Avalanche’s Nathan MacKinnon to play for Team Canada after heartbreaking Game 7 loss

The Colorado Avalanche are still trying to get over a tough Game 7 loss against the Dallas Stars, and the hope is that they can come back stronger next season and put themselves in a better position. Before thinking about next season, Nathan MacKinnon will focus on another team he’s set to join, according to The Athletic’s Chris Johnston.

“The Avs make it official: Nathan MacKinnon will represent Team Canada at the IIHF World Hockey Championship,” Johnston wrote on X, formerly Twitter.

This will be the fourth ice hockey worlds and the first since 2017 that MacKinnon has been a part of. This season, he had the second-highest points in the regular season and had 11 points in the playoffs. MacKinnon will be joining Sidney Crosby to play together after 10 years. The two were on the team that Crosby captained to help win gold at the 2015 worlds.

Crosby and MacKinnon also played together for Canada as they won the 4 Nations Face-Off trophy, where they defeated the United States in overtime.

More players are set to return, as goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury is coming out of near-retirement to play for Canada. Many people are having a hard time wondering if this nostalgic group is what Team Canada needs as the 2026 Winter Olympics approach.

It’s obvious that Team Canada is looking to go all the way, and they have passionate players on their team to do so. MacKinnon is definitely one of the passionate players, and you can tell after the Avalanche’s Game 7 loss that he takes things seriously. After their loss, he spoke about how he felt losing to the Stars, and it was almost like he was at a loss for words.

“They were missing their best ‘D’ and maybe their best forward, (and) we still couldn’t beat them,” MacKinnon said. “Yeah, I don’t know. I don’t know what we’re going to do.”