BROSSARD, Quebec — After five days of waiting and wondering if Sidney Crosby would be good to go for the 4 Nations Face-Off, Canadians got the news they were looking for.
Not only was Crosby a full participant in Team Canada’s first practice ahead of the event on Monday morning, he pronounced himself fit to play after missing two Pittsburgh Penguins games over the weekend.
While Crosby later clarified that he’d still need to consult with team doctors before officially getting the green light to play in Wednesday’s tournament opener against Sweden, it didn’t sound like the captain expected it to be a long conversation.
He was injured last Tuesday during a Penguins loss to the New Jersey Devils after getting his left arm pinned awkwardly between Luke Hughes and Erik Haula. That set off alarm bells across the country, with Crosby’s availability for the tournament in some degree of question until he stepped foot on the ice here. Crosby consulted with multiple doctors before getting clearance to join Team Canada and didn’t show any apparent signs of being limited during a practice session that lasted more than an hour.
“Everything went well,” he said. “I feel good from that standpoint. There’s been a lot of questions. A lot of, ‘How are you feeling?’ the last five days, so I’m excited just to get into a routine here and get back to normal.”
While Crosby had skated in recent days on his own, this was his first full practice since before he was injured.
Skating between Mark Stone and Nathan MacKinnon in line rushes, Crosby didn’t miss a drill. Most encouragingly, he didn’t show any reluctance to shoot the puck after gingerly handling it at times during skates last week in Pittsburgh. Just in case there was any doubt, the 37-year-old was among the last Canadian players to leave the ice and spent a good 10 minutes after practice hammering pucks.
In the NHL’s first foray back into top-tier international competition since the 2016 World Cup of Hockey, the oldest player in the tournament didn’t hide his enthusiasm to be here.
“It means a lot to us,” MacKinnon said. “I think all of us would have been really bummed if he wasn’t here. He’s our captain. I think most of us grew up huge fans of him, I’m sure. I think this is his first time playing with a bunch of fans of his, for him. I think he looks great and I think he feels pretty healthy.
“But if he’s not, then he’s the last guy I’m worried about in terms of toughness.”
When Crosby left the Penguins lineup with his upper-body injury last week, more than one Canadian teammate copped to being as anxious about the uncertainty surrounding his health situation as most fans were.
Stone said his “heart was pounding.”
And yet, when the group took the ice for the first time together, Crosby was right where he was supposed to be all along.
“You talk about wanting to play for your country, this kid,” Canadian coach Jon Cooper said. “It’s remarkable the passion he has for it and that’s probably why he’s got a whole lot of wins and not a whole lot of losses when he plays in these events.”
Team Canada is 45-5-0 with No. 87 in the lineup.
How they lined up
The best part about watching Canada’s first practice before a big international event is that you finally start getting answers to the questions that have been debated among fans and media for months on end.
Of particular note was the lines, which looked like this Monday with forward Travis Konecny absent while feeling ill:
Those groupings were the product of hours of conversations. Cooper made a point of having individual conversations with his players to get a sense of the type of profiles each felt he needed from linemates in order to be successful.
“There was a lot to it, actually,” Cooper said. “This one we didn’t just pull out of a hat at the neighborhood pub and say, ‘This is what we’re going with.’”
In putting Sam Reinhart and Mitch Marner on Connor McDavid’s wings on the de facto No. 1 line, the head coach felt he found the perfect blend of talents.
“Well, you’ve got speed, you’ve got brains, and you’ve got guys that can shoot it in the net,” Cooper said. “You hand me a line like that, I’ll take my chances.”
By pairing MacKinnon and Crosby on the second line, he’s tapped into the familiarity the two Nova Scotians have from their skates back home in the summer. Stone can serve as the defensive conscience of that trio by filling a role similar to the one Patrice Bergeron has played alongside Crosby in previous international tournaments.
That left a third line of Brad Marchand, Brayden Point and Seth Jarvis, with an all-Florida fourth line: Lightning teammates Brandon Hagel and Anthony Cirelli alongside usual Panthers nemesis Sam Bennett.
“It’s nice for a change him being on our side,” Cirelli said of Bennett. “He’s hard to play against. He’s in your face. He’s physical. He makes plays. He wins battles, scores goals. He’s another guy that does it all really, really well.”
Doughty’s new digits
What was the weirdest sight during the Canadian practice?
That right-shot defenseman buzzing around the ice with a No. 89 sticker on his helmet.
Drew Doughty’s gap-tooth grin was certainly recognizable, but those digits were anything but for a guy who has worn No. 8 since arriving in the NHL some 17 years ago. As a late injury replacement to Canada’s roster, he saw teammate Cale Makar claim his usual number months ago.
“Makar wouldn’t give me No. 8,” Doughty said with a laugh. “No, it was too late to switch numbers and stuff. I’m sure he would have given me it. I’m born in ’89 so I went with 89.
“It’s going to look weird, but … whatever.”
After Doughty was formally named to the roster late Saturday night in place of Alex Pietrangelo, Makar said he was expecting a call about a number switch. He was prepared to consider a change if the organizers would have allowed it.
“I think they might have been too far down the production line already,” Makar said.
Of note with Doughty in the mix is he quite literally skated in Pietrangelo’s spot alongside Pietrangelo’s Vegas Golden Knights teammate Shea Theodore. Makar was paired with Devon Toews, his usual partner with the Colorado Avalanche, while Josh Morrissey and Colton Parayko formed the third pairing.
It’s pretty clear that Doughty isn’t your usual injury fill-in.
He almost certainly would have been included among the players initially named to the Canadian roster in December had he not suffered a broken ankle in training camp. He didn’t make his season debut for the Los Angeles Kings until Jan. 29.
Jon Cooper chats with Sidney Crosby and Drew Doughty as Team Canada 🇨🇦 wraps up practice in Brossard. pic.twitter.com/Wdq87Nszv5
— Chris Johnston (@reporterchris) February 10, 2025
As Monday’s skate wound down, Cooper had a discussion with Doughty and Crosby near center ice. Those two players are the only returnees from Canada’s victories at the 2010 Olympics, 2014 Olympics and 2016 World Cup.
“We’ve experienced these things,” Doughty said. “Not that these guys aren’t all veterans in here, but they’ve never had a Canada best-on-best type of tournament. They can lean on us. Not that they’re going to need advice, but we can keep the room calm. We can bring the room up when we need to — maybe kick some guys’ asses if we need to.”
Power up
The Canadian power play looks to be an embarrassment of riches.
Start with the fact there’s three Conn Smythe Trophy winners on the first unit alone: Sidney Crosby, who operates net front, with Connor McDavid on the left flank and Cale Makar at the point. Then you’ve got reigning Hart Trophy winner Nathan MacKinnon on the right flank and Sam Reinhart in the bumper.
While Reinhart’s name might not occupy the same spot on the marquee as the others, he did score 27 of his 57 goals last season while patrolling that spot for the Florida Panthers.
“That’s where I’m comfortable,” Reinhart said. “We’ve got so much playmaking on the outside, we’re going to need to get the puck to the net. So I think that’s why I’m there in the middle to try and find those holes and relieve some pressure when we need to.
“I look forward to that challenge.”
Canada’s second power-play unit features Josh Morrissey and Devon Toews, with Brayden Point in the bumper, Mitch Marner on the right flank and Mark Stone at net front.
Not too shabby.
Come together
One final note from Monday’s skate: The pace was incredible.
Fast, crisp and intense.
It’s pretty clear that holding this event midseason as opposed to in September, when the 2016 World Cup was staged, should make for a high-level brand of hockey.
“It’s tough not to go balls to the wall, to go full out, when you’ve got those guys around you,” Reinhart said. “The adrenline’s high. The excitement’s high. That’s what you want in a situation like this.”
The biggest challenge for Team Canada is bringing everyone together in a cohesive unit with no exhibition games or a training camp. That exercise started as players and staff started arriving in Montreal over the weekend. They watched Sunday’s Super Bowl together while kicking back at the team hotel.
“It’s funny how quickly you jell in a day, even,” MacKinnon said. “We hung out for seven, eight hours yesterday just around a table, shooting it and having a great time, getting to know each other and today we had a great practice. Guys are super intense, buzzing around.
“Excited for another practice tomorrow and get after it Wednesday.”
GO DEEPER
Team Canada’s 4 Nations nuclear option: Could they channel 1987, put MacKinnon, McDavid together?
(Photo of Sidney Crosby and Drew Doughty: Vitor Munhoz / Getty Images)
