By: Jason Cooke | Follow me on X @cookejournalism
Brad Marchand and Charlie McAvoy, two established voices in the Boston Bruins’ locker room, have developed a tightly knit relationship throughout their careers donning a B’s sweater. But by no means will that bond give Marchand a free pass when he’s lugging the puck up ice against Team USA in the 4 Nations Face-Off — and Marchand wouldn’t want it any other way.
“It’ll be different,” Marchand said of playing against his Bruins teammates. “I don’t like playing against guys that I know and have relationships with because it’s hard to play harder on them, but when you put that jersey on for Canada, there are no friends on the ice. And they will feel the same exact way. I can put any amount of money on it that if Chuckie gets a chance to run me, he’s gonna run me. That’s part of playing for your country.”
It’s a fact of the matter that Bruins representation will have to honor when they put on their respective sweaters for the international tournament, including Team USA’s Jeremy Swayman and Sweden’s Elias Lindholm.
“It’ll be fun; it’ll be great,” McAvoy said of playing against Marchand. “I face him every day in practice and it’s a lot of fun to compete against him. He certainly is a hell of a competitor. I’m looking forward to that.”
Canada hits the ice against Sweden to kickstart the tournament on Wednesday at 8 p.m., which will feature Marchand against Lindholm. Then, Team USA will battle Finland (Swayman and McAvoy against Lindholm) on Thursday before Saturday’s tilt between Team USA and Canada — where Swayman eagerly awaits to experience Marchand’s competitive edge from a different perspective.
“I’m excited to play against it and I’m excited to see how he is not on your team because as Bruins we love him on our team and he’s notorious for being hated,” Swayman said. “That’s something that I’m looking forward to and in the same way, he’s my captain. So I’m going to give it right back to him and I know (McAvoy) is going to do the same and all of our teammates.”
The unique situation of four teams composed of the league’s best will also bring another interesting dynamic to the table. Marchand, McAvoy, Lindholm and Swayman are used to logging substantial minutes in pivotal roles for the Bruins. On their respective 4-Nations teams, helping their team win will come in all kinds of new roles.
For instance, Lindholm skated on the fourth line for Sweden in Tuesday’s line rushes. While these combinations are far from set in stone, it’s something each of the Bruins cogs will have to navigate.
“My role here is probably more of a depth defensive role, so it’s easy to just focus on that,” said Lindholm, who’s posted 10-19-29 this season in Boston. “Obviously my 200-foot game is always going to be there so I’m going to try to do the right things, but so far I’ve felt pretty good.”
McAvoy echoed a similar sentiment, who was seen skating with Zach Werenski, but wasn’t featured on either power play unit.
“Whatever I’m asked to do, I’m gonna do, and I’m gonna do it to the best of my ability and I think everybody is going to fall in line in that regard. These opportunities don’t come around very often,” McAvoy said.
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