Knights leaders eager to play with ‘special roster’ on Team Canada
Only the Florida Panthers (eight) will have more representation than the Golden Knights in this year’s 4 Nations Face-Off tournament.
Not surprisingly, they’ll be taking up nearly one-fifth of the roster on Team Canada.
The Knights are sending four players — captain Mark Stone, defensemen Alex Pietrangelo and Shea Theodore, and goaltender Adin Hill — to Canada for the best-on-best round-robin tournament that takes place Feb. 12-20 in Boston and Montreal. Coach Bruce Cassidy is also part of Tampa Bay Lightning coach Jon Cooper’s staff for Canada.
Seven players in total will take part in the tournament that will replace the NHL’s All-Star Game this season. Center Jack Eichel and defenseman Noah Hanifin will represent the United States, while center William Karlsson will suit up for Sweden.
The Knights had no representatives from Finland, the fourth team taking part.
“It’s exciting,” Stone said during a video conference call Thursday. “We won the Stanley Cup no longer than a year ago, right? I think you see the teams that have had success over the last few years are sending in tons of players. I think we’re pretty happy with all the guys that have been picked to represent their country. We think they’re deserving, obviously.”
Star-studded roster
Stone isn’t wrong about the teams represented.
The Tampa Bay Lightning are bringing five players to the tournament. Three of them — centers Brayden Point and Anthony Cirelli, and right wing Brandon Hagel — are on Team Canada.
The Colorado Avalanche, also with five players, are sending three for Canada (center Nathan MacKinnon and defensemen Cale Makar and Devon Toews).
Cooper said having multiple players from one team wasn’t a determining factor. It may help for players to have that familiarity, but it’s more coincidence than anything.
“Does it help walking into the locker room and having the comfort of some players? There’s no question about it,” Cooper said. “It’s great that we do have some of that, but if 23 players played on 23 different teams, we’d still take those 23 guys.”
It’s the first time the NHL is having a best-on-best tournament since players took part in the 2014 Winter Olympics. Canada won the gold with a 3-0 victory over Sweden.
Pietrangelo was on that team when he was 24. Ten years and two Stanley Cup championships later, Pietrangelo looks forward to representing his country again. This time, he’ll have his four children experience him playing with some of the league’s biggest stars.
“They might not understand it yet, but I always say you look back and you see all these photos in the locker room with (Sidney) Crosby, (Connor) McDavid, all these guys that are superstars in the league. One day, I think they’ll appreciate it, right?” Pietrangelo said. “It’s a cool opportunity. They’ve never seen me play for my country, so that’s going to be a special thing for us.”
Stone rewarded
Stone represented Canada, along with Theodore, in the 2019 IIHF World Championships. Canada won the silver medal, and Stone was the tournament’s MVP.
The Knights’ captain is walking into a room with other captains, Stanley Cup champions and surefire Hall of Famers. It’s an experience he’s not taking for granted.
“It’s a pretty special roster,” Stone said. “I’m pretty excited to get into that locker room and get this team assembled and get ready to go.”
It’s also rewarding for Stone after a frustrating two-plus years. He was sidelined because of back surgery and a lacerated spleen, then this season missed 14 games with a lower-body injury.
Canada was not hesitant to select Stone, who has 21 points in 13 games this season.
“You never know when the time is going to pass you by,” Stone said. “Unfortunately I’ve been hurt a lot, but I still feel like they’re kind of fluky injuries and I still feel like I’m able to play at a high level.”
The teams will each have one practice before diving into round-robin play, starting at Bell Centre in Montreal. Three points will be given for wins, two for an overtime/shootout win, and one point for an overtime/shootout loss. The two teams with the best tournament record advance to the final at TD Garden in Boston.
Pietrangelo feels Canada is already in a strong spot before even playing a game.
“There’s so much excitement, so much joy in everybody being there that everybody gets dialed in pretty quickly,” Pietrangelo said. “All the countries are in the same situation, so I feel like our hockey IQ that we have on this roster should put us ahead of everybody.”
Contact Danny Webster at dwebster@reviewjournal.com. Follow @DannyWebster21 on X.
