"Sounds catastrophic", "Not a large number": Hockey fans react to 4 Nations Face-Off's Canada vs Sweden clash garnering over 1,000,000 views in USA

The Four Nations Face-Off is the first best-on-best tournament including top NHL players since the 2016 World Cup of Hockey. The early impression suggests that the tournament had failed to generate the hype that the league had hoped for among fans.

The tournament kicked off with Sweden and Canada squaring up with a telecast divided between Sportsnet in Canada and TNT in the United States. The NHL released viewership numbers to be around the 4.1 million mark with 1.0 million of them watching on TNT.

Despite it being a Canadian game, several high-profile players in their lineup represent NHL's America-based teams most notably Sidney Crosby (Pittsburgh Penguins), Cale Makar and Nathan MacKinnon (Colorado Avalanche) and Brad Marchand (Boston Bruins) among others.

The one million viewership from the US is a big step for the NHL who have had to face dwindling viewership numbers well short of what was expected from hockey games within the current ESPN-TNT deal.

But the majority of fans online said the numbers weren't enough despite all the marketing behind the tournament.

"I'm confused. Is that a big or small number for hockey? It sounds like catastrophic," a fan reacted.

"That is not a large number," a fan simply said.

"That’s not much to brag about when there was literally nothing else on," another fan said.

"That's crazy low considering hockey is easily the best sport and it's not even a competition. Muting this post right now," a fan made his opinions known.

"Probably 90% Canadians living in the US," a fan tried to troll.

"Is that a lot? Seems less than 1% interest," another fan wrote.

US and Canada expected to be the highlight of the 4 Nations Face-Off for NHL

When NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman and his team replaced this year's All-Star festivities with the Four Nations Face-Off, his goal was to have the greatest players from Canada and the United States compete for viewers' attention. As a result, the game between the two teams on Saturday night is extremely crucial to the league in terms of viewership ratings.

Moreover, recent geopolitical tensions between both countries have spilled onto the ice. The American anthem that was being booed at NHL arenas got a similar reaction at the 4 Nations Face-Off when the USA took on Finland on Thursday in Montreal. Tensions will be high with both teams looking to take the lead at the top of the table.