For a tournament that had its fair share of skeptics, the 4 Nations Face-Off has been a smashing success. The viewership has been sky-high, including many who are new to hockey. And for the first time in a long time, the NHL was compared favorably to the NBA by many sports media members on the backdrop of an underwhelming NBA All-Star Weekend.
Part of the reason is that the NHL and the International Olympic Committee have not been able to come to an agreement to let the league's players participate in the Olympics since 2014, robbing fans of more than a decade of best-on-best hockey. Given the performances of Canada's three-headed monster, the emotional games between European rivals and the donnybrook that broke out in Canada-United States game, everyone can agree that best on best really is best for the sport. That trend will continue with the Olympics in 2026 and a return of the World Cup of Hockey in 2028.
The stars showed out in this tournament, and the rematch of Saturday's fight-filled, Mach speed U.S.-Canada game awaits. Social media was wild on Saturday night, and one can only imagine what the temperature will be on Thursday (8 p.m. ET, ESPN/ESPN+/Disney+), when it isn't a round-robin game, or what the temperature might be at the Olympics when the game really matters.
Here's a look at the players who stood out the most — for good or bad reasons — from all four teams in the round-robin, using a combination of game score and scouting. We lead off with that aforementioned three-headed monster for Canada:
A major reason for the tournament's success is the sport's best players have put on a show. Canada's Connor McDavid, Sidney Crosby and Nathan MacKinnon have been the tourney's best players alongside Zach Werenski
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