster is Stuart Skinner. Now, that may change, but how he played in the Western Conference Final and Stanley Cup Final in the spring, he would be a strong option for Team Canada.
All four other names mentioned are worthy of that third spot, but will certainly be in tough.
Connor Ingram had a career year with Arizona in 2023-24, had 23 wins and was tied for the NHL lead in shutouts with six. Ingram will likely have the starting role once again, with Utah Hockey Club who got Arizona's roster and hockey operations staff through a non-traditional relocation. Utah HC made some big moves this summer, especially on the blueline with Mikhail Sergachev, John Marino and Ian Cole and as a byproduct of that, Ingram could see his numbers improve even more next season with a solid defensive group in front of him.
Tristan Jarry had a down year, but like Connor Ingram, was tied with six shutouts for the NHL lead, and essentially lost the starting role in Pittsburgh down the stretch. It'll be interesting to see how he performs to start the 2024-25 campaign and if he's able to hold onto the starting job or if he'll be forced into a 1A/1B tandem with Alex Nedejkovic.
Adin Hill dealt with injuries throughout the year, limiting him to only 35 regular season games, but was able to appear in three games during the Stanley Cup Playoffs. With Logan Thompson now apart of the Washington Capitals organization, Hill will get the starting role in Vegas, which gives him an opportunity to prove himself as a viable candidate for Hockey Canada.
The final name mentioned by the NHL Network was the aforementioned Logan Thompson. Thompson will head into his first training camp with the Washington Capitals with high expectations and competing for a starting job with Charlie Lindgren, who stole the show down the stretch last season, leading the club to the Stanley Cup Playoffs. Much like Utah HC, the Washington Capitals made some additions to their defensive group by bringing in Jakob Chychrun and Matt Roy, which could benefit Thompson in a big way.
Canada will open their 4 Nations Face-Off schedule on February 12th at the Bell Centre in Montreal against Sweden.
| POLL | ||
Who will be Canada's stater on February 12th against Sweden? | ||
| Jordan Binnington | 23 | 27.7 % |
| Stuart Skinner | 34 | 41 % |
| Logan Thompson | 14 | 16.9 % |
| Tristan Jarry | 12 | 14.5 % |
| List of polls | ||
