Despite how talented Team Canada‘s roster is, Connor McDavid isn’t going to assume that everyone will click right away.
Canada had their first practice on Monday ahead of the 4 Nations Face-Off Tournament, with the potential lineup for their first matchup against Sweden on Wednesday being revealed to the public. On the surface, they all look like lines that should gel easily, but the Edmonton Oilers captain doesn’t quite think that will be the case, at least right off the bat.
“I think everybody just assumes it’s going to work. That’s not necessarily the case. It takes a lot of work,” McDavid said during a media scrum. “I think obviously you saw a little bit of the power-play come together today, working at it after practice. It takes a lot of work. It’s got to come together real fast. But we’ll make it work.”
Based on the lines run in Monday’s practice, McDavid will center the top line alongside Florida Panthers sniper Sam Reinhart and Toronto Maple Leafs playmaker Mitch Marner, with both wingers also bringing a Selke-caliber game to the table as well. McDavid will also be playing with Reinhart, Sidney Crosby, Nathan MacKinnon and Cale Makar on Canada’s top power play unit.
“Obviously, they’re two amazing players,” said McDavid. “Reinhart obviously scores lots of goals. Great shot. So smart. Mitch obviously the playmaker. Kind of plays up high in the zone. Definitely a good mix. It was fun to be out there with them, for sure.”
Despite the trio only being a few years apart in age, there’s been very minimal experience playing together over the course of their careers, especially internationally. Marner has played for Canada sparingly in his career, and never on a team that also featured the other two.
McDavid and Reinhart have a bit more experience together, particularly a four year stretch where they played on an international squad together at the World U18 Championships (2012-13), the World Juniors (2013-14 & 2014-15) and the World Championships (2015-16).
Canada will look to start off the tournament on the right foot when they play Sweden on Wednesday in Montreal at 8 p.m. EST. While there’s technically no “defending champion” with the 4 Nations Face-Off being a new tournament, Canada has won the previous three best-on-best-type tournaments and will look to continue that over these next two weeks.
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