Finland, Sweden take different approach in filling out 4 Nations Face-Off rosters

Sweden and Finland rounded out their rosters for the 4 Nations Face-Off on Wednesday by choosing a handful of recent Stanley Cup champions to win the first international tournament with the NHL's best players since 2016.

"It's big value," said Finland general manager Jere Lehtinen, who was also in charge of the team that won gold at the 2022 Olympics without NHL talent. "You have a few players who have won and have been in tough situations through their careers, so when it comes to a tournament like that, it's a quick tournament. You have to be ready right away."

Sweden selected Vegas' William Karlsson, a 2023 Cup winner, and is stacked in goal with Minnesota's Filip Gustavsson, New Jersey's Jacob Markstrom and Ottawa's Linus Ullmark, the 2023 Vezina Trophy winner who was traded by Boston before the season.

The Swedish Hockey Federation opted for veteran experience on defence with Edmonton's Mattias Ekholm and Minnesota's Jonas Brodin, to go with young Buffalo captain Rasmus Dahlin. Up front, the Swedes did not overlook youth, choosing Anaheim's 19-year-old centre Leo Carlsson and Detroit's 22-year-old winger Lucas Raymond among their forwards.

"We went with an experienced group," Sweden general manager Josef Boumedienne said. "We've got a few really good young players that did not make the roster, but we decided with a short tournament like this, basically do-or-die games in every single one of them, we went with a little more experienced group and we have a lot of leadership qualities in our group that we were excited about."

The Finns took some role players in piecing together a team in front of Nashville goaltender Juuse Saros, including Montreal's Joel Armia and San Jose's Mikael Granlund, who's having something of