Hockey fans are finally going to see a best-on-best international tournament for the first time since 2016, with the NHL's 4 Nations Face-Off taking place this upcoming February.
The Toronto Maple Leafs have four players named to this tournament, and coincidentally, each of the four nations represented will feature one Leafs player on its roster.
With the tournament only a few months away, I thought I'd take a crack at predicting every team's captain, along with three alternate captains as well for each squad.
Spoiler warning, a few Toronto Maple Leafs players may have a shot at a letter with their respective international squads.
Predicting Every Team Captain at the 4 Nations Face-Off
Canada:
To get the Leafs home team of Canada out of the way first, the captain decision is a no-brainer. Sidney Crosby will be the captain of this team. Connor McDavid is more than deserving, but until Sid retires, the "C" is his.
In terms of alternates, the aforementioned McDavid is an easy pick. The other two players wearing the "A" I imagine will be Alex Pietrangelo and Brad Marchand.
While both players are at the end of their primes, both have experience as captains for NHL teams, with Marchand being the current bearer of the "C" for the Boston Bruins, and Pietrangelo formerly leading the St. Louis Blues to their first Stanley Cup as their captain.
On top of this, Marchand, Pietrangelo, and Crosby are the only three players on this Canadian squad that have dawned the maple leaf in a best-on-best international tournament, all having played for Canada at the 2016 World Cup of Hockey, with Crosby and Pietrangelo also playing at the Winter Olympics previously.
As deserving as Nathan Mackinnon, or even Mark Stone is of wearing a letter for this team, my final predictions are Sidney Crosby (C), Connor McDavid (A), Alex Pietrangelo (A), and Brad Marchand (A).