Knights excited to represent 4 Nations instead of resting

Any NHL player would love to play in an international tournament featuring the best players in the world. It’s a testament to the Knights’ strength that they have seven players and coach Bruce Cassidy taking part in the round-robin tournament in February.

But being part of what the NHL hopes is an exciting appetizer for the Winter Olympics in Italy in 2026 comes with a caveat. While a majority of the league will get the chance to rest for two weeks before the season resumes, hockey continues for some of the biggest names.

“That part’s never easy,” defenseman Alex Pietrangelo said, “but we do it on a regular basis.”

The 4 Nations Face-Off, running from Feb. 12 to 20, consists of the United States, Canada, Sweden and Finland playing each other once. The two teams with the most points will meet in the finals.

The Knights wrap up a four-game Eastern Conference road trip in Boston on Feb. 8. The players will then travel to Montreal for the start of the tournament.

The 4 Nations is happening in place of the NHL All-Star Game, which became a lackluster event the past few years with one player from each team selected to play in the game, thus not guaranteeing all of the top players would play.

There was never an incentive for players to participate. Having a best-on-best tournament in which the competitiveness increases tenfold is a way to make the middle of the season exciting.

But what happens when, instead of getting that rest that could have served those players best, they’re playing a week’s worth of intense hockey before jumping back into the season?

Rest helps

The Knights know how timely that rest can be.

The 2023 break was the turning point for the Knights winning the Stanley Cup. They lost seven of eight heading before their 10-day hiatus, but stormed out of the break with five straight wins and finished 22-4-5 in the second half.

Last season was different. The Knights won five of six heading into the break and won their first two games coming out of it, but went 3-8-1 in their next 12. They went 12-6-1 after the trade deadline.

“It’s only four games,” Team Canada defenseman Shea Theodore said. “Obviously, sometimes, the break is always good for guys midseason.”

The Knights could always benefit from rest. Captain Mark Stone just returned from a 14-game absence due to a pulled muscle in his lower body, adding on to the frustrating string of injuries he’s had the past three seasons between a second back surgery and lacerated spleen.

Center Jack Eichel, who is having the best start to a season of his career with 39 points — third in the NHL — missed 19 games last season with a lower-body surgery and 15 games with an upper-body injury in 2023.

The Knights’ two stars are among the seven that are in the tournament.

Cassidy hasn’t thought that far ahead of how he’ll manage the players participating. Most of it will be individual decisions, but for now, the priorities are clear.

“It’s (about the) Vegas Golden Knights first,” Cassidy said. “We have to do what’s best for our team here and sort of see where things go from there.”

Can’t pass it up

But the consensus is any chance the players have to represent their country, they’re going to take it. The NHL hasn’t had a best-on-best tournament since the 2016 World Cup of Hockey and the 2014 Olympics in Sochi.

It’s an opportunity they’re not passing up.

“I think there’s a lot to prove for us as USA Hockey,” Eichel said. “I think with the way the U.S. National Development program has been producing players lately and where we feel we are as a country, you look at the talent pool in the last however many years in the NHL. I think for a while it was Canada on a pedestal by themselves, and I think for us we’ve closed that gap. I think this is a great opportunity to prove that.”

It’ll be a similar feel for the Knights players who are selected for their respective Olympic teams in 2026. The games run from Feb. 6 to 22, and the NHL will be on a longer break when the time comes.

Fortunately for the Knights, the roughest part of their schedule is behind them. They ended a stretch of 10 games in 17 days, going 7-2-1, with three back-to-backs sprinkled in.

The 4 Nations will get the players back into a four-year routine in which playing international hockey is again a normal occurrence. That might be worth sacrificing some weeks off.

“It’s going to be a great event,” Eichel said. “Whenever you have an opportunity to represent your country, I take a ton of pride in that. It’s going to be super competitive and such a great event for our league, in general.”

Contact Danny Webster at dwebster@reviewjournal.com. Follow @DannyWebster21 on X.