Wһere tһe Avаlаncһe Lіne Up аt 4 Nаtіonѕ Fаceoff

Monday was the official opening day of practice and media availability for the 4 Nations Faceoff. Four Avalanche skaters are set to debut for their home countries in best-on-best action.

Team Canada will have three Colorado representatives, each playing a crucial role. Starting with the obvious, Cale Makar and Devon Toews practiced together as the top pair for Canada. Head coach Jon Cooper is very much familiar with the two going back to the 2022 Stanley Cup Final.

Up front, Nathan MacKinnon will move to the right wing so he can finally get his opportunity to skate with fellow Cole Harbour native Sidney Crosby. Hockey Canada didn’t get official word that Crosby would be able to play in the tournament until Monday morning. He’ll serve as Canada’s captain after missing the last two games with Pittsburgh with an upper-body injury.

With MacKinnon shifting to the right, the expectation was for Crosby and Brad Marchand to continue their chemistry from 2016 as a duo. Marchand, a left winger, is instead slotting on the third line. He hasn’t quite had the same type of season as years past and was bumped lower down the lineup in favor of Mark Stone. The 32-year-old captain of the Vegas Golden Knights has 49 points in 42 games and is on pace for his first point-per-game season since 2021.

MacKinnon and Makar are also teaming up for easily the best power-play unit on paper in the entire tournament. Makar will quarterback Canada’s No. 1 PP with Connor McDavid, Sam Reinhart, MacKinnon, and Crosby.

For Finland, Artturi Lehkonen is reuniting with Mikko Rantanen and the duo will play on either side of Rantanen’s current Hurricanes teammate Sebastian Aho. The trio make up Finland’s second line behind Aleksander Barkov, Patrik Laine, and Teuvo Teravainen.