The San Jose Sharks center, Macklin Celebrini, will continue to lead the Canadians at the IIHF Men's World Championships in Switzerland.
The news has put a stop to the speculation that Sidney Crosby, who has returned for international duty, will take over the captaincy from Celebrini.
Crosby will serve as assistant captain along with fellow veterans John Tavares and Ryan O'Reilly. Initially, he was left out of the 23-man roster as the Pittsburgh Penguins were in contention for the Stanley Cup. The Penguins were then knocked out by the Philadelphia Flyers, making way for the 38-year-old to appear in his fourth World Championship.
The pair, in their respective media interactions, praised each other. The senior superstar, in a dialogue with TSN before the official report came in, stated that he's not bothered about the badge while admitting that it was a great honor to wear it.
Crosby added that he could see why Celebrini was chosen, pointing to his incredible season. Celebrini improved on his 63-point rookie season as an 18-year-old with 115 points (45 G, 70A) this season. The 19-year-old was appreciative of being awarded the badge. He also noted that Crosby has been the face of Canadian hockey for a long time.
The decision to make Celebrini the captain was taken after a discussion with the team. A reason could be that Crosby missed the first week of practice while he was playing for the Penguins. It was also suggestive of the team looking for a leadership transfer from a veteran to a youngster while the former is still playing.
There's also the case of a fresh face to rejuvenate the team as they chase their first championship in three years. The Canadians had dropped out of the top four last season, knocked out in the quarterfinals by Denmark in a 2-1 thriller with Nikolaj Ehlers and Nick Olesen scoring two goals in the final three minutes. A season before, the Swiss denied the Canadians a place in the final before the Swedes put them out of a medal position in the bronze medal match.
As they hunt for their first major silverware since the 2024 World Championships win, Canada are on the right start. In the first match of the tournament, the Canadians defeated the Sweden in a lopsided victory.
Canada got to a quick start with Robert Thomas and Darnell Nurse setting up John Tavares for the first goal of the night just two minutes into the game.
The Canadians quickly added one more in the first period before the Swedes equalized by the midway point of the second period. There was a bit of back and forth, ending the second period in a 3-3 tie.
In the final period, the Canadians once again took dominance, adding two more goals. Connor Brown and Dylan Cozens scored one each. The Canadian goalie Jet Greaves, in his national team debut at the World Championships, faced 25 shots while only letting in 22. In a post-game interview, Greaves expressed joy at securing a crucial three points. He admitted that the team got considerably better as the game moved on.
Team Canada returns to action tomorrow afternoon against Italy. Meanwhile, the Swedes get a day off before facing Denmark in a Sunday matinee rematch of last year's bronze-medal game. In the other result of the first shift of the opening day, Finland defeated Germany 3-1 in Zurich.
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