Penguins
Team Canada Tabs Penguins’ ‘C’rosby for Leadership Role for 4 Nations

In what should come as no surprise to just about everyone, Team Canada on Thursday announced that Pittsburgh Penguins center Sidney Crosby will serve a team captain for the upcoming 4 Nations Face-Off.
Crosby, a generational and most likely all-time talent, will wear the ‘C’ as the NHL shuts down next month for a tournament with games in Montreal and Boston featuring Canada, the United States, Sweden and Finland.
Perhaps the next-best favorite for the Canadian captaincy, Edmonton Oilers captain Connor McDavid, made it clear that he favored Crosby for the role. Crosby, 37, will be the oldest player in the tournament. McDavid was named an alternate captain.
Crosby has a rich and successful history playing for his native country. The Cole Harbour, Nova Scotia, native cemented his place in Team Canada history when he scored in overtime against the U.S. in the gold-medal game of the 2010 Olympics in Vancouver, what has long been known as the Golden Goal.
His international stardom began when he was on the silver-medal team at the 2004 world junior championship as a 16-year-old and on the gold-medal team at the world championship in 2005. Following his rookie NHL season, he led the 2006 worlds in scoring and was named the tournament’s best forward even though Canada finished a disappointing fourth.
After his two Olympic golds — he also captained Canada to gold at the 2014 Sochi Games — he and Canada won gold at the 2015 worlds. He led Canada in scoring as that team won the 2016 World Cup of Hockey prior to the 2016-17 season.
However, it has been 8 1/2 years since Crosby wore the Maple Leaf. The NHL ditched out of subsequent Winter Olympics — they are scheduled to return to participation next year — and he has either been busy with the Penguins in the playoffs during worlds, including Stanley Cup wins in 2016 and 2017, or he skipped worlds because of nagging injuries.
Crosby this season leads the Penguins with 55 points in 53 games, including the overtime winner Wednesday at Utah.
Also Thursday, Sweden named the Penguins’ Erik Karlsson as one of its assistant captains. Karlsson is the only other Penguins player scheduled to compete in the 4 Nations.
Crosby and Karlsson will meet each other in the first game of the tournament, Feb. 12 in Montreal.