The 2024-25 NHL season is approaching a two-week break for the Four Nations, where Team Canada has veteran Brad Marchand and captain Sidney Crosby as its main stars. However, despite the potential of the roster heading into the tournament, a rumor has surfaced in recent hours that points to a controversial decision that resulted in the absence of a key member of the Canadian team.
Both Crosby and Marchand have been selected to represent Canada in the 2025 Four Nations to be played between the United States, Sweden, Finland and Canada. Crosby, captain of the Pittsburgh Penguins, will lead the team, while Marchand, a forward for the Boston Bruins, will also be part of the roster.
With those two stars on the team, plus Connor McDavid of the Edmonton Oilers, anyone would be happy to be part of a team playing in a very demanding tournament. Sometimes, no matter how well a player performs during the regular season, an extra-sporting factor can keep him from the high level of competition with his national team.
Crosby and Marchand’s teammate to miss Four Nations for controversial reason
The player who will not play in the Four Nations with Team Canada alongside Marchand and Crosby is Washington Capitals goalie Logan Thompson. As for the controversial reason for his absence, former NHL goalie Steve Valiquette explained that assistant coaches Bruce Cassidy and Pete DeBoer, who coached him with the Vegas Golden Knights, did not want Thompson on the Canadian team for personal reasons and a bad relationship.
Logan Thompson of the Washington Capitals
“I don’t think Cassidy and DeBoer were going to have it. They didn’t have a great experience with him in Vegas. Yeah, I know a little bit about what happened there, and I can’t get into it,” Valiquette confessed on Sportsnet’s Real Kyper & Bourne show. Thompson, for his part, admitted at the end of 2024 that Team Canada management had never contacted him and that he did not expect a call from them.
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Thompson’s performance in the 2024-25 NHL season
It is striking that Team Canada would ignore Thompson, who has been one of the best goalies of the 2024-25 NHL season, leading the Washington Capitals to the top of the Eastern Conference. Alex Ovechkin’s teammate records a goals-against average of 2.18. For whatever reason, Marchand and Crosby will be without a teammate who could have been crucial to winning the 2025 4 Nations Face-Off.
