Elliotte Friedman makes his feelings clear on 'money maker' 4 Nations Face-Off amidst injury risk for big players

On Friday's episode of "32 Thoughts: The Podcast," NHL insider Elliotte Friedman discussed the upcoming 4 Nations Face-Off. The tournament will take place from Feb. 12 to 20 in Montreal and Boston. Teams from Canada, the U.S., Sweden and Finland will compete. Friedman talked about the timing of the event.

"Everybody knew what they were getting into." Friedman said, "Yeah, I remember talking to Luc Robitaille on this pod, and in the past, we've seen this tournament held before the season, and I always thought almost for this exact reason, it should be before the season."

According to Friedman, Los Angeles Kings president Luc Robitaille said holding the tournament after football season would bring in more viewers.

The tournament is being held in the middle of the NHL season. The 4 Nations Face-Off will replace the NHL All-Star Game in 2025. The teams will play in a round-robin format, and the top two teams will compete in a final game. Some of the best NHL stars, including Connor McDavid, Auston Matthews, Elias Pettersson and Sebastian Aho, will be part of the event.

The NHL agreed with Robitaille's idea, believing the event would be a big "money maker."

"So the hope is that this is going to be a significant money maker for years to come, and they're committed to this," Friedman added. "And we're all just going to have to live with the fact."

However, there are concerns about injuries to big players, as some players might get injured playing for their country with a die-hard mindset. Matthews, who has missed 15 games this season due to injury, has been the focus as playing in the tournament could worsen his condition.

NHL insider Josh Yohe criticized the 4 Nations Face-Off

The Athletic's Josh Yohe criticized the 4 Nations Face-Off for excluding Russia.

"The whole tournament is flawed and invalidated because Russia isn’t involved," Yohe wrote on The Athletic. ... "But to keep Russia out is madness to me. ... That’s a shame, in my opinion."

Yohe believes the tournament is incomplete without Russian players like Alex Ovechkin and Evgeni Malkin.