Pair of Bruins stars selected to national teams for upcoming four nation face-off

In the aftermath of the Bruins trading Linus Ullmark to the Ottawa Senators and during the chaos that is the NHL Draft, the NHL wiggled in some news regarding the four nations faceoff, set to take place in February 2025, with TD Garden being one of the host sites.

The NHL on Saturday unveiled the first six players selected to each of the four nations taking part, those being the U.S., Canada, Sweden, and Finland. The rest of the rosters have yet to be revealed.

No Bruins cracked the first six for Sweden or Finland, but the North American Teams are a different story. Captain Brad Marchand was one of the first six for Team Canada alongside Connor McDavid, Nathan MacKinnon, Sidney Crosby, Cale Makar, and Brayden Point. Just look at those names. Even for as good as Marchand is, that's pretty impressive company to have.

On the U.S. side, the first six players are Auston Matthews, Matthew Tkachuk, Jack Eichel, Quinn Hughes, Adam Fox, and the Bruins' Charlie McAvoy. That's a notably different six than the Canadians, with the U.S. leadership of Mike Sullivan and Bill Guerin opting to go with three defensemen right off the bat as opposed to Makar being the only one named to Team Canada so far.

Charlie McAvoy and Brad Marchand are the first two Bruins named to a four nation faceoff roster

Two other Bruins that could also find themselves on rosters for the four nation faceoff are Jeremy Swayman and Hampus Lindholm. While Connor Hellebuyck, Thatcher Demko, Jake Oettinger and more are among elite U.S. goalies vying for a spot, Swayman's otherworldly postseason certainly made a great case for him to join McAvoy in donning the red, white, and blue.

As for the Swedes, Lindholm is still a stout defenseman with incredible numbers, despite a bit of a step back this past season. He is certainly one of the six best defensemen from Sweden playing in the NHL right now, and should find his way onto their roster.

While obviously Sweden and Finland will have their best guys on the ice and can't be overlooked, it's a race between the U.S. and Canada for the win in the four-nation faceoff. If Canada's first six is any indication of the rest of their roster, McAvoy and the U.S. squad will have their work cut out for them against the likes of McDavid, MacKinnon, Marchand, Crosby, and even more. No matter who wins, this figures to be an incredibly exciting event ahead of the 2026 Winter Olympics.