M
U
ST
-
S
E
E
by Michael Russo
Russo's Rants
J A N / F E B 2 0 2 5 | M H J ON L I N E . C O M
27
Photos / Getty Images
Four Minnesotans and five Wild players to compete in 4 Nations Face-Off
From Feb. 12-20, the NHL will shut
down so the United States, Canada, Sweden
and Finland take part in a round-robin
tournament in Montreal and Boston.
There will be a Minnesota flavor on two
of the teams.
With Wild GM Bill Guerin—a three-
time Olympian—running the U.S. team,
Minnesotans Brock Nelson (Warroad),
Jake Oettinger (Lakeville), Jake Guentzel
( born in Nebraska but grew up in
Woodbury) and Brock Faber (Maple
Grove) will once again proudly
wear the stars and stripes, along
with Faber's Wild teammate,
Matt Boldy. Plus, Wild players
Filip Gustavsson, Joel Eriksson Ek
and Jonas Brodin all made Team
Sweden's roster.
This could give each of the play-
ers an inside track to make their
Olympic teams when the NHL shuts
down in February 2026 for the
Winter Games in Milan.
t has been eight years since
the NHL has held a best-
on-best tournament, and
while February's 4 Nations
Face- Off can't be consid-
ered exactly that because
Kirill Kaprizov, Nikita
Kucherov and what would
have been a long list of Team Russia stars
won't be participating, the NHL/NHLPA
is offering up a pre- Olympics appetizer
instead of the annual All-Star Game.
I
P R E S E N T E D B Y
TV
Jake Guentzel
Jake Oettinger
Brock Faber
Brock Nelson
WOODBURY
LAKEVILLE
MAPLE GROVE
WARROAD
