{coyotes} Finland roster for 4 Nations Face-Off includes Laine

Wednesday, 4 December 2024

{coyotes} Finland roster for 4 Nations Face-Off includes Laine

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Patrik Laine made his Montreal Canadiens debut Tuesday. This February, the forward will be skating in Montreal representing his home country at the 4 Nations Face-Off.

Laine was one of 17 players named to the roster for Team Finland on Wednesday, joining the first six who were selected in June. The best-on-best tournament featuring teams consisting of NHL players from Finland, Sweden, Canada and the United States will be held from Feb. 12-20, with games at Bell Centre in Montreal on Feb. 12-15 and at TD Garden in Boston from Feb. 17-20.

Laine, who is in his first season with Montreal and scored in his debut with them Tuesday after sustaining a lower-body injury in the preseason, is not the only Canadiens player on Team Finland; forward Joel Armia was also named to the roster.

Since entering the League in 2016-17 after being the No. 2 pick by the Winnipeg Jets at the 2016 NHL Draft, Laine is fourth among active Finnish players with 205 goals. The other three, Mikko Rantanen of the Colorado Avalanche (277), Aleksander Barkov of the Florida Panthers (272) and Sebastian Aho of the Carolina Hurricanes (261) were all named to Team Finland's roster in June.

The defending Stanley Cup champion Panthers have the most players on Team Finland, with four. Forwards Anton Lundell and Eetu Luostarinen, and defenseman Niko Mikkola, will join Barkov.

The Dallas Stars will also be well-represented with three players named; forward Roope Hintz joins defensemen Miro Heiskanen and Esa Lindell, who were selected in June.

The only other NHL teams with at least two players on Team Finland are the Colorado Avalanche, with forward Artturi Lehkonen joining Rantanen, and the Utah Hockey Club, which had defensemen Olli Maatta and Juuso Valimaki selected Wednesday.

Aho was named to the team in June, but his Hurricanes teammate, forward Jesperi Kotkaniemi, who helped Finland win gold at the 2018 World Junior Championship, was left off.

Sweden also announced its roster Wednesday afternoon. The United States and Canada will announce theirs at 6:30 p.m. ET (ESPN).

Finland opens the tournament against the U.S. on Feb. 13 at Bell Centre (8 p.m. ET, ESPN, SN, TVAS).

Here is Team Finland's roster (listed alphabetically by position). Players marked with an asterisk were selected in June.

Forwards (13)

Sebastian Aho, Carolina Hurricanes*
Joel Armia, Montreal Canadiens
Aleksander Barkov, Florida Panthers*
Mikael Granlund, San Jose Sharks
Erik Haula, New Jersey Devils
Roope Hintz, Dallas Stars
Kaapo Kakko, New York Rangers
Patrik Laine, Montreal Canadiens
Artturi Lehkonen, Colorado Avalanche
Anton Lundell, Florida Panthers
Eetu Luostarinen, Florida Panthers
Mikko Rantanen, Colorado Avalanche*
Teuvo Teravainen, Chicago Blackhawks

Defensemen (7)

Jani Hakanpaa, Toronto Maple Leafs
Miro Heiskanen, Dallas Stars*
Esa Lindell, Dallas Stars*
Olli Maatta, Utah Hockey Club
Niko Mikkola, Florida Panthers
Rasmus Ristolainen, Philadelphia Flyers
Juuso Valimaki, Utah Hockey Club