Is there an NHL All-Star Game this season? Everything to know about 4 Nations Face-Off
By Austen Bundy
Every year the NHL's best — as voted on by the fans — congregate in a single city to play in the All-Star Game (or tournament as it's become). However, this year that tradition will be paused.
The league will not hold an All-Star Game this season, instead opting to release players to participate in an international best-on-best style tournament called the 4 Nations Face-Off.
What is the 4 Nations Face-Off?
For the first time, NHL players will be permitted to participate in a mid-season international tournament that is not the Olympics. The contest is just as the name implies: Four countries facing off for the privilege to be named best in the world.
Canada, Finland, Sweden and the USA are the countries participating and will be entered into a single group where a round-robin will be held (each team will play each other once), per the NHL.
The Bell Center in Montreal and TD Garden in Boston will be the two host venues for the tournament occurring Feb. 12-20. Montreal will host the first four games before the teams shift to Boston for the final two round-robin matches and then the championship game.
Teams will earn three points for a regulation win, two for an overtime/shoot-out win, one for an overtime/shoot-out loss and none for a regulation loss. The top two point-earners will qualify to play for the world title.
Which NHL players are on each team?
Only six of the total 23 players on each country's roster have been announced so far. You can find them listed below:
Team Canada | Team Finland | Team Sweden | Team USA |
|---|---|---|---|
Brayden Point, C, Tampa Bay Lightning | Sebastian Aho, C, Carolina Hurricanes | Filip Forsberg, LW, Nashville Predators | Charlie McAvoy, D, Boston Bruins |
Sidney Crosby, C, Pittsburgh Penguins | Aleksander Barkov, C, Florida Panthers | Gustav Forsling, D, Florida Panthers | Jack Eichel, C, Vegas Golden Knights |
Nathan MacKinnon, C, Colorado Avalanche | Miro Heiskanen, D, Dallas Stars | Victor Hedman, D, Tampa Bay Lightning | Adam Fox, D, New York Rangers |
Cale Makar, D, Colorado Avalanche | Esa Lindell, D, Dallas Stars | Erik Karlsson, D, Pittsburgh Penguins | Quinn Hughes, D, Vancouver Canucks |
Connor McDavid, C, Edmonton Oilers | Mikko Rantanen, RW, Colorado Avalanche | William Nylander, RW, Toronto Maple Leafs | Auston Matthews, C, Toronto Maple Leafs |
Brad Marchand, LW, Boston Bruins | Juuse Saros, G, Nashville Predators | Mika Zibanejad, C, New York Rangers | Matthew Tkachuk, LW, Florida Panthers |
Only players with a valid contract for the 2024-25 season are eligible to participate in the tournament and no non-NHL players will be allowed to be named to rosters. The remainder of each country's roster will be announced between Nov. 29 and Dec. 2.
Is there a 2026 NHL All-Star Game?
Yes, there will be an All-Star Game during the 2025-26 season. The New York Islanders' new barn, UBS Arena in Elmont (opened in 2021), will serve as the host venue for the league's best to return to the annual tradition.
It will likely return to the four-team, three-on-three tournament-style format that was adopted in 2016 with each division facing off for a cash prize in the championship game.
Not much else information has been released by the league as of this publishing but there will be more to come once the 4 Nations Face-Off has concluded in February.
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