Canada defenseman Shea Theodore will likely be sidelined for the remainder of the 4 Nations Face-Off after struggling an upper-body harm in Wednesday night time’s time beyond regulation win over Sweden, head coach Jon Cooper instructed reporters postgame, through Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet.
The Golden Knights blue-liner hit the boards awkwardly whereas being hit by Adrian Kempe early within the second interval. He skated off beneath his personal energy and appeared to favor his proper arm/shoulder space. During the game, TNT’s Jackie Redmond relayed that Theodore was already present process X-rays as a part of his preliminary analysis.
Sadly for the 29-year-old, his second look for the Canadian males’s nationwide crew ends after 9 shifts and 6:59 of ice time. Canada can not instantly substitute Theodore on its roster – it might probably solely add replacements if fewer than 18 wholesome skaters can be found for a recreation. Travis Sanheim was scratched as their further defenseman in opposition to Sweden however will make his event debut on Saturday in opposition to the USA.
It’s a troublesome break for the 6’2″ lefty, who’s produced at an elite clip for Vegas for the reason that flip of the last decade however has struggled with accidents over the previous few seasons. He hasn’t performed greater than 60 regular-season video games in a single marketing campaign since 2021-22. He was on observe to play in all however one common season recreation this yr after lacking a recreation as a consequence of sickness again in October, however his availability for Vegas popping out of the two-week break within the schedule is now unsure.
Theodore wasn’t going to be a prime power-play possibility for Canada – it has Cale Makar and Josh Morrissey to quarterback its two models. However he was arguably its finest puck-mover and most offensively gifted blue-liner behind these two, and a a lot lower-ceiling possibility in Sanheim now has to fill his minutes.
Vegas is much extra involved about Theodore lacking time than the nationwide aspect, although. He’s inarguably been its prime defenseman this season, main the membership’s blue-liners in objectives (seven), assists (41), factors (48), shot makes an attempt (282), takeaways (27), anticipated ranking (+9.5), and CF% at even power (52.1). For a crew that entered the break on a 5-8-3 skid, that’s robust information.
Theodore’s lone earlier look for the Canadian males’s nationwide crew got here in 2019 when he recorded 2-5–7 with a plus-nine ranking in 10 video games en path to a silver medal on the World Championship. He additionally suited up for Canada on the 2013 U18 Worlds and the 2015 World Juniors.
