Now what? How Canada survives without Shea Theodore, and where Travis Sanheim fits

Credit: Nov 18, 2024; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA; Philadelphia Flyers defenseman Travis Sanheim (6) against the Colorado Avalanche at Wells Fargo Center. Mandatory Credit: Eric Hartline-Imagn Images

BROSSARD, QUE. – Nothing was going to take away from the magic of Wednesday. From Mario Lemieux’s booming ovation to Sidney Crosby’s heroics to Mitch Marner’s overtime winner, Canada delivered a night to remember in Game 1 of the 4 Nations Face-Off, celebrating the first best-on-best competition we’d seen in nine years.

But amid the excitement, something bad happened. Defenseman Shea Theodore took a relatively innocuous bump from Sweden’s Adrian Kempe in the first period of Canada’s 4-3 win. Theodore sustained an upper-body injury while trying to brace himself against the boards, and he’s now out for the tournament. His experience lasted just six minutes and 59 seconds.

Canada’s scratched skaters, forward Sam Bennett and defenseman Travis Sanheim, could only watch helplessly from the press box when Theodore went down.

“We both just felt terrible for the guy,” Bennett said Thursday after Canada’s optional practice at the CN Sports Complex. “He’s a heck of a player and a great guy, and it’s obviously a tough blow to go down early in that game last night.”

Now what?

Theodore and the Vegas Golden Knights hold their breath after a week-to-week injury diagnosis. As for Canada, they ground through the rest of their first round-robin game with five defensemen. Going forward, Sanheim draws into their lineup in Theodore’s place. As a left shot, he slides in relatively seamlessly as a direct replacement, but Sanheim’s game is very different. Theodore is a silky-smooth puck mover, Sanheim a towering minute muncher who functions better on the penalty kill than the power play. So it will require an adjustment.

How will coach Jon Cooper’s pairings change going forward? It’s still early to know. Theoretically, Sanheim can slot into Theodore’s spot on the third pairing alongside Drew Doughty. Given Doughty’s extensive international best-on-best experience as a two-time Olympic gold medallist and World Cup winner, he can help coach Sanheim on what to expect being dropped into a tournament that Doughty said Wednesday featured the fastest hockey he’d ever seen.

“Yeah, for sure, already started to get to know him and he’s been a great teammate, great guy,” Sanheim said. And he’s been through a lot. So any kind of knowledge that he can share with me, he’s definitely a guy that I’m going to lean on.”

But Sanheim said Wednesday he doesn’t yet know if he’ll be paired with Doughty. It’s possible Cooper shuffles up his pairs to jumpstart Colton Parayko, who struggled perhaps more than any other Canada player in Game 1, with a 5-on-5 expected goal share of 35.17 percent. Then again, a Sanheim-Parayko pairing might feel too redundant, so it’s a stronger bet that Sanheim plays with Doughty, though Cooper did not divulge his plans when he spoke to media Thursday afternoon at Bell Centre.

Sanheim, 28, brings a long reach at 6-foot-4 and 222 pounds. While he’s not a menacing blueliner, he offers more physicality than Theodore, which could come in handy for what should be a spirited Saturday matchup versus Team USA. Sanheim is mobile, too. Per NHL EDGE, he ranks sixth in the NHL among defensemen in bursts of 22 mph or more.

“[I bring] a solid two-way game, a guy that can skate and move the puck well,” Sanheim said. “And I’m used to playing against the top guys, and I feel comfortable in that role, so I just bring a lot of simple plays and the ability to play both ends.”

“I think Theo, it was tough to lose him because he can break pucks out, he can play with pace, he’s a gazelle out there, you know how much ice he covers,” Cooper said. “Sanheim does [many] of the same things. The difference is, Travis kills penalties. With Theo, that’s not as much his forte, he was more of a power play guy for us. So that’s probably the major tradeoff between the two, but they both can skate, they both have length.”

Theoretically, Canada can get by without Theodore. They still have plenty of puck-moving ability from Cale Makar, Josh Morrissey, Devon Toews and Doughty, and Canada will also continue getting help from up front with so many elite two-way forwards to support their defense. But what happens if another blueliner goes down?

As confirmed to Daily Faceoff by NHL deputy commissioner Bill Daly, Canada can in fact add an additional defenseman – but only if one of its six remaining healthy guys gets hurt. That means it’s status quo for now, but Canada will have someone on high alert in case disaster strikes.

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Now what? How Canada survives without Shea Theodore, and where Travis Sanheim fits

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