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Mattias Janmark of the Edmonton Oilers skates against Jani Hakanpaa of the Toronto Maple Leafs. Getty Images
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Can Mitch Marner, Auston Matthews or William Nylander pull off a Paul Henderson, duplicate Darryl Sittler or simulate Mats Sundin and Borje Salming?
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It has been such a long time since a best-on-best hockey tournament was staged — and that a Maple Leaf has had a chance to make a significant contribution to his respective country.
That’s what elevated Henderson (1972 in the Summit series), Sittler (‘76 Canada Cup) and Sundin (2006 Olympics) to exalted status above their day jobs. Matthews and Nylander have known awhile they were on the American and Swedish rosters, but the invitation was officially extended to Marner Wednesday night when Canada announced the balance of its roster for February’s 4 Nations Face-off.
The head’s up from Leaf general manager Brad Treliving that he’d been picked was a big moment for Marner after heavy outside criticism in the summer for coming up short in big playoff games. Not to mention it’s a contract year, one that has seen Marner make a big impression on new coach Craig Berube with 36 points in 25 games.
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The right winger was not among the initial six players released by all teams in the summer, but since his future beyond this season in Toronto became a hot topic, highly regarded peers throughout the NHL have come to his defence. It also sent a strong message that Connor McDavid,
Nathan MacKinnon and Sidney Crosby were his summer training partners and all are on the Canadian roster.
“It’s going to be a lot of fun,” Marner said after three assists in Wednesday’s 3-2 home win over Nashville. “I won’t be looking forward too much because we have a lot of hockey up to then, but it will a cool moment.
“You always want to wear your (country’s) colours. I’m super honoured. All four teams are stacked.”
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The creative Marner should thrive with them as he does with Matthews, especially on the power play and he’s also capable of killing penalties for Canadian head coach Jon Cooper.
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“We (he and Matthews) haven’t talked about it much” Marner said. “And we won’t really until it comes down to a week before. We’ll joke around then.”
Canadian GM Don Sweeney told Sportsnet after Wednesday’s roster reveal that “versatility” was what he looked for in many of his key selections, though he skated around the question of who were the outliers in summer that played their way into the executive committee’s plans.
Nylander said the Swedes have talked to him about the possibility of a line with Rangers’ Mika Zibanejad, but he’s yet to see the whole roster to comment further.
Another Leaf in the tournament will be defenceman Jani Hakanpaa, representing Finland, which has a much smaller NHL player pool than the Swedes. His status is tenuous, however, having played just two games in Toronto since last March, when he hurt his knee with Dallas and is currently on injured reserve. No doubt the Leafs would love it if he is in Montreal and Boston for the tourney and uses it to help get playoff-ready.
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The Leafs have also made an impact behind the bench in these high-level events, Pat Quinn coaching the 2002 gold medallists at the Salt Lake City Olympics and Mike Babcock directing Canada’s last World Cup entry which triumphed in 2016.
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As a rookie, Matthews was on the World Cup North American young guns team in ’16, joining the Leafs right after as the eventual Calder Trophy winner. But since then, to his disappointment, he hasn’t been able to flex his talents against fellow first overall pick McDavid at the highest level, nor the much-decorated Crosby or play with any number of top Americans who came after him, such as Jack Eichel and Matthew Tkachuk.
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There was no window for a global tournament, other than the annual world championships that take place while top NHL players were busy in playoffs. The combination of COVID-19 and the league’s reluctance to shut down in mid-season to send players to the Winter Olympics on the other side of the globe with incompatible North American broadcast times and other red tape issues had derailed the concept.
Players and fans have lobbied to have a competition re-instated and the 4 Nations Face-Off was created the past year, albeit without the Cechia and the banned Russians. It’s still a more juicy proposition than the often stale NHL all-star game and the league is going back to the Olympics in 2026 in Italy.
“I was fortunate to play in 2016, but it’s been a long time to have NHLers in this setting,” Matthews said. “I think it will be great for the game. (Team USA) has a lot of depth, but everyone has star power. In my experience, it’s been which team is able is able to come together the quickest usually has success.”
Canada opens the 4 Nations on Feb. 12 against Sweden in Montreal, followed by the Americans versus the Finns next evening. Canada versus the U.S. is the last of four games at the Bell Centre, with the venue switching to TD Garden for three contests, including Canada — Finland and the championship match on Feb. 20.
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