Tom Wilson’s hot start to the 2024-25 season has the big Washington Capitals winger making headlines. The 30-year-old forward has scored in all four of Washington’s games to start the season and his five goals rank third most in the NHL.
The latest on Wilson’s rise comes from Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman, who discussed his potential to make Team Canada’s 2025 4 Nations Face-Off roster on the most recent 32 Thoughts Podcast. Friedman’s analysis is informed by prior talk that Wilson was on the shortlist to make Canada’s 2022 Winter Olympic team before NHL players were no longer permitted to play.
“I’m watching him start the year – the Capitals look good, he looks really good, scoring machine,” Fridman said. “You know, Doug Armstrong was going to put him on the Olympic team it looked like. And [Wilson] actually admitted that he had heard about that. He kinda knew that he was on the radar. Nothing this guy is doing this year is going to make them change their minds.
“And especially with Don Sweeney as the GM, like [Wilson] may be a Capital, but that’s a Bruin. That is the mold of player that Don Sweeney would love in combination with everybody there. So, I think we’re getting close to calling him Team Canada Tom Wilson.”
No Canadian-born player in the league this season has more goals than Wilson’s five for the Capitals. Wilson would also provide Canada with leadership and physicality that has made him infamous around the NHL. He is also one of the league’s top penalty killers.
Wilson has never played for Canada’s senior national team. He has donned his nation’s colors at the junior level though, playing in the World U17 Hockey Challenge and Ivan Hlinka Memorial Tournament in 2011 and the Canada-Russia Challenge in 2012.
Countries must submit their rosters for the round-robin tournament by December 2. Canada has already selected a preliminary group of six skaters.
- F Sidney Crosby, PIT
- F Nathan MacKinnon, COL
- D Cale Makar, COL
- F Connor McDavid, EDM
- F Brad Marchand, BOS
- F Brayden Point, TBL
The games, which will run from February 12 to 20, will kick off at the Bell Centre in Montreal and conclude at TD Garden in Boston.
The entire 4 Nations Face-Off schedule also was announced, with games to be broadcast exclusively in North America by The Walt Disney Company (ESPN/ABC), TNT Sports, Sportsnet and TVA Sports.#4Nations: https://t.co/fLmzyiCaHS pic.twitter.com/mBqMVVcHb2
— NHL Public Relations (@PR_NHL) June 8, 2024
This year’s event will replace the annual NHL All-Star Game and is the league’s first foray back into having its players star at the top international level. NHL players will then also be involved in the next two Winter Olympics and a planned World Cup of Hockey tournament in 2028.
