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Published Feb 23, 2025 • Last updated 43 minutes ago • 9 minute read
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Sidney Crosby of Team Canada celebrates a first period goal by Nathan MacKinnon against Team USA in the NHL 4 Nations Face-Off Championship Game at TD Garden on February 20, 2025 in Boston, Massachusetts. Photo by Bruce Bennett /Getty Images
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What does Gary Bettman and the National Hockey League do for an encore now?
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He is 72 years old, 32 years on the job as the sometimes loved, sometimes loathed, sometimes mistrusted commissioner of the NHL. And all he and his players association counterpart Marty Walsh have heard since the conclusion of the 4 Nations Face-Off hockey tournament is applause.
A thunderous standing ovation that has yet to end. From a world that normally doesn’t turn and look for anything that is hockey. It’s been all over television and radio and podcasts since Thursday night’s masterpiece, and into places where hockey rarely finds itself in the U.S.
The reaction to the entire tournament, the overtime final between Canada and the U.S. and to the quality of the event itself has been, frankly, overwhelming and unlike anything the NHL has ever known before.
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This was a one-off for the league, brilliantly played, brilliantly executed, circumstantially brought to you by the players who actively reached out for an international event of quality and, in doing so, matched the markets in Montreal and Boston for quality and intensity, leaving an impression that will remain forever.
In the end, two equal countries, playing head-to-head: There is no other sport that can match this way, one against two, which made the event all the more special.
Will the Olympics, which isn’t an NHL event, be this great next year? Maybe. Maybe not.
We’ve seen some fabulous Olympic hockey tournaments in the past, but also a clinical tournament without drama such as the previous time there was best-on-best at Sochi in 2014. This past week had four hockey countries in concert on ice and, when the music stopped, we stood and cheered and wanted more. Needed more.
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Like the fourth hour of a Springsteen show, this was a once-in-a-lifetime concert of hockey, with so many songs to remember, a show you may talk about for the rest of your life.
THIS AND THAT
Wayne Gretzky doesn’t have to explain his political choices to you any more than you have to explain your political choices to him. What Gretzky needs to do, though, as a more than prominent Canadian not living in the country, is address what his thoughts are on the subject of his pal, the president, who clearly wants to make his country the 51st state. What does the Canadian Gretzky think of all that? … A few Gretzky items that need to be cleared up, regarding his appearance at the final game of the 4 Nations event. 1) He entered the ice through the U.S. bench. He did that because that’s where he was told to enter by the local event organizers. There was nothing political about that. 2) He gave a thumbs-up to the American players and not the Canadian players. The reason was he had just been in the Canadian dressing room. He read out the starting lineup for the team prior to the game. The way people have misinterpreted Gretzky’s actions, his expressions even, especially on social media, is typical of the fake news world in which we live, where accuracy seems to be in the eye of the beholder … Because everything in the end always comes back to Toronto and the Maple Leafs, we have Mitch Marner making the tournament-winning pass to former GTHL star Connor McDavid, who should have been covered by Leafs’ and Team USA captain Auston Matthews. The tournament moments for Marner — the overtime winning goal against Sweden, the overtime winning setup against USA — provided a semblance of hope that come playoff time he will break out like he’s never broken out before. On the flip side, Matthews is 0-for-5 career in Game 7s or clinching games and had the puck on his stick for what could have been — or should have been — the United States winner in overtime. And as a Selke Trophy-quality defender, one of the elite defensive forwards in hockey, he should have been in position to prevent McDavid from scoring. That one mistake was costly … Jordan Binnington made the key save, plus an earlier one on Matthews, who usually scores on those kinds of opportunities. Wonder how much the Team USA loss will affect Matthews and if he maintains the captaincy through to next year’s Olympic Games … When the St. Louis Blues won the Stanley Cup in 2019, Binnington did not win the Conn Smythe Trophy as playoff MVP. But a case could have been made for him. And when Team Canada won the 4 Nations, he did not win tournament MVP. If the always-doubted Binnington didn’t make the stops he made late against the United States and into overtime, we’re not talking about a Team Canada win today. He should have been tournament MVP … I knew they were good players before, I didn’t know they were this good: Jaccob Slavin, Brandon Hagel, Matt Boldy, Brock Faber. And Brady Tkachuk blew everybody away. What a player from five feet in!
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HEAR AND THERE
What an extraordinary mess Blue Jays management has made over the Vladimir Guerrero Jr. circumstance. They have, without trying, turned their new season into a three-ring circus. It’s not really about contending any longer. It’s about signing Guerrero or trading Guerrero or losing him in free agency. And all the while the clock is ticking … The Jays made an enormous pitch months ago to Juan Soto, who is five months older than Guerrero. Had they made the same pitch to Guerrero, he would be signed by now. Somehow, they mistakenly determined that two reasonably equal hitters — Soto is slightly better statistically, but not enormously better — were not anywhere close to equals financially. The minute the Jays stepped into the Soto sweepstakes, they had cost themselves and their team dearly in not dealing with Guerrero first … If you have your house up for sale and the house next door to you, similar to yours, sells for twice what you’ve listed your house at. Then it’s obvious you’re going to alter the listing price. Soto lived next door to Guerrero. When he signed for an average of $51 million a year, that will likely increase to $55 million a year, how much is Guerrero now worth to the Jays or, by extension, the open market? … This is 10 years for Mark Shapiro and Ross Atkins on the job. This is their largest mess. They don’t have Guerrero or Bo Bichette signed beyond this season. They have next to no prospects on the way. They have an old team with diminishing assets. They did spend $500 million on stadium upgrades and training facility upgrades in Florida with no wins to show for all of that investment and, with that, they have the 24th best farm system in baseball. What they promised they would do — from Day 1 to today — they haven’t. They promise like politicians and deliver on none of it … The Washington Nationals had Soto and when it became obvious they couldn’t afford him, they traded him. The San Diego Padres had Soto and when it became obvious they couldn’t afford him, they traded him. Both teams turned Soto into assets. The Blue Jays are in an uncomfortable position. If they’re not in the American League race, they have to trade Guerrero and trade him fast. If they’re in the race, they have to keep him and chance losing him in free agency … And the situation is identical on a lesser level with Bichette, who at times has been the better player. Professional sport, a Hall of Fame general manager friend told me years ago, is all about managing assets. The Jays could write their own book now about mismanagement, Shapiro-Atkins style … One more thing about the Jays-Guerrero negotiation: The number Guerrero is asking for and the number the Jays offered, have been kept extraordinarily quiet considering this is sports. Sometimes this stuff leaks. So far, no leak.
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SCENE AND HEAR
Since Todd McLellan has taken over as coach in Detroit, the Red Wings have 32 points in 22 games. In that time, the Wings have an impressive plus-11 goal differential, which is a favourite stat for general managers. They can’t keep that pace up. Over 21 games heading into Saturday night’s action, the Boston Bruins have just 18 points and a minus-11 goal differential … The playoff race in the East had Ottawa and Detroit with 62 points, Columbus and Boston with 60, and the New York Rangers with 58. And with just two playoff spots available. The longer this stays tight, the harder it will be to differentiate between buyers and sellers approaching the NHL trade deadline in 12 days… There’s almost no race in the Western Conference. Colorado is basically in. Vancouver leads Calgary by three points. I don’t see the Canucks bowing out. And Utah and St. Louis need to get hot in the final quarter to have any playoff chance at all … The teams used 23-man rosters for the 4 Nations event. They get to increase that number to 25 players for the Olympics. That means Canadian general manager Doug Armstrong can subtract a few players from the current roster, if he chooses, and add Tom Wilson, Zach Hyman and Mark Scheifele to deepen out his roster of Canada forwards. The team does need a little more size and grit … Team USA will change for the Olympics, assuming they have the brilliant Quinn Hughes and Charlie McAvoy on defence. Team Canada should change with Alex Pietrangelo and Shea Theodore on defence. And if I had Colton Parayko’s slap shot, I would take it more often. If you have a weapon, you might as well use it … The Olympic hockey tournament in Italy will be played on NHL-sized ice, not the former giant-sized international ice … Memo to the Tkachuk brothers and friends: You can’t fight at the Olympics. If you do, you get a five-minute penalty and an immediate game misconduct. It’s not worth the early-game histrionics for that.
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AND ANOTHER THING
The Canadian team that lost to Team USA in the 1996 World Cup of Hockey had 11 Hall of Fame players on it. By my unofficial count, this Canadian team might have eight … I feel so sad for Victor Wembanyama, the NBA wonder, whose season is over because of blood clots discovered in his right shoulder. This is serious stuff. Wembanyama is only 21 years old and already doing what no one has ever done before … Fans in Dallas remain furious over the trading away of Luka Doncic. He was seen as central to everything about the Mavericks. While basketball is nothing like baseball, there are some similarities between the Doncic situation and the Guerrero Jr. situation. The Mavs just didn’t want to pay him any longer …. The dud that was the NBA all-star game drew four million fans on United States television. The spectacle that was the Canada-U.S. final of the 4 Nations, did 10.4 million on U.S. TV. That’s a larger number than any NHL game has ever had. Game 7 of last June’s Stanley Cup final between Edmonton and Florida did just more than seven million on American television … This has to excite the Senators: The two American goals scored in the 4 Nations final were scored by Ottawa players Tkachuk and Jake Sanderson … I knew Jon Cooper and Mike Sullivan were great coaches before the 4 Nations. Watching them manipulate their respective lineups in Boston and Montreal was clinic-like. Cooper’s usage of Marner was fascinating. He started him in Game 1 with McDavid, but didn’t like what he saw. So, he had Marner seeing almost the most ice time in one game and the least in the next. Cooper then moved Marner back with McDavid in the final and, of course, that paid off. The only Sullivan move I didn’t understand, same for GM Bill Guerin, unless there was an injury element to it, was the scratching of Winnipeg’s Kyle Connor. He’s too good for that … Happy birthday to Jeff O’Neill (49), Julius Erving (75), Chris Bassitt (36), Pat LaFontaine (60), Andrew Wiggins (30), Jamal Murray (28), Henoc Muamba (36), Ilya Samsonov (28), Kia Nurse (29), John Druce (59), Ron Hunt (84), Ed (Too Tall) Jones (74), Fred Biletnikoff (82) and Vijay Singh (62) … And, hey, whatever became of Jim Craig?
