If 4 Nations Face-Off Was Expanded, 3 More Blackhawks Would Be

The 4 Nations Face-Off has been some fun hockey to watch after just two games, but many wished there were more nations involved. Given that every player in the tournament is playing in the NHL and the tournament was put on by the NHL, it did limit options for most rosters.

That being said, if more nations were represented, such as teams like Czechia, Germany, and Switzerland, the Chicago Blackhawks would easily have three more players on their roster representing their countries. Teuvo Teravainen is the lone representative and is playing for Finland in this format.

The would-be representative from the Blackhawks for Czechia would be Petr Mrazek, for Germany would be Lukas Reichel, and for Switzerland would be Philipp Kurashev. For Reichel and Kurashev, they would have the advantage of being some of the few players from their countries and have less competition to make the rosters. This will no doubt help both for the 2026 Olympics though.

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There are eight total Czech goalies who have played a game in the NHL this season, so some good competition and more than what would be expected. Mrazek would be a top-3 selection for Czechia given his experience, career numbers, and current season.

There is a huge gap in career games played, wins, and shutouts between Mrazek and any of the other seven goalies that include David Rittich, Vitek Vanecek, Karel Vejmelka, Lukas Dostal, Dan Vladar, Jakub Dobes, and Jakob Skarek.

Mrazek is fourth in games played, fourth in SV%, and fourth in wins this season among these goalies, but he was injured and is on a very bad Blackhawks team which hurts his numbers no matter what. Dobes,one of the top performers, has also played just nine games, so he wouldn’t be selected over Mrazek, especially given the rookie has declined since his first five starts. Mrazek, Vejmelka, and Dostal would be the trio for Czechia.

Moving on to Reichel,…