The 4 Nations Face-Off begins in five days, and Canada and the USA are dealing with a few injuries.
Pittsburgh Penguins star Sidney Crosby will miss Friday’s game with an upper-body injury, ending his ironman streak at 229 games.
He left Tuesday’s game appearing to favor his arm after a collision but returned. He didn’t practice on Wednesday, though he skated on Thursday and Friday.
‘Right now, we’re just taking it one day at a time,’ Penguins coach Mike Sullivan told reporters. ‘He’s not going to play tonight. Obviously, he’s on the ice. He’s participating in the morning skate, which is encouraging from our standpoint.’
Canada’s Anthony Cirelli missed Thursday’s Tampa Bay Lightning game and is day-to-day with an upper body injury. Hockey Canada has to replace Vegas Golden Knights defenseman Alex Pietrangelo, who withdrew to rest an injury and prepare for the rest of the season.
U.S. defenseman Quinn Hughes, meanwhile, has missed three games and didn’t accompany the Vancouver Canucks on their trip to San Jose.
How does that affect his status for the tournament?
‘It depends on the next 48 hours, I guess that’s what it comes down to,’ Canucks coach Rick Tocchet told reporters on Wednesday. ‘We’ll sit down with Quinn and talk to him.’
Hughes will have to balance playing in the tournament against being healthy for the stretch run.
‘I know Quinn is a USA guy,’ Tocchet said. ‘He loves his country, playing with his brother (Jack). There’s a lot of positives to it, but he’s a smart kid, too. He understands what’s at stake.’
The USA got good news on defenseman Zach Werenski, who missed the Columbus Blue Jackets’ game Tuesday but he returned to the lineup Thursday. He said he was feeling better after two days of rest and picked up an assist.
‘If I thought I was going to go the 4 Nations and make anything worse, I wouldn’t go but I don’t think that’s the case at all,’ he told reporters before Thursday’s game.
Hughes and Werenski rank second third in scoring among NHL defenseman.
Finland and Sweden already have made injury replacements.
Sweden picked the Penguins’ Rickard Rakell to replace injured Golden Knights forward William Karlsson. Last week, it replaced injured New Jersey Devils goalie Jacob Markstrom with the Philadelphia Flyers’ Samuel Ersson.
Finland earlier this week added the Buffalo Sabres’ Henri Jokiharju and New York Rangers’ Urho Vaakanainen to replace injured Miro Heiskanen and Jani Hakanpaa.
The tournament – featuring NHL players from the United States, Canada, Finland and Sweden – will run from Feb. 12-20 in Montreal and Boston.
Here are the updated rosters, leadership teams, schedule and broadcast information for the 4 Nations Face-Off:
USA 4 Nations Face-Off roster
Initial six players (listed alphabetically)
F Jack Eichel, Vegas Golden Knights
F Auston Matthews, Toronto Maple Leafs
F Matthew Tkachuk, Florida Panthers
D Adam Fox, New York Rangers
D Quinn Hughes, Vancouver Canucks (day-to-day)
D Charlie McAvoy, Boston Bruins
Rest of the roster
F Matt Boldy, Minnesota Wild
F Kyle Connor, Winnipeg Jets
F Jake Guentzel, Tampa Bay Lightning
F Jack Hughes, New Jersey Devils
F Chris Kreider, New York Rangers
F Dylan Larkin, Detroit Red Wings
F J.T. Miller, New York Rangers
F Brock Nelson, New York Islanders
F Brady Tkachuk, Ottawa Senators
F Vincent Trocheck, New York Rangers
D Brock Faber, Minnesota Wild
D Noah Hanifin, Vegas Golden Knights
D Jaccob Slavin, Carolina Hurricanes
D Zach Werenski, Columbus Blue Jackets
G Connor Hellebuyck, Winnipeg Jets
G Jake Oettinger, Dallas Stars
G Jeremy Swayman, Boston Bruins
Captain: Matthews. Alternate captains: Matthew Tkachuk, McAvoy
Canada 4 Nations Face-Off roster
Initial six players
F Sidney Crosby, Pittsburgh Penguins (missing Friday’s game)
F Nathan MacKinnon, Colorado Avalanche
F Brad Marchand, Boston Bruins
F Connor McDavid, Edmonton Oilers
F Brayden Point, Tampa Bay Lightning
D Cale Makar, Colorado Avalanche
Rest of the roster
F Sam Bennett, Florida Panthers
F Anthony Cirelli, Tampa Bay Lightning (day to day)
F Brandon Hagel, Tampa Bay Lightning
F Seth Jarvis, Carolina Hurricanes
F Travis Konecny, Philadelphia Flyers
F Mitch Marner, Toronto Maple Leafs
F Sam Reinhart, Florida Panthers
F Mark Stone, Vegas Golden Knights
D Josh Morrissey, Winnipeg Jets
D Colton Parayko, St. Louis Blues
D Alex Pietrangelo, Vegas Golden Knights (won’t play, replacement not named yet)
D Travis Sanheim, Philadelphia Flyers
D Shea Theodore, Vegas Golden Knights
D Devon Toews, Colorado Avalanche
G Jordan Binnington, St. Louis Blues
G Adin Hill, Vegas Golden Knights
G Sam Montembeault, Montreal Canadiens
Captain: Crosby. Alternate captains: McDavid, Makar
Finland 4 Nations Face-Off roster
Initial six players
F Sebastian Aho, Carolina Hurricanes
F Aleksander Barkov, Florida Panthers
F Mikko Rantanen, Carolina Hurricanes
D Miro Heiskanen, Dallas Stars (won’t play because of injury)
D Esa Lindell, Stars
G Juuse Saros, Nashville Predators
Rest of the roster
F Joel Armia, Montreal Canadiens
F Mikael Granlund, Dallas Stars
F Erik Haula, New Jersey Devils
F Roope Hintz, Dallas Stars
F Kaapo Kakko, Seattle Kraken
F Artturi Lehkonen, Colorado Avalanche
F Anton Lundell, Florida Panthers
F Patrik Laine, Montreal Canadiens
F Eetu Luostarinen, Florida Panthers
F Teuvo Teravainen, Chicago Blackhawks
D Henri Jokiharju, Buffalo Sabres (injury replacement)
D Niko Mikkola, Florida Panthers
D Olli Maatta, Utah Hockey Club
D Rasmus Ristolainen, Philadelphia Flyers (could return before tournament)
D Juuso Valimaki, Utah Hockey Club
D Urho Vaakanainen, New York Rangers (injury replacement)
G Kevin Lankinen, Vancouver Canucks
G Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen, Buffalo Sabres
Note: Vaakanainen and Jokiharju are replacing injured defensemen Heiskanen and Jani Hakanpaa.
Captain: Barkov. Alternate captains: Aho, Granlund, Rantanen
Sweden 4 Nations Face-Off roster
Initial six players
F Filip Forsberg, Nashville Predators
F William Nylander, Toronto Maple Leafs
F Mika Zibanejad, New York Rangers
D Gustav Forsling, Florida Panthers
D Victor Hedman, Tampa Bay Lightning
D Erik Karlsson, Pittsburgh Penguins
Rest of the roster
F Viktor Arvidsson, Edmonton Oilers
F Jesper Bratt, New Jersey Devils
F Leo Carlsson, Anaheim Ducks
F Joel Eriksson Ek, Minnesota Wild
F Adrian Kempe, Los Angeles Kings
F Elias Lindholm, Boston Bruins
F Gustav Nyquist, Nashville Predators
F Elias Pettersson, Vancouver Canucks
F Rickard Rakell, Pittsburgh Penguins (injury replacement)
F Lucas Raymond, Detroit Red Wings
D Rasmus Andersson, Calgary Flames
D Jonas Brodin, Minnesota Wild
D Rasmus Dahlin, Buffalo Sabres
D Mattias Ekholm, Edmonton Oilers
G Samuel Ersson, Philadelphia Flyers (injury replacement)
G Filip Gustavsson, Minnesota Wild
G Linus Ullmark, Ottawa Senators
Note: Rakell replaces William Karlsson. Ersson replaces Markstrom.
Captain: Hedman. Alternate captains: Ekholm, Erik Karlsson, Nylander
4 Nations Face-Off schedule, TV
(Times p.m. ET)
Wednesday, Feb. 12: Canada vs. Sweden at Montreal, 8, TNT
Thursday, Feb. 13: USA vs. Finland at Montreal, 8, ESPN
Saturday, Feb. 15: Finland vs. Sweden at Montreal, 1, ABC
Saturday, Feb. 15: USA vs. Canada at Montreal, 8, ABC
Monday, Feb. 17: Canada vs. Finland at Boston, 1, TNT
Monday, Feb. 17: Sweden vs. USA at Boston, 8, TNT
Thursday, Feb. 20: Championship game at Boston, 8, ESPN