5 Utah Hockey Club players who could make ‘4 Nations Face-Off’ rosters

With the 4 Nations Face-Off coming up in February, the Utah Hockey Club has a chance to send a number of players to compete for their respective national teams.
But before we get into our roster projections, here’s a quick recap of what the 4 Nations Face-Off is and why it matters.
As you might deduce from the name, the 4 Nations Face-Off is a tournament between four countries: Canada, the United States, Finland and Sweden.
The tournament will involve a round robin format, with every team playing every other team once. The two teams with the most points will face each other in the championship game.
While the tournament will use the NHL rulebook, its scoring system will follow the international format. A regulation win is worth three points, an overtime or shootout win is worth two points, an overtime or shootout loss is worth one point and a regulation loss is worth zero points.
Games will take place in Montreal and Boston, beginning on Feb. 12, 2025, and ending on Feb. 20. The tournament will happen in place of the all-star break.
For the full schedule or to apply to buy tickets, visit the NHL website.
Hockey has really taken off in the United States since the 2016 World Cup of Hockey, which was the last best-on-best international hockey tournament. The World Cup roster had a couple of superstars, but the majority of its players would not have made the Canadian lineup, had they held different passports. This year is different.
Clayton Keller is a great example of the country’s improvement. He consistently records roughly a point per game and he leads his team in scoring year after year. While size isn’t his strong suit, his hockey IQ is off the charts.
Barring any calamities, such as an injury or a major drop-off in his play, you can bet the house that Clayton Keller will represent the USA at the 4 Nations Face-Off.
While Team USA is on the upswing, Team Canada is struggling at one position: goaltending.
It’s not to say that Connor Ingram wouldn’t succeed at holding down the fort for Team Canada — He’s a good goaltender and he deserves any and all recognition that comes his way — but for a country accustomed to Hall of Famers Martin Brodeur and Roberto Luongo, along with future Hall of Famers Carey Price and Marc-Andre Fleury, Canadians are feeling underwhelmed at their goaltending options.
Again, this is not to take anything away from Ingram. He’s among the three best Canadian goalies in the world, and that’s a huge accomplishment. He had a great season last year and if he continues on his current trajectory, his name could be added to the above list of legendary Canadian goaltenders.
Everyone knows Finn Alex Barkov as the most underrated player in the NHL, to the point where he is now properly rated as one of the best centermen in hockey. Now that Barkov is no longer the most underrated, that title is up for grabs — and Matias Maccelli just might get it.
Most people don’t know it yet, but Maccelli is a top-five playmaker in the NHL. He also has the stickhandling and puck-protection skills of a superstar.
If he played for a more known team, he would make twice as much money as he does because his reputation would be that of a perennial all-star.
Maccelli will likely take a top-six role for Team Finland at the 4 Nations Face-Off, where he could find himself setting up Patrik Laine on the powerplay. Could that be the deadliest combination since Alex Ovechkin and Nick Backstrom?
Defense will be Team Finland’s weakest point, but they will be glad to have Juuso Valimaki in their ranks.
Valimaki is a big, strong defenseman and although he doesn’t score a lot of points, he plays a shutdown role and he tends to be on the ice for a lot more goals for his team than against it.
Valimaki also tends to play more in the offensive and neutral zones than he does in the defensive zone. Why does that matter? Well, it’s nearly impossible to get scored on if the play is not in your zone.
Finland would likely rely on Valimaki in a depth role, where he would be responsible for shutting down the opposition’s bottom lines. Miro Heiskanen can take care of the McDavids and MacKinnons of the world.
In order to crack the Team USA roster, Logan Cooley will have to take a big step forward to start the season. His 20 goals and 44 points were great for a rookie last year, but that’s not enough to make one of the best international teams in the world.
The good news for Cooley is that he is in a great position to take that next step.
Utah HC general manager Bill Armstrong recently told the “All Utah Hockey” podcast that Cooley followed up his strong start to the season with a strong end to the season. We’ll see where he’s at during training camp next week, but if the summer was productive for Cooley, he will be in a great spot to fight for the chance to represent the United States.