Penton: NHL stars excited for best-on-best ‘Faceoff’
By Bruce Penton
If Connor McDavid is any indication, National hockey League players from the four countries involved in the Four Nations Face Off are excited for a chance to show their skills in a best-on-best event, with national pride and bragging rights on the line.
Coaches and general managers around the league, meanwhile, are watching with a touch of anxiety as their players risk injury in an exhibition setting with the all-important Stanley Cup playoffs just around the corner.
McDavid, who was the NHL’s No. 1 draft pick in 2015, has played in neither an Olympics or a World Cup as a member of a Canadian team, although he was a member of Team North America (a 23-and-under squad) in the 2016 World Cup. With Canada committed to taking part in the 2026 and 2030 Olympic Games, McDavid will experience more than his share of top-level international hockey and says the Four Nations event, running Feb. 12-20, is a “good teaser.”
Played in Montreal and Boston, the tournament is a straightforward single round-robin, with the top two teams meeting in the championship game in Boston on Feb. 20. The four nations taking part are Canada, the United States, Sweden and Finland, which offers fans a stellar group of stars but leaves out many of today’s best players — no Germans like Leon Draisaitl or Tim Stutzle, no Russians like Nikita Kucherov or Kirill Kaprizov, no Czechs like David Pastrnak or Martin Necas, no Swiss like Roman Josi and no Dane like Nikolaj Ehlers.
But the lineups of the four teams are nonetheless stacked and picking Canada’s team, for instance, meant that a number of great players will stay home — or jet off for a vacation in Mexico or the Bahamas — while their colleagues are wearing the Maple Leaf.
So who will win? Most experts suggest it will come down to the U.S. vs. Canada for the title, with the Swedes and Finns also-rans. McDavid says he’s excited about finally getting to play with his boyhood hero, Sidney Crosby, who, at the age of 37, is still putting up outstanding numbers for Pittsburgh Penguins. But in tournaments such as this, the most important player on the ice is usually the goaltender and this is where the U.S. shines. In Connor Hellebuyck of the Winnipeg Jets (but born, unfortunately for Canadians, in Michigan) the goalie’s skill in stopping pucks could be the difference. In fact, in pains me as a Canadian to point out that overall, the American lineup appears to be stronger.
McDavid, meanwhile, is giddy about playing on the same team as Crosby for a week, with something other than a silly all-star game victory on the line. Playing at such a high level at Crosby’s age is amazing, said McDavid. “It’s unbelievable,” McDavid told the Globe and Mail. “Everything that he’s done for the game, everything that he’s accomplished, and the fact that he’s still playing hockey and playing at such a high level, it’s incredible.
Globe and Mail columnist Cathal Kelly, on Auston Matthews: “Matthews gets those weird-but-not-weird-enough RBC ads that some manager somewhere should be fired for.”
Arpon Basu, on Bluesky.social: “Patrik Laine's ability to play at 33 rpm when everyone else is playing at 45 rpm and still almost never lose the puck continues to amaze me.”
Steve Simmons of the Toronto Sun, after complimenting slugging outfielder and new Blue Jay Anthony Santander on his hitting: “But he makes George Bell look like a gold glover in left field and he runs the bases with all the acumen of Alejandro Kirk.”
Jack Finarelli of sports curmudgeon.com., on perhaps expanding the 11-game college football playoff schedule: “An 11-game tournament generated a bazillion dollars of revenue and those powers-that-be have already figured out that a 15-game tournament will generate more than a bazillion dollars.”
Hall-of-Famer Ichiro Suzuki on his least-favourite place to play baseball: “To tell the truth, I'm not excited to go to Cleveland, but we have to. If I ever saw myself saying I'm excited going to Cleveland, I'd punch myself in the face, because I'm lying.”
Janice Hough of leftcoastsportsbabe.com: “Max Scherzer, who turns 41 this summer, just signed a one-year contract valued at $15.5 million with the Toronto Blue Jays. Well, the way the U.S.A. is going maybe Max wanted to play in a country that has Medicare.”
Vancouver comedy guy Torben Rolfsen, on Edmonton fans’ protest over the Connor McDavid suspension: “I can understand the protest, but the candlelight vigil was a bit much.”
Rolfsen again: “What’s with all those people jammed into Taylor Swift’s box at the Chiefs’ game? You’d think she could afford her own suite. It looks like she’s watching the game from a Tokyo subway car.”
Humorist Brad Dickson of Omaha, on allegations of officiating favouritism toward Kansas City Chiefs: “On Valentine’s Day the K.C. Chiefs and a group of NFL referees will be having a romantic dinner.”
RJ Currie of sportsdeke.com: “Jayden Daniels lost a shoe during the Commanders’ first drive in the playoff versus the Eagles. I think Kenny Rogers would say it best: ‘You picked a fine time to leave me loose heel.’”
Care to comment? Email brucepenton2003@yahoo.ca