True best-on-best men’s hockey is only about six months away from making its return at the 4 Nations Face-Off. The countries participating have already named their first six roster players for the event, with Canada already confirming they’ll be taking Connor McDavid, Nathan MacKinnon, Sidney Crosby, Cale Makar, Brayden Point and Brad Marchand.
But there are still many roster decisions still to be made, especially for the league’s most common nationality. To that end, Luke Fox of Sportsnet listed some dark-horse youngsters that could challenge for spots. Most of them would be repping the senior team for the first time, although a few have World Championship experience.
Look for Quinton Byfield, Alexis Lafrenière and Mason McTavish to get outside consideration for bottom-six roles, Fox opines, while Thomas Harley and Owen Power will push to find spots on the blue line. But the biggest question mark at any international event for the Canadians recently has been goaltending, and that won’t change for the February tournament.
As such, look for Blues backup Joel Hofer to push for a spot on the final roster, Fox says. The 24-year-old finished 11th in Calder Trophy voting last season after posting a 15-12-1 record, .913 SV% and 2.65 GAA in 27 starts and three relief appearances behind Jordan Binnington in St. Louis.
Other tidbits from around the league:
- If the Sharks aren’t content with the veteran pickups they’ve made so far this offseason, they should approach free-agent winger Max Pacioretty about attending training camp on a PTO, opines Max Miller of The Hockey News. San Jose was busy insulating rookies Macklin Celebrini and Will Smith this summer, adding Tyler Toffoli and Alexander Wennberg in free agency and claiming Barclay Goodrow off waivers from the Rangers. But the club could still have a bit of a competition brewing for roster spots up front, especially if captain Logan Couture isn’t healthy enough to return to play after osteitis pubis cost him nearly all of 2023-24. Pacioretty has played just 91 games combined over the past three seasons due to multiple Achilles tendon tears, and the 35-year-old had just four goals in 47 games with the Capitals last year.
- Former Golden Knights prospect Maxim Marushev is on the move in his native Russia, dropping down from the KHL to the VHL with Metallurg Novokuznetsk for 2024-25 (per a team announcement). Marushev, now 25, was a seventh-round pick of the Golden Knights in 2020. He played parts of three seasons for their AHL affiliate, the Henderson Silver Knights, recording 13 goals and 24 assists for 37 points in 125 games. Upon the expiry of his entry-level contract in 2023, he wasn’t issued a qualifying offer and returned home. However, he managed just one point in 28 KHL games last year, split between Chelyabinsk and Novosibirsk.