The 4 Nations Face-Off was a much bigger success than anyone suspected. When it was announced back at the 2024 NHL All-Star Game, it wasn't met with this type of fanfare. Heck, NHL.com didn't even take it that seriously. They had it third as far as stories, behind NHL players returning to the Olympics and the winner of the Hardest Shot competition. Articles by ESPN and CBS Sports name the NHL's Olympic return as the top headline in their announcement of the 4 Nations.
Now, there are players who were in the Stanley Cup Final last season who are saying this was the biggest game they've ever played in. The Canadians ended up winning the tournament, beating USA Hockey 3-2 in overtime. Of course, Canada is the winner, but they aren't the biggest winner.
That would be the NHL. Not only did this grow the game more than any effort by the NHL since the 2005 Lockout, but it did it at the perfect time. We are in the home stretch of the season; with the NHL Trade Deadline on the horizon and fewer than 30 games left, new fans can jump right into a hot and heavy playoff race. With the NHL as the clear winner here, what did we learn that can be attributed to the game of hockey moving forward?
1. Make USA-Canada a thing in all non-Olympic years
Somehow, some way, the NHL has to get the United States and Canada playing against each other on a yearly basis. This is too good not to do over and over again. There might be fans who only tune in when a nation's pride is on the line. Keeping the 4 Nations Face-Off, or something similar, going every year that the NHL players aren't heading to the Olympics is a must.
Obviously, there is some semblance of value to this being the first time, but we don't see this tournament losing much value as time goes on. Look at how important people still hold the World Juniors Championship. Part of that is seeing the next great players in the NHL, but it's also about seeing countries on an even playing field wearing their national crest.
This is on such a higher level that the NHL can't let this go. This went so well that it's going to raise the salary cap. The NHL made way more money than they expected, and future tournaments will make them so much more on TV contracts after this year's popularity. It was a rousing success, and we haven't even seen the championship ratings yet.