Breaking down every team in the 4 Nations Face-Off

MONTREAL — The hockey world has waited eight years for the renewal of best-on-best hockey.Now it is finally here.The 4 Nations Face-Off between Team USA, Canada, Sweden and Finland begins on Wednesday night, when Canada faces Sweden at the Bell Centre.The tournament, which the NHL is running in place of an All-Star Game this season, acts as a precursor to the 2026 Milan Olympics, which will feature NHLers for the first time since the 2014 Sochi Games.

The league couldn’t pull together a full World Cup on short notice — Russia is still barred from participating due to the war in Ukraine and countries such as Czechia, Switzerland and Germany would have had to go outside NHL ranks to fill out their rosters — but this version of best-on-best is still a welcome development.The tournament — which features round-robin play to determine the top two teams — begins Wednesday in Montreal with Canada vs.Sweden and ends with the title game in Boston on Feb.

20.The Post breaks down all four teams in the competition.Best players: Auston Matthews, Kyle Connor and Matthew Tkachuk will help lead a forward group that looks as deep as any in the tournament.But if the Americans win, it will likely be on their strength in goal, with Connor Hellebuyck the current Vezina Trophy favorite.Best metro area players: There are plenty of Rangers on this team, and Brock Nelson, the lone Islander in the tournament, is here too.

But the Devils’ Jack Hughes is the lone top six forward from the metro area on this team, based on the lines that coach Mike Sullivan has run out so far, and he easily has the most skill.Adam Fox looks slated to be on a top defense pair with Carolina’s Jaccob Slavin as well.Odds to win championship: +150How they can win: Easy.

The Americans have the best collection of talent in this tournament and by far the best goaltending.Though the betting lines have tipped slightly toward Canada, Team USA is generally acknowledged as the favorite by those in the spo...