To Panthers, 4 Nations Face-Off and NHL return to best-on-best hockey is ‘a long time coming’
The Florida Panthers as a team don’t play their next game for about two weeks.
But more than one-third of the roster — along with multiple members of the coaching staff and front office — will be active during that break in the schedule.
The Panthers have a league-high eight players participating in the 4 Nations Face-Off tournament, which will pit the NHL’s top players from the United States, Canada, Finland and Sweden against each other, and are the only franchise with at least one player on each of the four teams.
Sam Reinhart and Sam Bennett are playing for Canada, Gustav Forsling for Sweden, Matthew Tkachuk for the United States, and four — Aleksander Barkov, Anton Lundell, Eetu Luostarinen and Niko Mikkola — for Finland. Barkov is Finalnd’s captain. Tkachuk is an alternate captain for the United States.
“I’m not cheering for anybody, because somebody’s winning. I know that for a fact,” Panthers coach Paul Maurice said. “There’s a group of guys coming back in a really good mood.”
Florida’s contingent taking part in the tournament — which begins Wednesday and has each team playing three games in a round-robin format, with the top two teams competing for the championship on Feb. 20 — certainly isn’t taking the opportunity for granted.
NHL players haven’t been able to play in international tournaments since 2016. So for nearly a decade, the world’s best hockey players haven’t had a chance to represent their country. The 4 Nations tournament serves as a re-introduction of sorts for the NHL into international play ahead of the 2026 Winter Olympics in Milan.
“I haven’t had the opportunity in nine years to do this,” said Tkachuk, who last represented the United States in the 2016 World Junior Championship. “I’ve been really looking forward to this as my career has gone on. And now, finally, to be in Year 9 and have my first opportunity, I just can’t wait for it. I think it’s going to be really, really good hockey and something that everybody should look forward to.”
Added Reinhart: “Those are the biggest memories that I have of watching as a young kid — international hockey, Olympic events, best-on-best. ... It’s been a long time coming. We’ve worked to get it back in the game. Unfortunately, there were a lot of guys that missed the opportunity with how long it’s been, but that makes it easy to not take it for granted, to have us this opportunity is something that we don’t take likely.”
And while eyes will gravitate toward the stars — Barkov and Tkachuk from the Panthers and the likes of Connor McDavid and Auston Matthews among a slew of others elsewhere — Maurice is looking to see how players who might not have as much of a spotlight on them such as Mikkola, Luostarinen and Bennett handle the big stage.
“I think the payoff is greater than the potential they would get from having rest,’’ Maurice said. “This is a chance to play for their country and it is a huge deal. It means an awful lot. You are going to have guys walk into the room with the very best players from their country, and now they’ll view themselves differently. When they come back, they’ll be very confident. I think we’re going to get a huge bump from this.”
Bennett said he was “a little in shock” when he got the initial call that he had made Team Canada. His last time playing for his home country came in 2013 when he was part of Canada’s Under-18 team. He never played for them at the senior national team level.
“It’s always a dream to play for your country and represent your country at a best--on-best tournament,” Bennett said. “It’s a huge honor.”
The Panthers’ representation in the 4 Nations Face-Off extends beyond its eight players, though. Another six members of the franchise are also involved in the tournament.
Chief among them is Panthers president of hockey operations and general manager Bill Zito, who will serve as an assistant GM for USA Hockey both at 4 Nations and for the 2026 Olympics.
“It’s a little bit of a precursor to the Olympics,” Zito said on the Panthers’ broadcast on Scripps Sports during the Panthers’ 5-1 win over the Ottawa Senators on Saturday, the team’s final game before the NHL’s break for the tournament. “We have the opportunity now with 4 Nations — Finland, Sweden, Canada and the U.S. — to put their best NHL players against each other, everybody head to head in a winner-take-all. ... It’s like having a playoff series in the middle of the season.”
Zito isn’t the only Panthers member serving as an assistant GM in the tournament. Patric Hornqvist, who is a scouting and development consultant for the Panthers, will be an assistant GM for Sweden.
Additionally, Panthers equipment manager Teddy Richards is holding the same role for Team USA. Assistant coaches Tuomo Ruutu and Myles Fee will respectively be part of Teams Finland and Sweden, with Ruutu being an assistant coach for Finland and Fee serving as Sweden’s video coach. Finally, Panthers assistant GM Gregory Campbell is a scout for Team Canada.
“We’ve got so many people involved with it. Personally, I’m very interested,” Maurice said. “If we didn’t have as many people, I still think it’s really, really good for the game. It’s actually best possibly for the fans because they can cheer for a different team and they get to cheer for their country in-season, which I think is great. The guys that get to go to this tournament, they won’t forget it.”
4 Nations Face-Off Schedule
▪ Wednesday, 8 p.m.: Canada vs. Sweden (TNT)
▪ Thursday, 8 p.m.: USA vs. Finland (ESPN)
▪ Friday, 1 p.m.: Finland vs. Sweden (ABC)
▪ Friday, 8 p.m.: USA vs. Canada (ABC)
▪ Sunday, 1 p.m.: Canada vs. Finland (TNT)
▪ Sunday, 8 p.m.: Sweden vs. USA (TNT)
▪ Feb. 20, 8 p.m.: Championship game (ESPN)
This story was originally published February 11, 2025 at 10:19 AM.
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