It’s usually pretty easy to pick Juuse Saros out of an on-ice hockey crowd, with his bright Predators’ gold leg pads, catching glove and blocker.
But at a recent Predators practice, some had to do a double take when they looked at one of the creases and saw a goaltender that matched Saros’ stature, but all of the pads and catching gloves were mostly white. That goalie was, in fact, Saros.
He was just breaking in his new gear for the upcoming 4 Nations Face-Off, which will see the NHL’s best from the USA, Canada, Sweden and Finland take part in a mini tournament as a preview of next year’s Olympics.
With such a quick turnaround from when the NHL takes a break from its regular season and the start of the tournament, those players who are participating need an opportunity to try out and break in the gear that they will be wearing when they take to the ice to represent their home nations.
Saros, of Finland, is one of three Predators slated to take part in the 4 Nations Face-Off. Predators’ Swedish forwards Filip Forsberg and Gustav Nyquist will be joining Saros for the games that will be played in Montreal and Boston Feb. 12-20.
The best of rivals
Finland and Sweden are Nordic neighbors, share a border and haven’t always had the best of relationships, but Predators players from those nations have always seemed to get along well. That’s not to say there aren’t opportunities for some good-natured trash talk between them, and before the upcoming tournament is no exception.
Forsberg was the first to try out his 4 Nations gear at a practice when, instead of the traditional blue Predators pants with the gold stripe down the side, he wore his Team Sweden pants. Those pants are a darker shade of blue than Nashville’s and have Sweden’s three gold crowns, or Tre kronor in Swedish, on one leg.
“I think he started to get a little sensitive today when he saw the pants,” Forsberg said of Saros after that practice. “I’m just waiting for his Finnish pads to come in, too, so we can start trashing them a little bit. I think we’ll try to keep it civil for now.”
Saros tends to be on the quieter side, but when asked about the trash talk picking up in the locker room, he came out of his shell a little.
“We’re obviously not big fans of each other,” Saros said of the two countries after being told of Forsberg’s sensitivity accusation.
First time, long time
Finland and Sweden meet in their round-robin game Feb. 15 in Montreal. Saros has struggled at times this season with the Predators but is likely to be Finland’s top netminder at least to start the tournament. If it is indeed Saros between the pipes for Finland against Sweden, the game within the game may be Forsberg and Nyquist trying to get under the skin of a goaltender they usually play with and not against.
Both Saros and Forsberg admitted that while their main focus is currently trying to get the Predators into playoff contention, they are allowing themselves to think about and get excited about the upcoming tournament.
With a lack of participation by NHL players in international tournaments the last several years, many current NHLers have not had the opportunity to play for their home nations in a best-on-best format. The 4 Nations Face-Off will give many of the players from these four countries a chance to do so for the first time in their careers.
NHL players are set to participate in the 2026 Olympics next year as well, giving those from beyond these four countries an opportunity in a best-on-best format with the hope of chasing their dream Olympic gold medal.
And while they all chase that dream, the trash talking around NHL locker rooms will be intense in the run up to wearing their national teams’ uniforms in the Olympics.