The Montreal Canadiens could have some solid representation at this year’s Four Nations Cup. The tournament features the likes of Canada. The U.S., Sweden, and Finland in a best-on-best tournament. This means Juraj Slafkovsky unfortunately won’t be able to represent Slovakia. Still, the Canadiens have four players with a legitimate shot at participating in the tournament. Let’s take a look at which Montreal Canadiens players could play in the Four Nations tournament.
Montreal Canadiens Four Nations players
Nick Suzuki
The Montreal Canadiens captain may be the most likely participant in the tournament on this list. While Team Canada has a stacked forward core, Suzuki could be a nice addition to the team’s bottom-six. His two-way ability can be an asset for a team that will be built on offence.
Cracking Team Canada is no easy feat, however. Suzuki will be competing against many other players for a role on the squad. He may have to switch to the wing if he makes the team as they are projected to have a surplus of centremen. Suzuki has played on the wing before earlier in his career so this transition shouldn’t be an issue for him. This wouldn’t be his first team representing Canada as Nick Suzuki donned the maple leaf back at the 2019 World Juniors.
Cole Caufield
Cole Caufield’s hot start to the season certainly warrants him a role on the American roster. The young forward has 13 goals on the year which has him amongst the top players in the league in that department. His past connection with Jack Hughes may also make him an intriguing addition for Team USA.
There are several factors working against Caufield, however. The first of which being that the Americans are loaded up front and will need to make some tough roster cuts. The second is Caufield’s size. While size has never been an issue for him before, it will impact his chances of landing a bottom-six role. The team likely would rather have size in their bottom six. If Alex DeBrincat cracks the roster, Caufield likely would be left off due to the two having similar skill sets. Caufield is a one-dimensional player but when that one dimension is goal-scoring, he may be too tempting of an add for Team USA.
Sam Montembeault
Canada’s lone weakness appears to be in the crease. While the other three nations all boast elite goaltenders, Canada doesn’t have that luxury. What their goalies do have, however, is a winning pedigree. Both Adin Hill and Jordan Binnington, arguably the two front runners for the roles, have won Stanley Cups. The same can be said for Logan Thompson and Marc-Andre Fleury who could secure positions as third-string netminders. Even Stuart Skinner has had a taste of winning as he was just one game away from also hoisting Lord Stanley.
So where does this leave Sam Montembeault? Monty had a great start to the year and was at the time considered one of the front runners for a starter role. However, he, like the Canadiens themselves, have struggled in the last month. This has worsened Montembeaults chances significantly to make a team that is looking for stability in the crease. Without the winning pedigree of the other goaltenders, it’s hard to see Montemneault cracking Team Canada. However, some strong play down the stretch could go a long way in changing the minds of the Canadian brass.
Joel Armia
Joel Armia is another player looking to secure a bottom-six role for his country. Armia has represented the Finns previously and has always found success on the international level. Team Finland doesn’t have the depth that its rival countries do up front so a player like Armia could secure a role.
Armia’s strong two-way play and experience internationally may give him the edge over youngsters like Jesperi Kotkaniemi or Anton Lundell for example. He would be an ideal bottom-six player for Finland, it just depend son what version of Joel Armia they receive as he is one of the Canadiens most inconsistent forwards. However, he can still be relied on in a special-team role regardless.
These four Canadiens players all have a solid chance at cracking their countries’ respective rosters. None of them are locks however and it’s possible that we don’t see any representation from the Canadiens at this tournament. Players like Lane Hutson, and Kaiden Guhle could be potential targets for their countries moving forward on the backend. If the tournament were ever to expand to include Russia, Ivan Demidov would also certainly be a prime target in the future.
Main Photo: Eric Bolte-Imagn Images
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