Sources: NHL, NHLPA grant Team Canada emergency roster exception in standby Thomas Harley

MONTRÉAL — On the eve of an epic clash between the United States and Canada, the goal posts surrounding tournament roster rules moved in a significant way for the home team on Friday.

Team Canada successfully lobbied the NHL and NHLPA to allow Dallas Stars blueliner Thomas Harley to travel to the 4 Nations Face-Off as a potential emergency roster replacement. Harley, a 23-year-old left-shooting defenseman, was scheduled to arrive in Montréal on Friday evening.

Original 4 Nations Face-Off roster rules set a cut-off for injury replacements at 5 p.m. on Monday before the tournament began. Only once a team dropped below the threshold of minimum players could an emergency replacement be added to the roster, though that rule was not written as position specific.

Team Canada announced on Wednesday night that defenseman Shea Theodore, injured early in the second period of their 4-3 overtime win on Wednesday, would miss the remainder of the tournament.

On Thursday, sources said Team Canada asked the NHL and NHLPA – specifically NHL deputy commissioner Bill Daly and NHLPA assistant executive director Ron Hainsey – whether they could fly in an emergency replacement standby, in case another defenseman was injured in Friday’s practice or Saturday’s morning skate. Team Canada was told that Harley could fly to Boston – where the tournament will shift on Sunday – and wait for the Canadian contingent to arrive.

Then on Friday, defenseman Cale Makar missed practice with an illness, and Canada revised their request to urgently bring Harley to Montréal instead.

That request was granted by the NHL and NHLPA. But a half hour after it was reported that Harley would be arriving in Montreal, coach Jon Cooper told media on Friday that he was “confident” Makar would be in the lineup on Saturday.

“Expect is big word,” Cooper told reporters. “But I’m confident. I’m confident he’ll be there.”

In other words, Team Canada now has seven defensemen in Montréal. That is a best-case scenario in the wake of Theodore’s unfortunate injury in Game 1. It’s also a departure from the written pre-tournament rules.

Sources said there is a restriction on Harley’s participation: Harley is technically not a member of the team and cannot join Canada for practice or a morning skate unless he is going to play. But Harley is expected to be around the team and fly with the team to Boston.

Those same sources pushed back against the notion that the roster rules have changed, saying that the NHL and NHLPA jointly agreed that they were not prepared to have Team Canada begin a game with five defensemen, which is all that were healthy on Friday. They also cited weather and potential travel delays as considerations.

According to sources, all four federations involved asked the NHL and NHLPA to increase roster sizes from 23 to 25 at the beginning of the selection process, but were rebuffed. The NHLPA, in particular, sought to limit the number of extra healthy scratches so players could vacation during the 12-day gap in the schedule.

As a result, the NHL and NHLPA made an exception on Friday for what they felt were extraordinary circumstances.