Alex Pietrangelo remembers what it seemed like to view Sidney Crosby up close at method.
It’s one point to fight versus leading gamers like Crosby or Connor McDavid in the NHL. It’s an additional point totally to draw on the exact same jacket, speak to them at the rink, and see just how they service the ice, all the time.
Pietrangelo coordinated with Crosby to win an Olympic gold medal in 2014, and a World Cup of Hockey title in 2016. But he’s never ever located himself sharing the ice with both Crosby and McDavid, “generational talents” that make the video game much better.
The Vegas Golden Knights defenceman will certainly reach do that for the very first time this February as a component of Team Canada’s entrance at the 4 Nations Face-Off The brand-new NHL-hosted event that work as a crucial gauging stick in advance of NHL gamers’ go back to the 2026 Olympics in Italy, after missing out on the last 2 Games.
“The goal for all of us is to grow the game and have the game being seen worldwide,” Pietrangelo informed press reporters on Thursday, a day after the 23-player lineups for all 4 nations were introduced.
“You get two of the best players, if not the two best players playing with each other in certain situations … that’s a pretty fun thing to watch.”
Crosby and Pietrangelo are the link to Team Canada’s past. They stand for Olympic gold in Sochi, and the protective maker of a group that locked out Sweden in the gold-medal video game.
Joining them will certainly be a host of gamers that have actually been Canada’s existing for some time, yet that have actually never ever had the possibility to draw on a Canadian sweatshirt at the Olympics, consisting of McDavid and Nathan MacKinnon.
The event, which additionally consists of Sweden and Finland, startsFeb 12 inMontreal That city will certainly divide organizing obligations with Boston, finishing in a national championship in the last city onFeb 20.
Here are 5 points to understand about Canada’s group in advance of that event:
Tough competitors
Like McDavid and MacKinnon, various other nations’ celebrities are obtaining their very first preference of global best-on-best play, also.
Finland flaunts probably the very best two-way ahead worldwide in Aleksander Barkov, that understands a point or more concerning leading a champion group, after captaining the Florida Panthers to the Stanley Cup this previous springtime.
No one stays from the American group that collapsed out of the World Cup of Hockey in 2016. That team ended up last in their team, many thanks partly to shedding a number of gifted young gamers to the 23-and-under Team North America.
But this American group resembles the group to defeat. It begins with the greatest triad in internet, led by ruling Vezina Trophy champion and Winnipeg Jets starter, Connor Hellebuyck.
The group additionally flaunts 2 of the last 4 Norris Trophy champions for finest defenceman in the organization in Vancouver’s Quinn Hughes and Adam Fox.
Up front, the Americans will certainly have the ability to send among the very best shooters worldwide in Toronto Maple Leafs captain Auston Matthews, in addition to knowledgeable forwards like Jack Hughes, Winnipeg’s Kyle Connor and Jack Eichel.
Ottawa Senators captain Brady Tkachuk and his Stanley Cup- champ bro, Matthew, will certainly exist, also, making the Americans more challenging and definitely much more bothersome to bet.
An side might additionally most likely to the Americans when it concerns knowledge. Several gamers completed with each other on the united stateNational Team Development Program Having 2 collections of bros likely does not harmed, either.
Olympic tryout
The Olympics may not be front of mind for the 23 Canadian gamers on the ice come February.
Even if gamers aren’t claiming it, there’s no question the event is a determining stick for all 4 nations to see what jobs, that plays well with each other, and that monitoring teams desire on their lineups in 2026.
For followers, it’s additionally a preference of what to anticipate at the Olympics, having not had a best-on-best event with NHL gamers in almost a years.
Canadian GM Don Sweeney claimed the monitoring team chose the very best 23 gamers that they assume can win an event currently.
But understanding NHL gamers will certainly belong to the Olympic program in 2026 and 2030, the team additionally hung out functioning to recognize gamers that may not prepare to press somebody else out of a lineup area currently, yet that can contribute on Team Canada later on.
“We wanted to find that balance of identifying that next core of great players,” Sweeney claimed.
Bedard’s noninclusion
Speaking of the future generation of wonderful gamers, one name missing out on from the Canadian lineup is Connor Bedard.
The 19-year-old hasn’t had an eye-popping period, signing up 19 factors in 26 video games on basement-dwellingChicago But having Bedard on the lineup can have provided him a preference of what a best-on-best event seems like, also if he played a marginal duty.
“He’s working through that situation where he gets all the attention possible from the best players that he’s playing against each and every night,” Sweeney claimed.
“I think he’s living and breathing it right now and it’s only going to help him and continue to build his resume, and we’re excited about that. There are several other players that fall in the same category that very well could be part of [2026 GM Doug Armstrong’s] team in the Olympics.”
With the 4 Nations event still 2 months away, Bedard can be on top of the checklist for a call-up must somebody obtain wounded.
Questions in internet
For years, Canada had a shame of treasures in internet, from Martin Brodeur, to Roberto Luongo, and most lately, Carey Price.
This time around, there’s no proven wager. There are 2 Stanley Cup champions in Jordan Binnington and Adin Hill, plus the Montreal Canadiens’ Sam Montembeault.
Compare that with the American lineup. If Hellebuyck fails, the team can transform to Jake Oettinger or Jeremy Swayman.
Sweeney minimized the issues concerning Canada’s goaltending, applauding the 3 netminders for their competition and experience having fun in high-stakes video games.
“We were a lot more calm in picking the goaltenders than maybe what the outside world was viewing,” the GM claimed. “I think we had a tremendous amount of choices and some guys that have played really well.”
Experience in the storage locker space
While Canada is the underdog in internet, they might have a benefit in the storage locker space.
Beyond Crosby and Pietrangelo’s experience winning Olympic gold, there are additionally a mixed 20 Stanley Cup rings on the Canadian group. Five gamers on the lineup have actually put on the captain’s C for Canada at a worldwide event.
“You can never underestimate how much that matters: When the game’s on the line, when there’s 20,000 people at the edge of their seat, who’s under control in those situations?” he claimed.
“When maybe a game is sliding, the ebbs and flows and ups and downs of a hockey game, who are the players that you know have proven to be able to excel in those situations and calm the waters?”
Hockey Canada hasn’t revealed the group’s management team yet. It would certainly be stunning the captain isn’t Crosby, that authored among one of the most unforgettable minutes in Canadian hockey background by racking up the video game champion for the males’s group at the 2010 Olympics.
