Morgan Rielly, Canada
There is no doubting Rielly's importance to the Leafs but Rielly is surely not one of Canada's premier defenders in the NHL. Although, there are a few examples where I think he could find himself on the roster, like for lefthand or righthand balancing, stylistic reasons, or of course due to injury.
Despite his overall game lacking, his offensive abilities are near the top of the league, which could be an advantage for him to help with balancing. However, there are plenty of high end offensive defencemen that Canada has to choose from.
Matthew Knies, USA
Matthew Knies seems like an unlikely candidate for the 4 Nations tournament but with Minnesota Wild and Team USA GM in attendance for Wednesday night's game that saw the forward take an ugly hit and leave the game, it doesn't seem impossible.
This year looks to be a breakout season for the 22-year-old powerforward, scoring eight goals and 12 points through 20 games so far this year. He also has experience with Team USA internationally, representing the US at both the World Juniors and Olympics in 2022. His playstyle and performance so far do give him a shot but he very well may not make the team this time around. Luckily, youth is on his side and if he takes the strides he is poised to take, it seems possible that he will have plenty of opportunities to represent the US in the future, most notably at the 2026 Winter Olympics.
Anthony Stolarz, USA
Anthony Stolarz is definitely a darkhorse candidate for USA. He has only played 120 NHL games, which many would call inexperienced, myself included. Yet, he has been one of the league's top backup goaltenders for the last few seasons, posting a .917%, .899%, and .925% save percentage (SV%) the three seasons before this year.
Now with injuries plaguing Joseph Woll, Stolarz took over the starters net and has put up an even more impressive .927% SV% through 12 games so far. This is better than any American netminder this year and in fact better than any other netminder (over 10 games played). Logic would make it hard to give Stolarz, a typical backup, a job over other more established American goalies such as; Jake Oettinger, Connor Hellebuyck, Jeremy Swayman, and Thatcher Demko but with his stellar performance so far this year and with his track record, it seems hard to think he might not at least be given consideration.
Joseph Woll, USA
A lot of the same arguments for and against fellow Maple Leafs netminder Anthony Stolarz, apply to Joseph Woll as well. He is inexperienced but has shown a lot of promise in his time in the NHL. He has played a whopping 42 regular season games, averaging a .913 SV% over that time. This year, he has a .922 SV% through six games.
The stat that is more impressive is his seven postseason games that have him sitting at a stellar .933 SV%. His incredible play in the playoffs had many playing the "What if?" game this past spring when he was injured and unable to dress ahead of the team's elimination game seven against their arch rivals, the Boston Bruins. Many feel that the team could have came out on top had "Brick Woll" been between the pipes instead of now ex-Leaf Ilya Samsonov. Although we will never know, his clutch play could make Team USA execs at least consider Woll, even if they ultimately decide to take many of the above mentioned names.
The Toronto Maple Leafs have many names to consider for the 4 Nations Face-Off, even if some are dark horses, it seems very possible that the team will have four or more players representing their countries at the tournament.