10:45 a.m.: Theodore is expected to be out week-to-week due to the upper-body injury, the Golden Knights said Thursday. Whether he’ll remain out through the trade deadline remains to be seen, but it’s clear he won’t be ready to go when Vegas resumes its schedule on Feb. 22 against the Canucks.
8:17 a.m.: Canada defenseman Shea Theodore will be sidelined for the rest of the 4 Nations Face-Off after sustaining an upper-body injury in last night’s overtime win over Sweden, head coach Jon Cooper told reporters postgame (including Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet).
The Golden Knights blue-liner hit the boards awkwardly while being hit by Swedish Kings winger Adrian Kempe early in the second period. He skated off under his own power and appeared to favor his right arm/shoulder area. During the game, TNT’s Jackie Redmond relayed that Theodore was already undergoing X-rays as part of his initial evaluation.
Unfortunately for the 29-year-old, his second appearance for the Canadian men’s national team ends after nine shifts and 6:59 of ice time. Canada cannot immediately replace Theodore on its roster – they can only add replacements if fewer than 18 healthy skaters are available for a game. Travis Sanheim was scratched as their extra defenseman against Sweden but will make his tournament debut on Saturday against the United States.
It’s a tough break for the 6’2″ lefty, who’s produced at an elite clip for Vegas since the turn of the decade but has struggled with injuries over the past few seasons. He hasn’t played more than 60 regular-season games in a single campaign since 2021-22. He was on track to play in all but one regular season game this year after missing a game due to illness back in October, but his availability for Vegas coming out of the two-week break in the schedule is now uncertain.
Theodore wasn’t going to be a top power-play option for Canada – they had Cale Makar and Josh Morrissey to quarterback their two units. But he was arguably their best puck-mover and most offensively gifted blue-liner behind those two, and a much lower-ceiling option in Sanheim now has to fill his minutes.
Vegas is far more concerned about Theodore missing time than the national side, though. He’s inarguably been their top defenseman this season, leading the club’s blue-liners in goals (seven), assists (41), points (48), shot attempts (282), takeaways (27), expected rating (+9.5), and CF% at even strength (52.1). For a team that entered the break on a 5-8-3 skid, that’s tough news.
Theodore’s lone previous appearance for the Canadian men’s national team came in 2019 when he recorded 2-5–7 with a plus-nine rating in 10 games en route to a silver medal at the World Championship. He also suited up for Canada at the 2013 U18 Worlds and the 2015 World Juniors.
Image courtesy of USA Today Sports.
This is why these tournament exhibitions shouldn’t be during the season. Vegas now may have lost one of their top defensemen as he may miss time for the regular season over a meaningless game technically. Utterly senseless.
The argument against this (which I’m not necessarily endorsing, just spelling out) is that the players themselves wouldn’t be too happy with it being during the offseason (they need a break, they have lives off the ice), and given the thirst for best-on-best hockey/national representation not just from the fans, but the players themselves (listen to them! They’re more pumped for this than anyone–remember Stamkos voicing his frustration when they scrapped 2022 Olympic participation?), they’re more than willing to take the risk (as opposed to not having these tournaments entirely).
(To be clear: That doesn’t change the obvious-really tough break for Vegas. Hope he doesn’t have to miss any time.)
I get it from the fan perspective but the ultimate thing for the players is competing for their country, so meaningless maybe a little harsh. Timing is definitely not good (tournament and injury) but could have happened in any regular season game too.
its fine, vegas will get to abuse the ltir cap exception again
Yet another reason to scrap these stupid exhibitions!!!!!!
Nice to see players playing hard rather than the crap in all star game. This is a great idea and perfect time to hold it now to give most players a break. Players get hurt in a midweek game that means even less in regular season so a few injuries are to be expected. No big deal.
Every teams worst nightmare. I love international tournaments, but doing it mid-season like this is questionable.