Several Maple Leafs Snubbed After Only 4 Leafs Land on 4 Nations Face-Off Rosters

While there weren't too many snubs when Team Sweden and Finland announced their respective rosters for the upcoming 4 Nations Face-Off, there certainly were a few later on in the day when Canada and the United States unveiled their rosters.

Team Canada went a very different route than most had anticipated with a few surprises on both the offensive and defensive sides of the puck. The additions of Seth Jarvis, Brandon Hagel, and Colton Parayko shocked many, especially with players like Mark Scheifele and John Tavares not making the cut.

On the American side, skilled players like Cole Caufield and Clayton Keller were left off the roster at the behest of veterans like Chris Kreider and Vincent Trocheck.

While the Toronto Maple Leafs will be represented by all 4 countries with Mitch Marner on Team Canada, Auston Matthews on Team USA, William Nylander with Team Sweden, and Jani Hakanpaa on Team Finland, could more have made it?

Morgan Rielly and John Tavares were locks for a lot of insiders over the summer and heading into the season. However, with Canada going for more muck and grind type of forwards while also trying to avoid the same types of defensemen on the back end, the pair were left off the roster.

Chris Tanev would have also been a solid bottom-pair shutdown defender for Team Canada with Cale Makar, Devon Toews, and Alex Pietrangelo already on the roster, but the Canadians went with younger and bigger defenders in Parayko and Travis Sanheim instead.

On the flip side, Team USA was a lot more star studded than ever before, so it was always going to be extremely difficult for Matthew Knies, Joseph Woll and Anthony Stolarz to get their chance to represent their country, despite very strong starts.

The 4 Nations Face-Off will take place between the 12th and 20th of February in 2025 with Montreal and Boston serving as the host cities. It starts off as a round robin tournament before the top 2 teams face off in the final, which is set to take centre stage at the TD Garden in Boston.