Bruins’ Charlie McAvoy Refutes This Common 4 Nations Theme

The NHL 4 Nations Face-Off tournament gets underway Wednesday night at Bell Centre in Montreal.

This in-season tournament is different than any other sport. It’s not the NBA’s Emirates Cup. The NBA’s in-season tournament does not involve players representing their home countries. It’s a regular NBA game that counts toward the individual teams’ overall record, and the winning team receives a trophy. Each player competing in the quarter and semi-finals, as well as the championship game, gets a cash prize.

The inaugural tournament is not about all 32 teams vying for a cash prize. It’s not about showing off skills during an All-Star weekend, and it means a lot more to the players participating.

Bruins defenseman Charlie McAvoy has heard some fans rumble that the tournament is a “glorified All-Star game.” He insists that this is far from the truth.

“I heard that this morning, and that was the first time,” McAvoy said, per The Athletic’s Michael Russo. “I try not to be too much on social (media), but when someone said that to me, they were like, ‘This is going to be a glorified All-Star Game,’ I couldn’t believe it. I mean, really, I couldn’t believe it.

“There’s not one person here at this event that wouldn’t do anything to win this tournament, and I think that’s shared amongst everybody. There’s no … I don’t know, I’ve never been to an All-Star Game. You can have the All-Star Game. I’d rather play in this instead.”

McAvoy is one of four Boston players representing his native country. He joins goaltender Jeremy Swayman on Team USA. Bruins captain Brad Marchand represents Canada, and Elias Lindholm represents Sweden. Donning the colors of their countries is a special honor for each of the four.

While the championship country will win a trophy, NHL fans will have a chance to see the best of the best compete against each other and witness some of the league’s most elite players skating together on the same team or line.

Canada’s first power-play unit of Nathan MacKinnon, Sidney Crosby, Connor McDavid, Sam Reinhart and Cale Makar alone should have fans excited.