Flyers in the 4 Nations Face-Off; Who Made it and When are the Games?

The NHL season has come to a pause as the 4 Nations Face-Off tournament takes place.

First of its kind, the new “in-season” tournament will replace NHL All-Star weekend as a preview for the 2026 Olympics, which NHL players will get to partake in.

The tournament includes four countries: the USA, Canada, Sweden, and Finland. Play starts Wednesday, February 12th, and concludes Thursday, February 20th. Games will take place at the Bell Centre in Montreal and the TD Garden in Boston.

Four Philadelphia Flyers, along with head coach John Tortorella, were selected to represent their countries in the tournament.

Unfortunately, Rasmus Ristolainen’s upper-body injury will hold him out of the tournament. Though it is probably better for the Flyers that he does not play, it’s a bit disappointing that we will not get to watch the Flyers’ defenseman play on the national stage.

However, it is not to say he did not earn the nod to represent Finland. Ristolainen was shaping up to be a top-pair defenseman for the Fins, but a decimated blueliner group got even worse with Risto’s injury.

While point production is not his strong suit (2G 13A 15P), Ristolainen has been a fantastic defenseman, playing a pivotal role for the Flyers.

When the rosters for 4 Nations were announced, Travis Sanheim’s name was definitely shocking. The Flyers’ top-pair defenseman had played some of the best leading up to the roster selection. While Sanheim’s production has fallen off as of late, he still earned his trip to Montreal/Boston. He entered the break on a three-game point streak; maybe he can carry that momentum into the tournament.

After two days of practice, it does not seem like Sanheim will draw into the lineup ahead of Wednesday’s game against Sweden. The Canadian group of defensemen is undoubtedly talented, and maybe it can benefit Sanheim’s game just by getting to learn from some of his new teammates. Regardless, it would be nice to see him suit up at some point in the tournament.

The Travii are officially Team Canada teammates now. Flyers’ forward Travis Konecny also earned the nod as a member of Team Canada for the 4 Nations Face-Off.

Konecny is in the middle of his best career season with the Flyers. With 25 games remaining, Konecny needs seven more points to tie and eight more points to break his career-high points (68). He already has more assists (39) than he has had in his whole career.

At one point in the season, Konecny was among the top 10 in the NHL for points, but a recent cold spell saw him drop to 17th. Nevertheless, Konecny is playing at his highest level yet and earned his spot with Canada.

Due to an illness, he did not practice on Monday with Canada, so the initial lines are unknown. However, Konecny was seen skating with the second power-play unit during Tuesday’s practice, indicating he will play on Wednesday.

The Flyers netminder found himself representing his country despite the shaky start to the year. Sam Ersson replaced Jacob Markstrom on the Swedish roster, as the Devils’ netminder is out due to injury.

If you had told me in mid-December that Ersson would be playing in a best-on-best tournament, I would be shocked. However, given the timeframe that Sweden was looking for a replacement for Markstrom, Ersson just made sense. Since the holiday break, Ersson has been one of the hottest goalies in the league.

In 14 games post-break, Ersson is 9-4-1, with a .920 save percentage and a 2.26 goals-against-average. Team Sweden saw Ersson’s recent play and gave him a much-earned roster spot. It is a short tournament; leashes on goalies will be short. With that in mind, it would not shock me to see Ersson get time in the 4 Nations Face-Off.

The Flyers’ bench boss will represent America as an assistant coach for Team USA. John Tortorella has a history of coaching Team USA. He was the head coach of the 2016 World Cup of Hockey team and was an assistant on the 2008 IIHF World Championships team.

Pittsburgh’s Mike Sullivan will be the head coach of Team USA, but it just makes sense that the second-winningest American-born head coach is on the staff. Tortorella is second to only Peter Laviolette.

It will be fun to watch Tortorella, a coach notorious for his distaste for flashy play, coach some of the most exciting and flashy players in the league.

Canada vs. Sweden- 2/12, 8 P.M. EST.

USA vs. Finland- 2/13, 8 P.M. EST.

Finland vs. Sweden- 2/15, 1 P.M. EST.

USA vs. Canada- 2/15, 8 P.M. EST

Canada vs. Finland- 2/17, 1 P.M. EST

Sweden vs. USA- 2/17, 8 P.M. EST.

The two teams with the best records will play in the championship game on Thursday, February 20th, at 8 p.m. EST.