MILAN, Italy \u2014 Jon Cooper flashes a grin as wide as a Zamboni entrance.<\/p>\n
Team Canada doesn\u2019t open its Olympic tournament for three days, but the head coach knows his first crack at the forward lines will be juicy fodder for the hot stove.<\/p>\n
Two guys who weren\u2019t even selected to 2025\u2019s golden 4 Nations roster are riding shotgun alongside the world\u2019s most dynamic player.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat was for you guys,\u201d Cooper smiled Sunday night, after wrapping an hour-long skate at Milano Santagiulia. \u201cJust in case a fight breaks out, he\u2019s protected.\u201d<\/p>\n
There is no fighting at the Winter Games, however. And although Coach Cooper has jokes, he\u2019s dead serious about giving Celebrini and Wilson a peek in the penthouse.<\/p>\n
Hours of preparation were poured into determining which combinations of talents will click. Cooper asked his stars \u2014 and, in some cases, their NHL coaches \u2014 which linemates best complement their skill-set. Not specific names, but rather what type of player they need.<\/p>\n
Zach Hyman\u2019s not here, but Wilson sure is.<\/p>\n
\u201cEverybody needs an F1 right? That big boy there is one of the best I\u2019ve seen,\u201d Cooper explained.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s never like a situation where (the player is) pointing the fingers: \u2018Oh, I want to play with this guy.\u2019 Nobody does that. But what helps them? And so, some guys are forecheckers. Some guys aren\u2019t. Some guys are puck-possession guys. And when you find that right mix\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n
That\u2019s the mission over these hasty, jetlagged practice days and the three games of round-robin action to follow.<\/p>\n
Figure out what clicks. Because if you\u2019re still searching for chemistry when the knockout rounds hit, you\u2019ll be searching for an earlier flight home.<\/p>\n
Revealed, Mitch Marner said, just an hour before Canada hit the ice, Cooper\u2019s lines are balanced. How could they not be, with Sidney Crosby at 3C?<\/p>\n
Forwards
Celebrini \u2013 McDavid \u2013 Wilson
Marchand \u2013 MacKinnon \u2013 Suzuki
Stone \u2013 Crosby \u2013 Marner
Hagel \u2013 Horvat \u2013 Reinhart
Jarvis \u2013 Bennett<\/p>\n
Defence
Toews \u2013 Makar
Morrissey \u2013 Parayko
Harley \u2013 Doughty
Theodore \u2013 Sanheim<\/p>\n
Goaltenders
Binnington
Thompson
Kuemper<\/p>\n
McDavid says his initial wingers inject a fine blend of skill, speed, and physicality. The trio has already piled a combined 226 points in the NHL this season.<\/p>\n
\u201cVery different players,\u201d McDavid said. \u201cBut great players in their own way.\u201d<\/p>\n
Celebrini\u2019s way is mature beyond his birth certificate. Only 19, he’s the youngest athlete participating in the men\u2019s bracket.<\/p>\n
\u201cTake his age out of it. He\u2019s a helluva hockey player,\u201d said Cooper, who worked with the Sharks phenom at the \u201925 world championships. \u201cHe may be 19 years old \u2014 like, his physical body is \u2014 but his acumen for the game is not. He\u2019s wise beyond his years.\u201d<\/p>\n
Wilson, 31, is the oldest first-timer on Canada\u2019s squad. Not since the U17 worlds in 2011 has he repped the Maple Leaf at a best-on-best.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve played against Macklin and Connor a lot, and it\u2019s not fun. Playing with them is a lot more fun. They\u2019re so good with the puck. For me, it\u2019s about, go get it for them and get open, and they\u2019ll do the rest,\u201d Wilson said.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s not every day you play with a guy that just has the skating ability like Connor. Obviously, I\u2019m a straight-line skater and a hard worker.\u201d<\/p>\n
McDavid is already taking Wilson to school on where to go on certain routes and how to trust that his centreman will join the rush.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s like, \u2018Hey, I\u2019m gonna catch up to you, you know. Like, maybe you don\u2019t need to go there. Maybe widen out there. I’ll catch up with my skating,\u2019\u201d Wilson explained. \u201cCreating space for him versus crowding his space or whatever.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd if we stay together, we\u2019ll get better and better.\u201d<\/p>\n
As diligent as Cooper is when it comes to constructing his blueprint, he\u2019ll be searching for weaknesses, ways to tweak and adapt his lines as these two weeks roll on.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf anybody watched 4 Nations, the lineup we started against Sweden was not the lineup that finished against the U.S. four games later,\u201d Cooper said. \u201cUltimately, you have to start somewhere. This is where we started tonight.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut, I\u2019ll tell you, it sure is fun.\u201d<\/p>\n
Team Canada\u2019s first-look power-play units:<\/p>\n
PP1
Makar
McDavid \u2013 Reinhart \u2013 MacKinnon
Crosby<\/p>\n
PP2
Theodore
Celebrini \u2013 Horvat \u2013 Marner
Stone<\/p>\n
Canada’s first men’s hockey game at Milano Cortina 2026 will take place Feb. 12 against Czechia at 10:40 a.m. ET on Sportsnet.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"MILAN, Italy \u2014 Jon Cooper flashes a grin as wide as a Zamboni entrance. Team Canada doesn\u2019t open…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":462798,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[433],"tags":[49,48,448,82],"class_list":["post-462797","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nhl","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-nhl","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/462797","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=462797"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/462797\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/462798"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=462797"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=462797"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=462797"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}