The NHL Faces 4 Nations Backlash

With the immense success of the 4 Nations Face-Off, it will be interesting to see how the NHL handles this type of series in the future. During his end-of-season interview, Boston Bruins defenseman Charlie McAvoy spoke out about his injuries and his time participating in the event. McAvoy has not played a competitive hockey game since February 15, when the U.S. beat Canada 3-1 in the 4 Nations Face-Off round robin.[i]

McAvoy suffered a shoulder injury complicated by an infection, which caused him to miss the remainder of the 2024-25 NHL season.[ii] During the interview, McAvoy opened up about what he has been going through and how much of a toll missing the rest of the season and recovering from the injury has been. “Mentally, emotionally, physically, I’ve gone through so much because of that damn experience. It cost me my season. It cost me my sanity in a lot of ways,” McAvoy said during the end of season interview.[iii]

McAvoy also explained, “None of this has been easy and I get emotional when I talk about it.”[iv] He further stated, “it cost me a lot more than I was willing to give and that’s unfortunate.”[v] McAvoy was the most recent player to openly speak about his experience dealing with injury stemming from the 4 Nations Face-Off. Another notable player who sustained an injury and did not return to his club following the tournament was Florida Panthers forward Matthew Tkachuk.[vi] Unlike McAvoy, Tkachuk is likely set to make his return in the first round of the playoffs.

The NHL and the NHLPA began talks on a new collective bargaining agreement, and it will be interesting to see how the NHL handles this style of tournament play going forward.[vii] As it stands, the NHL plans to have its players participating in the 2026 Milano Cortina Olympics, and both the NHL and the NHLPA intend to bring back the World Cup of Hockey in February 2028.[viii] Their goal is to have best-on-best international tournaments every two years.[ix]

Moving forward, the league will most likely continue to embrace the best-on-best format, a topic that will most likely be discussed in the upcoming CBA talks. NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman said, “We’re reevaluating how we want to do things, because I think we’ve raised the bar about as high as you can for an all-star game in any sport.”[x] The success of the 4 Nations Face-Off has left the league eager to outdo itself with the next international showcase.[xi]

The current CBA expires in September 2026, and although negotiations are still in the early stages, it seems likely that the NHL will need to include a best-on-best component in the new agreement.[xii] This best-on-best narrative is too significant to ignore. At the same time, the NHLPA will need to advocate stronger protection for player safety, to help prevent situations like McAvoy’s, where an injury sustained during a mid-season tournament led to him missing the remainder of the NHL season.

[i] https://www.sportsnet.ca/nhl/article/bruins-mcavoy-opens-up-on-emotional-toll-of-4-nations-face-off-injury/

[ii] Id.

[iii] Id.

[iv] Id.

[v] Id.

[vi] https://www.si.com/onsi/breakaway/news-feed-page/usa-suffers-multiple-injuries-4-nations-final

[vii] https://www.nhl.com/news/nhl-set-to-begin-negotiating-collective-bargaining-agreement-with-players-association

[viii] Id.

[ix] Id.

[x] https://www.espn.com/nhl/story/_/id/44316822/bettman-nhl-evaluating-all-star-game-4-nations-success

[xi] Id.

[xii] Id.