Cale Makar’s illness and Shea Theodore’s injury at the 4 Nations Face-Off are precisely the reasons why the NHL owners don’t like international tournaments. Specifically, these situations are why team owners don’t like to have their best players participate in international competitions.
After all, the risk of injury is high, regardless of whether players are “careful” during international events. The intensity level gets high, and there’s always the possibility of an unexpected event that could lead to injury.
In Theodore’s case, the Vegas Golden Knights are now down their best defenseman. According to initial reports, Theodore will be out week-to-week with an upper-body injury. By the looks of the play, it seems Theodor jammed his shoulder on the play. There’s no telling what the extent of the injury is.
As for Makar, it doesn’t sound like he had a serious ailment. He was in the lineup on Monday afternoon against Team Finland. Makar seemed fine out on the ice, though we can’t know for sure how much he gritted through whatever it was that ailed him.
Despite the ailment not being serious, Colorado Avalanche management surely thought it would have been better to have Makar rest up and be fully healthy for when the Avs hit the ice again. Instead, Makar will be grinding on.
That situation is precisely what kept Alex Pietrangelo and Quinn Hughes out of the 4 Nations. In particular, Hughes followed orders from the Vancouver Canucks and passed on the tourney. Publicly, Hughes protested his lack of participation in the tourney. Privately, he had no other choice but to heed Canucks management’s orders to stay home and get rest.
Sure, it was disappointing for Hughes to miss the 4 Nations, but bear in mind that players owe themselves to their teams, not their native countries.