On Wednesday, the official rosters for the 4 Nations Face-off tournament to be held next February were announced by the participating teams. In total, four Toronto Maple Leafs managed to successfully make the cut.
Those four Toronto Maple Leafs players included the previously selected Auston Matthews for Team U.S.A. and William Nylander for Team Sweden, along with the recent additions of Mitch Marner for Team Canada and Jani Hakanpaa for Team Finland.
In effect, Maple Leafs fans will now have at least one Leafs member from each participating team that they can cheer on throughout the tournament, which is set to begin on February 12, 2025. All games will be held in Montreal and Boston.
However, as much as we are proud of having four Leafs representatives playing in the special hockey event, there were three Maple Leafs candidates that were probably just as deserving that failed to make the cut.
Let’s take a look at those three Leafs players that ended up being painfully snubbed in the final 4 Nations Face-off roster selection process.
3 Toronto Maple Leafs that were painfully snubbed in the 4 Nations Face-off roster selection
Morgan Rielly
Arguably the Maple Leafs top defenseman for almost the past decade, Morgan Rielly is currently the fifth-highest scoring defenseman among active Canadian players with 487 career points.
Rielly has also suited up for Canada previously on the international stage, helping the country to bring home the gold medal from the 2011 World Juniors Championship and from the 2016 World Hockey Championship. On top of that, he is coming off an All-Star 2023–24 season in which he put up 58 points, ranking him 11th in the NHL among defensemen.
Despite a slow start to the 2024-25 NHL season, Rielly has picked it up once again with 13 points in his last 18 games and appears to be gaining momentum after each passing game. Rielly wasn’t going to outcompete studs such as Alex Pietrangelo and Cale Makar for spots on the Canadian roster. But given his puck-moving ability and solid improvement defensively in recent years, he should have easily won a spot over someone such as Travis Sanheim.
With the ability to also give an offensive boost when needed, Canada will sorely miss the elite potential of Rielly when they find themselves struggling to get any production from their blueline.
John Tavares
Some may think that John Tavares is already past his prime, which is likely why he wasn’t considered for the 4 Nations roster for Canada. But if observers actually took a look a little more closely at his game so far this season, they would find that Tavares hasn’t really lost a step just yet.
The perfect example came from the Leafs game on November 13 when he surprised everyone with a sudden burst of speed to corral a loose puck after a long overtime shift to score the game-winning goal against the Washington Capitals.
On the season, Tavares has recorded 11 goals and 11 assists for 22 points to rank third in scoring on the Maple Leafs. With his ability to take important face-offs, as well as making those around him play better, Team Canada could have easily used someone with such veteran experience and leadership like Tavares over a Travis Konecny or Anthony Cirelli.
On a positive note, at least Tavares will now be more fresh and effective for the Leafs down the stretch with the week of rest as a result of not participating in the tournament.
Anthony Stolarz
Finally, we have one of the standouts in the NHL this season in Anthony Stolarz. After signing a two-year deal with the Maple Leafs this past offseason, Stolarz has cemented himself as one of the top starting goaltenders in the league with his strong start to the season. He currently ranks fourth in the league in goals against average at 2.23, third in the league in save percentage at .924, and has given the Leafs a chance to win practically every time out. (All stats from NHL.com)
There’s no debate that Connor Hellebuyck is the undisputed No. 1 goalie for Team U.S.A. at this moment, but with Stolarz’s exceptional performance to date, he should have garnered way more support to be on the team than Jeremy Swayman, who has struggled mightily this season with the Boston Bruins, putting up a dismal 8-9-2 record with a 3.03 GAA and .893 save percentage.
But with Hellebuyck likely the starter for the U.S. and Jake Oettinger the incumbent backup, Stolarz would have made it as the third string goalie anyways and likely won’t see any action barring any injuries.
Nevertheless, it would have still been a great experience for Stolarz to represent his country once again, something he hadn’t done since 2021 at the World Hockey Championship where an early ankle injury in his very first game ended his tournament play.