Marner and Stone are among the players added to Team Canada for the four-nation clash

Mitch Marner skated alongside Connor McDavid and Sidney Crosby this summer in preparation for the season.

The Toronto Maple Leafs winger will get his chance to really do it in February.

Marner was one of 17 players named Wednesday, completing Canada’s 23-man roster for the NHL 4 Nations Face-Off tournament, with the league poised to re-enter the international hockey sphere.

“I’m really looking forward to it,” the winger said after Toronto’s 3-2 win over the Nashville Predators. “It will be a very cool moment. You always want to wear your colors. It’s always a great honor when you get to represent your country.”

Joining Marner are Sam Reinhart and Sam Bennett of the Florida Panthers and Anthony Cirelli as part of an attack that already included McDavid, Crosby, Nathan MacKinnon, Brad Marchand and Brayden Point – five-star forwards announced back in June and Brandon hail together from the Tampa Bay Lightning.

Also leading the team are Mark Stone, captain of the Vegas Golden Knights, Travis Konecny ​​​​of the Philadelphia Flyers and Seth Jarvis of the Carolina Hurricanes.

The defensive corps, led by Cale Makar, also named in June, will see his Colorado Avalanche teammate Devon Toews in red and white, as well as Vegas duo Shea Theodore and Alex Pietrangelo, Josh Morrissey of the Winnipeg Jets and Colton to Parayko from the St. Louis Blues and Travis Sanheim from Philadelphia.

The biggest question mark for Canadian Boston Bruins general manager Don Sweeney and the rest of the country’s hockey industry since the selection process began has been the scoring arc – especially with goaltenders like Carey Price and Roberto Luongo a distant memory.

Canada doesn’t have the same goaltending tradition as previous international events, but head coach Jon Cooper of Tampa will likely lean on Stanley Cup winners Jordan Binnington of the Blues and Adin Hill of the Golden Knights. Sam Montembeault of the Montreal Canadiens completes the puck-stopping trio.

“We are pleased to announce the group of players who deserve to represent Canada,” Sweeney said in a statement. “We believe we have assembled a roster that features world-class talent as well as success at the NHL and international levels.”

“We are confident that this group offers us the best chance of achieving our goal on the international stage.”

The four-nation tournament, which also includes the USA, Sweden and Finland, will take place from February 12th to 20th in Montreal and Boston and serves as a preview of the NHL’s Olympic return in 2026.

It is also the closest ice hockey tournament has come to a best-on-best men’s tournament since the 2016 World Cup.

This showcase will technically not reach that threshold as Russia – due to its ongoing war in Ukraine – and reigning world champions Czech Republic are not included. But there is likely to continue to be plenty of interest as McDavid, Crosby, Leafs captain Auston Matthews of the US and a host of other big names finally share the ice on the world stage.

“It’s been a long time since we’ve seen NHL players in situations like this,” said Matthews, who was named to his country’s squad in June.

“Great for the game, great for the fans.”

The NHL, which competed in five straight Olympics between 1998 and 2014, announced at last season’s All-Star Game that players would participate in the next two games after the league skipped 2018 for business reasons and missed 2022 due to COVID-19.

“It’s a pretty good preview of the Olympics the following year,” Matthews added. “I think everyone is very excited.”

The goal of the NHL and the NHL Players’ Association is to hold a world championship with an expanded field in both 2028 and 2032 to promote international events on a two-year cycle.

Canada opens the 4 Nations on February 12 against Sweden at the Bell Center in Montreal before taking on the USA in the same building three nights later, with Marner and Matthews facing each other for the first time in their careers.

“Everyone has depth, everyone has great players, star power,” Matthews said. “In my experience, in situations like this, it’s usually the team that comes together the quickest that has the most success.”

The tournament will then move to Boston, where the Canadians will face Finland on February 17th.

The countries with the two best records after the round-robin will compete in the final on February 20 at TD Garden.

“It’s going to be crazy,” Marner said. “All four teams are well positioned. It’s going to be a great tournament. I’m super excited and extremely honored to have the privilege.”

All 4 Nations Face-Off games will be available on Sportsnet and Sportsnet+.

Canada’s full roster for the tournament:

Forward
Sam Bennett (Florida Panthers)
Anthony Cirelli (Tampa Bay Lightning)
Sidney Crosby (Pittsburgh Penguins)
Brandon Hagel (Tampa Bay Lightning)
Seth Jarvis (Carolina Hurricanes)
Travis Konecny ​​(Philadelphia Flyers)
Nathan MacKinnon (Colorado Avalanche)
Brad Marchand (Boston Bruins)
Mitch Marner (Toronto Maple Leafs)
Connor McDavid (Edmonton Oilers)
Brayden Point (Tampa Bay Lightning)
Sam Reinhart (Florida Panthers)
Mark Stone (Vegas Golden Knights

defense
Cale Makar (Colorado avalanche)
Josh Morrissey (Winnipeg Jets)
Colton Parayko (St Louis Blues)
Alex Pietrangelo (Vegas Golden Knights)
Travis Sanheim (Philadelphia Flyers)
Shea Theodore (Vegas Golden Knights)
Devon Toews (Colorado Avalanche)

goalkeeper
Jordan Binnington (St Louis Blues)
Adin Hill (Vegas Golden Knights)
Sam Montembeault (Montreal Canadiens)

– With files from Sportsnet Staff