MacKinnon in the middle of major Team Canada decision

Colorado Avalanche star Nathan MacKinnon and his Team Canada mates did their part in the preliminary round at the 2026 Winter Olympics. They won all three games, including the last one by a very comfortable margin.

Despite the overwhelming success, one bit of controversy has emerged around Team Canada and coach Jon Cooper’s decisions. Cooper has stacked his top line at times in the tourney to feature superstars Connor McDavid and Mackinnon on the same line. Cooper has even thrown in 19-year-old phenom Macklin Celebrini for good measure.

The line has been a knockout. McDavid has looked great with MacKinnon. While MacKinnon has been on McDavid’s wing, the duo hardly looked out of place. Meanwhile, Celebrini is like a type of puck hound that has the sort of sense few players ever develop.

The question now is: Does Team Canada make the McDavid-MacKinnon-Celebrini line a fixture? Or, does Cooper use this line as the nuclear option in case Canada needs an offensive jolt? There’s a case to go ahead and nuke their next opponent with one of the best lines we’ve ever seen.

But then again, keeping McDavid and MacKinnon on separate lines, at least at the start of games, makes sense as well. Opponents must adjust their matchups to deal with two superstars on separate shifts.

It’s tough to imagine that any team has the depth to match up against McDavid and MacKinnon on separate lines. Most teams can come up with one solid shutdown line. But two? Perhaps the only team that could match that is the United States.

Thoughts of having the Jack Eichel line, featuring the Tkachuk brothers, square off against the McDavid line come to mind. Then, another defensive line like Dylan Larkin’s unit against the MacKinnon line could work for a while.

But then, Cooper could just push the button and have McDavid and MacKinnon on the same line. That’s something that Mike Sullivan and Team USA can’t really do. So, it will be interesting to see what Canada’s next opponent does against this two-headed monster.

McDavid-MacKinnon duo reminiscent of another powerful Canadian couple

In the 1987 Canada Cup, Team Canada loaded up its top line with Wayne Gretzky and Mario Lemieux. They were the two best players in the world at the team. That duo went up against the Soviet Union, with Gretzky setting up Lemieux for a historic goal in the final game.

That’s the image that comes to mind when seeing McDavid and MacKinnon together. It’s like seeing Gretzky and Lemieux on the same line.

Could McDavid and MacKinnon team up for a historic goal? There’s certainly a chance of that happening. McDavid could play the role of Gretzky, with McDavid playing the role of Lemieux.

Anything is possible in major games like the Olympics. We know that MacKinnon is a proven winner. So, it would make all the sense in the world for Team Canada to send him out when it matters most.