Team Canada faces worst-case scenario one game into 4-nations tournament!

Team Canada is already dealing with significant obstacles one game into the 4 nations tournament. After losing defenseman Shea Theodore for the remainder of the tournament, he who sustained an upper-body injury that has labeled him week to week, the Canadians could be without another key member of the back end for Saturday night’s matchup against Team USA.

At practice on Friday, Cale Makar was missing due to an illness.

As insider Chris Johnston points out, this is not a good scenario for Team Canada:

“Canada is only one game into the 4 nations and already facing the worst-case scenario with the limited roster size teams were allowed to bring: Cale Makar is sick and Shea Theodore is out of the tournament with an upper-body injury.”

Dealing with Makar’s illness, head coach Jon Cooper also made additional changes to the lineup, hoping to boost his team’s physicality ahead of tomorrow’s game against the USA.
put Brad Marchand, Sam Bennett, who draws into the lineup for Travis Konecny, along with Seth Jarvis.

This is what the projected lineup for the game vs. the USA:

After Theodore went down with injury, Team Canada put Dallas Stars defenseman Thomas Harley on notice that he will be the next man up if there’s another injury on the club’s blue line. He cannot take part in formal skates or meetings with Canada unless he is officially added to the roster. Harley has nine goals and 29 points in 53 games this season with the Stars.

Now, fans are starting to wonder what will happen if Makar cannot play tomorrow night... NHL Deputy Commissioner Bill Daly has announced that, given the circumstances, Harley can come in and join Team Canada in case Makar cannot play tomorrow night, per Pierre LeBrun.

UPDATE:

After practice, coach Cooper did say that he was feeling confident that Makar could play against Team USA on Saturday. 

“Expect is a big word, but I’m confident. I’m confident he’ll be there.”