Marner skating with McDavid on top line for Team Canada ahead of 4 Nations Face-Off

Marner claims the key spot on the roster among some heavy hitters for Canada, including golden goal scorer Sidney Crosby and NHL points leader Nathan MacKinnon.

It appears Marner will skate on the second power play unit, with writer Noah Strang reporting the top unit will consist of McDavid, MacKinnon, Crosby, Reinhart, and Cale Makar.

The competition comes in the middle of a hot season for Marner, with 55 assists and 71 points in 54 games including 12 in his last 10. He is currently on pace for a career-high 83 assists and his first 100-point season – a marker he twice narrowly missed in the 2021-22 and 2022-23 seasons, putting up 97 and 99 points, respectively.

There was brief concern about Marner’s health headed into this tournament after he missed his first game of the season last Tuesday with a lower-body injury. Luckily for the injury-plagued Leafs, it was a brief absence, returning for their following contest against the Seattle Kraken.

Toronto fans will certainly hope this isn’t the last time we see Marner and McDavid side-by-side, as the Toronto-born Oilers captain will be an unrestricted free agent at the end of next season. With the salary cap going up, the Leafs have a lot more flexibility to sign a big name like McDavid if he decides to test the market in free agency (and, of course, if they lock down Marner long-term). But that’s a discussion for this summer.

In the meantime, Toronto fans can enjoy seeing the best the country has to offer team up and fight to bring home a trophy.

Here are the full lines for Team Canada from practice Monday, per Johnston:

Forwards

Sam Reinhart – Connor McDavid – Mitch Marner

Mark Stone – Sidney Crosby – Nathan MacKinnon

Seth Jarvis – Brayden Point – Brad Marchand

Brandon Hagel – Anthony Cirelli – Sam Bennett

Defence

Devon Toews – Cale Makar

Shea Theodore – Drew Doughty

Josh Morrissey – Colton Parayko

Travis Sanheim

Goalies

Adin Hill

Jordan Binnington

Sam Montembeault