We've Got Our First Look At The NHL's 4 Nation Face-Off Jerseys

The NHL's inaugural 4 Nations Face-Off is a few months away, and now we're getting our first taste of what players will wear when they hit the ice in the NHL's first international best-on-best tournament since the 2016 World Cup of Hockey.

The 4 Nations Face-Off will pit teams of NHLers representing the US, Canada, Sweden, and Finland (sorry, reigning IIHF World Champions Czechia; there had to be a cut-off somewhere) and it'll replace the All-Star game this season.

The NHLPA tweeted an image to promote tickets to the event — which will take place Feb. 12-20 in Montreal and Boston — and did it using a photo of four players — Sweden's Victor Hedman, Finland's Sebastian Aho, Canada's Connor McDavid, and Team USA's Auston Matthews — modeling the new sweaters that the Fanatics has cooked up for the event.

Alright, obviously we got better looks at the Teams USA and Team Canada sweaters, and I like what I see, especially that old-school-looking Team Canada crest with the chest stripe.

Fortunately, a few hours later, the NHLPA shared a video that showed some more details that can be seen on the jerseys.

I love that Fanatics didn't get too wild with this, because other companies have tried to play with international hockey sweaters and messed them up *cough*Nike*cough*. 

You want to stick to a classic look, especially when you're working with these four countries. Especially Sweden. I love that they were like, "Give us three blue crowns on a yellow jersey or three yellow crowns on a blue jersey; Done," and have been using that formula for decades.

The Tre Kronor appears to be front and center on the Sweden jersey (as it should), while Finland will have its classic "SUOMI" wordmark and coat of arms.

Canada and the US seem to go in different directions, with Canada seemingly getting what looks like a bit of a "faux-back" sweater, and I really dig it. Meanwhile, Team USA appears to be getting the most modern-looking sweater, but from what we can see so far, it doesn't look obnoxious.

This is one of the first batches of special event jerseys that we've seen since Fanatics took over as the NHL's uniform supplier, and from the sampling we've been given, it seems like they've done a nice job with them.