MONTREAL — Brad Marchand was talking about the 2016 World Cup, but it felt pretty apt for the 2025 4 Nations Face-Off.
“I always viewed guys on tiers throughout the league,” Marchand said. “You got your [Connor] McDavids, [Sidney] Crosbys, [Nathan] MacKinnons, and all that. And then you got your mid-tier guys. I always viewed myself looking at those guys: The best in the world. They’re untouchables.
“And when I got to play as part of that team, I realized that one of the biggest things is, they know that and they believe that every time they step on the ice, they’re the best. They have that confidence.”
What they also are, for the first time ever, is 60 percent of Team Canada’s top power play.
That is the allure of this tournament, the allure of best-on-best hockey and the product of eight years without.
In 2016, McDavid and MacKinnon were up-and-comers, playing for Team North America at the World Cup.
Up until Wednesday night when Canada faced Sweden at the Bell Centre, MacKinnon and Crosby playing together was something for summers in Nova Scotia and McDavid joining them was something out of a video game.
Not anymore.
There are questions hanging over Team Canada heading into this tournament and there is pressure in the air here in Montreal.
Jordan Binnington, who started in net Wednesday against Tre Kroner, is not Martin Brodeur or Patrick Roy.
But for top-end talent and jaw-dropping skill?
McDavid, Crosby, MacKinnon and Cale Makar might be the Mount Rushmore of this tournament, and they are all wearing the maple leaf.
It is this generation’s answer to the ’87 Canada Cup, when Wayne Gretzky and Mario Lemieux joined forces on a line with Dale Hawerchuk, or the 1972 Summit Series roster packed with legends.
Canada coach Jon Cooper started with Crosby and MacKinnon on a line together alongside Mark Stone.
McDavid centered Sam Reinhart and Mitch Marner while the top pair for the Colorado Avalanche — Makar and Devon Toews — was a direct import for Team Canada.
Crosby has, of course, played plenty of hockey for Team Canada, sporting two Olympic golds, a World Cup title and the most famous goal in a generation — his OT gold-medal winner against Team USA at the 2010 Vancouver Olympics — on his résumé.
Cooper has worked to build a relationship with him, and joked that he’s probably talked with Crosby more than Brayden Point, his captain with the Lightning, saying Crosby’s international experience is invaluable.
“There’s no shock or surprise about why this kid has won as much as he has,” Cooper said. “There is not a flaw in any way. Talk about cool things to be a part of. This is a cool thing to be a part of, ’cause he’s here.”
MacKinnon, Makar and McDavid are getting their first turns representing Team Canada at best-on-best competition this week.
“I don’t want to say it’s Connor’s coming out party,” Cooper said Tuesday. “But it kind of is on the international stage.”
Ditto MacKinnon and Makar.
“I think everybody’s more excited. Ever since I’ve been in the league, there hasn’t been a best-on-best competition,” Makar said Tuesday. “Hopefully, it’s just exciting for the fans. I know we’re really excited as players.”
McDavid said his emotions hearing “O Canada” on Wednesday would likely match that of the Stanley Cup Final last June.
“I’ve waited a long time to play in one of these events, to represent my country, to play for Team Canada,” he said. “Lots of guys are in that boat. It’s been a while for everybody. It feels like kind of a new generation with obviously some familiar faces for everybody.
“But you think about Auston [Matthews] or Jack [Hughes], Willy Nylander for Sweden, those guys haven’t had the opportunity. Everybody’s in the same boat here.”
