Florida Panthers have the most players competing in the 4 Nations Face-Off

This season the NHL has decided to forgo their traditional mid-season All-Star festivities in favor of the 4 Nations Face-Off, an international round-robin style tournament, where each team will face each other one time before a championship game set for Thursday, Feb. 20. The players who were selected to rosters for the competition won't see a two-week vacation of R & R like the rest of the league, they'll don a sweater from their home country (Canada, United States, Sweden or Finland) and compete for an international medal.

All the tournament participants that have been chosen are an active player on an NHL team. Other international competitions have their pick of players from many professional leagues in addition to the NHL, but strictly here, only NHL players. That being said, the Florida Panthers have a staggering eight players from their active roster participating, with at least one player representing each of the included countries. All eight Panthers skaters were on the roster during their recent Stanley Cup win, so who will be adding more hardware to their collection?

The 4 Nations starts Wednesday, Feb. 12, in Montreal for four games through Saturday and then shifts to Boston on Monday, Feb. 17 for two more games before concluding with the Championship on Feb. 20.

Which Florida Panthers players are in the 4 Nations Face-Off?

The more Florida Panthers, the merrier, as they have eight players set to compete in the 4 Nations Face-Off.

Finland's roster includes four players from the Sunshine State who will compete on this international stage. Team Finland's captain Aleksander "Sasha" Barkov, who is also captain of the Panthers, is skating alongside teammates Anton Lundell, Eetu Luostarinen and Niko Mikkola representing their home country.

Team Finland starts off against the United States, where Barkov and company will face teammate Matthew Tkachuk.

Tkachuk is the lone representative from the Panthers for the United States. He will be playing for the US with his little brother, Brady, who captains the Ottawa Senators. The Tkachuks play gritty, smart, physical hockey. This will be a good time.

The US will face Canada for their second game, a Saturday night prime-time match-up between arguably the two favorites to win the whole Face-Off. Panthers forwards Sam Bennett and Sam Reinhart will join forces as Canada takes to the ice. Will they be on a line together? The Panthers line combinations usually have them on the ice separately, but as teammates for the last few years could their compatibility shine through?

Canada starts off the competition against Sweden on Wednesday evening in Montreal. Defenseman Gus Forsling is the lone Panther representing Sweden but as a blue liner. I can argue he's in great shape to know how best to defend against the other countries. With each team's offense built with a handful of his key Panthers' teammates, he has a leg up with an eye on the competition.

The Panthers are first in the Atlantic Division heading into this break period winning five of their last six games. They have a 10-point lead on the final Eastern Conference Wild Card spot, occupied by the Detroit Red Wings. They're in great shape to finish the season strong and contend for another Stanley Cup run.

But which skater from the Panthers will become a champion again right now?!