Marchand says playing for Canada at 4 Nations Face-Off 'going to be incredible'

BOSTON -- Brad Marchand knows this could be the last time, the last time he puts on the maple leaf, the last time he gets to play for his country, for Team Canada.

So, he’s not taking the 4 Nations Face-Off lightly.

“Hopefully it’s not,” he said, when asked if that’s something he’s thought about. “But definitely there’s potential of that. Obviously, I’m not unaware of my age and everything. Yeah, it potentially is, so I’m going to enjoy every second of it, that’s for sure.”

The 36-year-old Boston Bruins forward was a star the last time Canada played best-on-best internationally, in the World Cup of Hockey 2016. He scored the game-winning goal in the final, short-handed, with 44 seconds left in regulation against Team Europe, after leading the tournament with six goals, plus two assists, while playing on a line with Sidney Crosby of the Pittsburgh Penguins and his then-usual linemate, Patrice Bergeron.

Which is why he knows, intimately, that playing for your country is unlike any other kind of tournament, not like an NHL All-Star Game, not like playing for your NHL franchise.

It just isn’t.

“You feel the weight of the entire country on your shoulders,” Marchand said. “You may never have the opportunity to put that jersey on again, so you want to make the most of it.”

The 4 Nations Face-Off is the first event in what is becoming a busy international calendar. The NHL will send players to the 2026 Winter Olympics, in Italy, next February after not going in 2018 and 2022.

At the 2024 NHL All-Star Game, NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman said the League also intends to play a World Cup in 2028, go back to the Olympics in 2030 and hold another World Cup in 2032.

“It's going to be incredible for the sport of hockey I think everyone's really excited about it, the players are extremely excited about it,” Marchand said. “It's something that we've been very vocal about in the past, about wanting to be part of these tournaments. So it's a great opportunity that we have ahead of us."

Marchand was named to 4 Nations by Canada in the initial group of six players, along with Crosby, Brayden Point (Tampa Bay Lightning), Cale Makar and Nathan MacKinnon (Colorado Avalanche), and Connor McDavid (Edmonton Oilers).

Though no line combinations have been announced, Bergeron told “The Energy Line With Nate and JSB” podcast that he wants to see an all-Nova Scotia line with Marchand, Crosby and MacKinnon in the best-on-best tournament.

“I would like to see the Halifax line together -- Crosby, MacKinnon and Marchand -- I feel that could be a very good line,” the retired Bruins center said in the podcast’s debut. “We all know what Marchand brings to the table. He’s like a dog on a bone with the puck, he always finds ways to get it. I feel like he could create a lot of turnovers and space for Crosby and MacKinnon to do their magic, so it would be pretty lethal.”

MacKinnon, a Halifax native, leads the NHL with 80 points (20 goals, 60 assists) in 80 games. Crosby, from Cole Harbour, Nova Scotia, has 57 points (17 goals, 40 assists) in 54 games for the Penguins and has scored in four straight games.

The pesky Marchand, a Halifax native who succeeded Bergeron as Bruins captain, has 42 points (19 goals, 23 assists) in 54 games and has five points (two goals, three assists) during a four-game point streak.

“That’s the type of guy you want to battle with and go to war with,” Bergeron told former NHL player Nate Thompson and Julie Stewart-Binks. “And, let’s be honest, all the other teams want him on their team. He’s one of those guys, you hate him if you’re a (Toronto Maple) Leafs fan…if you’re a Bruins fan, you love him.”

Bergeron, who had 1,040 points (427 goals, 613 assists) in 1,294 games for Boston, said he’s looking forward to the 4 Nations Face-Off from Feb. 12-20 in Montreal and in Boston. The tournament, featuring NHL players from Canada, the United States, Sweden and Finland, will be the first best-on-best tournament since the 2016 World Cup of Hockey.

Canada opens the tournament against Team Sweden (8 p.m. ET; MAX, truTV, TNT, SN, TVAS) at Bell Centre in Montreal on Feb. 12.

Bergeron can’t wait.

“I think 4 Nations is something, to me anyway, is something that was overdue as far as international play and best-on-best tournament, Bergeron said. “Some can debate that it’s not totally best-on-best because there are some guys missing. But still, it’s a pretty cool tournament, looking forward to it, I’ll definitely tune it and watch.

"As a Canadian, you know who I’m rooting for.”

And he can take comfort in knowing Marchand and all of Team Canada will be trying hard to win.

"The World Cups and the Olympics and 4 Nations tournaments, these are a blast because when guys put on their jersey for their country, it doesn't matter where you're at, they're going to leave everything they have on the ice,” Marchand said. “They're going to play as hard as they possibly can. When we're going up against each other, it's not going to be like that All-Star mentality. You're trying to win.”

NHL.com staff writer William Douglas contributed to this report