4 Nations participants have 2026 Milano Cortina Olympics on mind

MONTREAL -- Mark Stone was playing for the Binghamton Senators 11 years ago when the NHL season paused for the 2014 Sochi Olympics.

"So, no, I don't think I was on the radar for that tournament," the Canadian forward said while laughing.

He is on Canada's radar for the 2026 Milano Cortina Olympics, which begin one year from Tuesday, on Feb. 11, 2026, and that alone will influence Stone and everyone else competing for their respective countries at the 4 Nations Face-Off.

"You'd be lying to yourself if you didn't want to play really well at this tournament to have your name stay on the radar for the Olympics," Stone said. "I've been fortunate enough to play with some Olympians in my day whether it was (Erik) Karlsson representing Sweden and (Alex) Pietrangelo representing Canada, and they talk about how it's a special event. They speak so highly of it. I want to do everything I can to make that team in 2026."

The 4 Nations Face-Off is here and now, the first best-on-best competition since the World Cup of Hockey 2016, the tournament Canada, Sweden, Finland and the United States want to win for national pride, for international supremacy, for bragging rights.

It begins Wednesday, when Canada plays Sweden at Bell Centre (8 p.m. ET; MAX, truTV, TNT, SN, TVAS). It continues until the championship game at TD Garden in Boston on Feb. 20.

Not a single player, coach or executive here is looking past what is right in front of them, but everyone knows what is coming up next year, when the NHL returns to the Olympics for the first time since 2014.

Everyone here knows that what happens in the next nine days could influence who gets to play in Italy one year from now.

"This tournament is great; I get the opportunity to go out there and prove myself potentially for that tournament," Canada forward Brandon Hagel said. "I mean, listen, there's 23 of us that get the opportunity to prove yourself for that. That might mean nothing, but it could mean something."

That "something" means everything to the players here who have never experienced a best-on-best tournament, and even to those who have.

"I was part of the World Cup in Toronto (in 2016) and that was a fun tournament, it was great, but there was nothing like what's next," Sweden defenseman Mattias Ekholm said. "Here, it's pretty clear. Next year is Olympics and it's go time. Not saying this tournament isn't. It's for sure going to be. But next year, you might be playing for a gold medal. It raises the intensity and urgency of wanting to win and wanting to obviously show your national team coaches and everyone that you belong."

Who plays well with whom will matter for wins and losses, and for the future.

Handling pressure situations will be important for now and later.

Notes will be taken. Players will be judged.

"A hundred percent," U.S. general manager Bill Guerin said. "There's so many great players but we have to find the right fit. There's got to be a chemistry. There has to be good cohesiveness with the group. That's a big part of it, how this group gels together, how we're going to play on the ice, but the camaraderie and chemistry is also important. This is a good place to get a lot of good information."

It's a great place for players who may not be considered "locks" for the Olympics to boost their chances of making it there next year.

"I've always been taught that if you are given a chance, you don't always get a second chance, so I think that is where my mind is at," U.S. forward Matt Boldy said.

Added Canada forward Sam Bennett, "It's important. This is the only time that you're going to get a best-on-best tournament before the Olympics so yeah, every game is obviously people are going to evaluate you and judge you. It's important to perform as best you can."

For 76 of the 92 players competing, the 4 Nations Face-Off represents the first time they'll play for their country in a best-on-best tournament.

Six Americans (Connor Hellebuyck, Jack Eichel, Dylan Larkin, Auston Matthews, J.T. Miller and Vincent Trocheck), and three Canadians (Connor McDavid, Nathan MacKinnon and Colton Parayko) played for Team North America at the World Cup of Hockey 2016.

Only seven players here have played in the Olympics: Drew Doughty and Sidney Crosby for Canada; Olli Maatta, Aleksander Barkov and Mikael Granlund for Finland; Gustav Nyquist and Erik Karlsson for Sweden.

"That's what we're all playing for essentially," Karlsson said. "We haven't played best on best in (a long time) now. It's going to be new territory for a lot of these guys who haven't been in this setting. This tournament is good for that."

It's also a good excuse for why they're thinking about the future even while attempting to stay in the moment.

"It's human nature," U.S. defenseman Zach Werenski said. "You're definitely thinking about it for sure. This season, I didn't want to focus on the 4 Nations too much; I wanted to focus on Columbus, but it's in the back of your mind. Now that you're here and around USA, you start thinking ahead to the Olympics. Definitely guys have that in the back of their minds if you play well here maybe it gives you an upper hand on the Olympic team."

That doesn't make the 4 Nations Face-Off a glorified Olympic tryout, not when the players here are playing for a trophy, for national pride, for international bragging rights.

But what happens here sets the stage for what happens next. The Olympics are next.

"That's what everyone wants," U.S. defenseman Noah Hanifin said. "That's the goal. You want to play in the Olympics, represent your country at the highest level. It's controlling what you can. Whatever role you have, you have to do that to the best of your ability and do whatever you are asked. Play well, hopefully we can win this thing and hopefully that helps all of our cases to go to the Olympics."