Makar misses 4 Nations practice with illness
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Kristen Shilton
BROSSARD, Quebec — Team Canada is battling more blueline drama at the 4 Nations Face-Off.
The country’s top defenseman Cale Makar missed Friday’s practice with an illness, putting his status for Saturday’s game against the USA in jeopardy.
Canada was already down to just six healthy defensemen after Shea Theodore was knocked out of the tournament with an upper-body injury sustained Wednesday against Sweden. Makar was a workhorse for Canada as the team had just five defenders on the bench for much of that game, finishing with a team-high 28:06 TOI.
Canada’s coach Jon Cooper could only speculate on Friday what Makar’s status would be by puck drop.
“Expect is a big word,” Cooper said on whether he anticipated Makar being available. “But I’m confident. I’m confident he’ll be there.”
There is a contingency plan in place if Makar hasn’t recovered. Sources told ESPN that the NHL and NHLPA agreed Friday that Canada’s circumstance warranted bringing Dallas Stars defenseman Thomas Harley to Montreal in case the team has only five healthy skaters for its backend by Saturday night.
Travis Sanheim was Canada’s original seventh defenseman already elevated to replace Theodore. Harley — who’s expected to arrive in town by Friday night — can be around the team but isn’t allowed to participate in anything on the ice unless Makar is officially ruled out for the game.
While Canada waits to see how its backend comes together, Cooper is mulling another significant change to the team’s goaltending. Cooper wouldn’t commit to a starter for Saturday’s matchup after Jordan Binnington got the nod in Wednesday’s 4-3 overtime win over Sweden. Binnington recorded 23 saves and an .885 SV% in the victory.
Adin Hill was Binnington’s backup in that game; Sam Montembeault has been the country’s extra goalie so far.
Cooper said he was going to talk to the goalies first before making a final decision.
One lineup change Cooper would cop to was inserting Sam Bennett for Travis Konecny. Bennett was a healthy scratch Wednesday against the speedy Swedes, but he’ll add some needed physicality to Canada’s group when it takes on the USA — a team that levelled 32 hits on Finland in its 6-1 win over that country Thursday night.
Canada is preparing for the USA to invoke a similar strategy in Saturday’s meeting, and Bennett will help balance the scales.
“I thought [Thursday’s] game was maybe a little bit heavier than ours was against Sweden,” Connor McDavid said. “They’ve got big bodies. But [Bennett] is big and strong. Plays with a little bit of an edge, as we know. I’d expect him to bring that, I expect him to bring his energy. He scores big goals and does all of it.”
Having Bennett in the mix will pit him against Florida Panthers teammate Matthew Tkachuk. It was the gritty Tkachuk leading the U.S. to victory with three points in Thursday’s game, and Cooper couldn’t help wondering whether the two will find each other on the ice come Saturday.
“I’ll be interesting if Sam and Matthew meet in a corner at some point,” he said.
On the USA side, coach Mike Sullivan didn’t say Friday if he’d make further adjustments after shuffling his own defense pairings early on against Finland. The USA didn’t hold a practice following Thursday’s win.
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Kristen Shilton
The Vancouver Canucks have come to terms with forward Brock Boeser on a new seven-year contract, carrying a $7.25 million AAV.
Canucks GM Patrik Allvin announced the deal on Tuesday during the first hour of NHL free agency. Boeser, 28, was an unrestricted free agent on a previously expiring contract.
Drafted by Vancouver 23rd overall in the 2015 NHL draft, Boeser has collected 204 goals and 434 points in 554 games with the Canucks to date. A top-six scoring threat, Boeser has elite playmaking skills and the potential to produce big numbers offensively. He had his best year offensively in 2023-24, producing 40 goals and 73 points in 81 games.
Boeser didn’t hit those marks again last season — settling for 25 goals and 50 points in 75 games — but was still second amongst teammates in output. He also plays a prominent role on Vancouver’s power play and when he can generate opportunities at 5-on-5, he is a true difference-maker up front for the Canucks.
The extension is a happy ending for Vancouver and Boeser. When the regular season ended, Boeser admitted “it’s tough to say” whether he’d be back with the Canucks. Boeser reportedly turned down a previous five-year extension offer with the club and Allvin subsequently looked into deals for him at the March trade deadline, with no takers. Boeser looked — and sounded — poised to explore his options on the open market.
Ultimately, Boeser decided to stay put by committing the best years of his career to the Canucks.
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Ryan S. Clark
Washington Capitals defenseman Martin Fehervary signed a seven-year extension through the 2032-33 season that is worth $6 million annually, the team announced Tuesday.
Fehervary, who had one year of team control remaining, will enter the final season of a three-year bridge deal that will see him make $2.675 million before his new contract begins at the start of the 2026-27 season.
He finished the season with five goals and a career-high 25 points while logging 19 minutes. Fehervary also played a crucial role in the Capitals’ penalty kill by finishing with 245 short-handed minutes for a penalty kill that was fifth in the NHL with an 82% success rate.
Securing the 25-year-old Fehervary to a long-term deal means the Capitals now have seven players who have more than three years remaining on their current contracts.
It also means the Capitals front office has one less decision to make ahead of what is expected to be an active offseason in 2026 that will see the club have what PuckPedia projects to be $39.25 million in cap space.
That’s also the same offseason in which captain and NHL all-time leading goal scorer Alex Ovechkin‘s contract will come off their books along with that of defenseman John Carlson.
But until then, the Capitals have their entire top-six defensive unit under contract as they seek to improve upon a 2024-25 season that saw them finish atop the Metropolitan Division with 111 points before they lost in the Eastern Conference semifinal to the Carolina Hurricanes in five games.
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