SIMMONS SAYS: Too many stars missing to call 4 Nations Face-off a best-on-best

The hottest player in the National Hockey League is David Pastrnak with 30 points in his past 17 games.

He’s from Czechia and the Boston Bruins. He won’t be playing in the 4 Nations Face-off tournament this week.

The leading candidate to win the Hart Trophy as most valuable in the NHL is Leon Draisaitl of the Edmonton Oilers. He’s from Germany. He won’t be playing in the 4 Nations tournament.

The most consistent scorer in hockey, year in and year out, is Nikita Kucherov of the Tampa Bay Lightning. He’s from Russia, along with the record-chasing goal-scorer Alexander Ovechkin of the first-place Washington Capitals, and neither will be playing in the 4 Nations event.

It is a fabulous idea, this almost best-on-best mid-season tournament for the NHL. The players, for the most part, can’t wait to start. It’s short, it’s quick and there is little room for error here. It is a fabulous showcase for the NHL, with one giant exception.

There is no place for Pastrnak, no place for Draisaitl, no place for Kucherov, Ovechkin or goalies, Igor Shesterkin (injured) and Andrei Vasilevskiy.

Before he got hurt, nobody was playing better hockey than Minnesota’s Kirill Kaprizov and, since the big Hurricanes-Avalanche trade was made, not many have been better than Martin Necas of Colorado.

Their countries are not in the 4 Nations, which means four of the league’s top-10 scorers aren’t playing, and it would have been five had Kaprizov not gone down to injury.

So enjoy this is best-on-best event, even with some of the best missing.

Too many of the best will be watching from their vacation posts.

THIS AND THAT

The real mistake Team Canada made in picking its 4 Nations team was leaving goaltender Logan Thompson off its list. Thompson has started 29 games for the Washington Capitals and lost just two of them in regulation time this season. Team Canada goalies Jordan Binnington and Samuel Montembeault are second in the NHL in losses this season. Which points to Adin Hill as the likely Canadian starter come Wednesday … Weird to say this, but with a 1-2 punch of Joseph Woll and Anthony Stolarz in goal, the Leafs may have the best goaltending tandem in hockey. Stolarz is second in the NHL in goals against average and second in save percentage. It’ll be interesting to see who winds up being the Leafs’ go-to goalie in the post-season … There has rarely been any doubt about Todd McLellan’s ability to coach hockey. But what’s been happening with the strange roster that is the Detroit Red Wings is more than fascinating. McLellan has this rather ordinary Wings roster playing at a 127-point pace in his first 20 games behind the Detroit bench. When Derek Lalonde was fired as Wings coach, he had Detroit playing at a 72-point pace. Still not sure the Wings will maintain this and be a playoff team, but McLellan’s start is close to remarkable and he is the latest example of why you fire coaches in mid-season … With Miro Heiskanen on defence, the Dallas Stars are Stanley Cup contenders. Without him, not a chance. Whatever hope Team Finland may have had in the 4 Nations tourney ends without a 30-minutes kind of defenceman such as Heiskanen playing … The 4 Nations is another chance to see what Auston Matthews can do when the bright lights come on. He’s captain of Team USA. He’s playing tremendous two-way hockey with the Leafs. How will he perform in a tournament in which the Americans have the deepest roster of the four teams involved? … So far, Necas has four goals and five assists in eight games for Colorado. It’s been a tougher ride for Mikko Rantanen, who is missing Nathan MacKinnon in Carolina. Rantanen has just one goal and one assist in six games with the Hurricanes … There’s a special quality to MacKinnon that we don’t talk about enough. He went in to Edmonton on Friday night to play against Draisaitl, Connor McDavid and the rather hot Oilers. McDavid didn’t score, Draisaitl scored twice but MacKinnon ended up with four points in a 5-4 overtime win. Can’t wait to see what MacKinnon does wearing Team Canada colours this week … So, who plays with McDavid? Probably Sam Reinhart. Maybe the 30-goal scorer Brayden Point. Not sure who else. McDavid loves to cut and move in the offensive zone, which is what Mitch Marner does in a different kind of way. Some think that makes them a bad match. It will be fascinating to see what coach Jon Cooper does with his lineup … And who plays with Matthews on Team USA? If I were making the lines, he’d play alongside Jack Hughes and Matthew Tkachuk.

HEAR AND THERE

NFL quarterbacks better than Patrick Mahomes: None. No matter what the stats or MVP votes may say about Josh Allen, Joe Burrow or Lamar Jackson. NFL running backs better than Saquon Barkley: None. Which makes Sunday night’s Super Bowl a treat of sorts to take in. The quarterback of this generation playing against the most explosive running back in football. I’m cheering for whoever has the ball last … I don’t know if there’s a better defensive co-ordinator in football than Kansas City’s Steve Spagnuolo. What he does to try and stop Barkley will be so much of the talk when Philadelphia has the ball. The Eagles have a great offensive line, plus a quarterback in Jalen Hurts who can really run. The Chiefs have a terrific front seven on defence. These are the kinds of football matchups that should make for a classic Super Bowl … Myles Garrett has asked to be traded from Cleveland. He’s a top-five NFL defensive player, making $34 million a year. And one of the few teams that can afford him without shuffling around salaries is the Super Bowl playing Eagles … The top four quarterbacks in football are clearly Mahomes, Allen, Jackson and Burrow in whichever order you choose. So who is No. 5? Might be Jayden Daniels, the rookie from Washington; might be Bo Nix, the rookie from Denver; might be C.J. Stroud, the sophomore from Houston; might be Justin Herbert from the Chargers. Then there’s finding a place for Matt Stafford, Jared Goff and Jordan Love, along with the rookies Caleb Williams and Drake Maye. Which means, what? Dak Prescott, the $47-million quarterback in Dallas with the $89-million cap hit, might be the 15th best pivot in football … Tom Brady, Terry Bradshaw and Joe Montana all won tons of Super Bowls with great teams in New England and Tampa, Pittsburgh and San Francisco, respectively. None of them won three Super Bowls in a row. Mahomes can do that tonight. What a special piece of history that would be worth passing on to your grandchildren one day.

SCENE AND HEARD

This is the Blue Jays off-season: ‘We chase everybody.’ That doesn’t mean they get everybody. They did sign Anthony Santander, a fine hitter, but not a fine fielder. They did sign Max Scherzer, who used to be a Hall of Fame pitcher. He turns 41 in July. They did trade for Andres Gimenez, a fabulous fielder who doesn’t hit much. They did sign the reliever Jeff Hoffman, who teams walked away from because of concerns from an MRI. For almost every plus with these additions, there’s a minus. And they haven’t signed long-term deals with either Vladimir Guerrero Jr., or Bo Bichette. They still have the diminishing asset that is George Springer. And they don’t have a leadoff batter of any quality … All of that might be enough to win 80 or so games. But it’s not enough, without some real surprises, to be a playoff team … The biggest hope the Jays have, realistically — now and long-term — is the possible return of Alek Manoah. He’s calling his arm bionic after having Tommy John surgery. Manoah is actually younger, at 27, than Bowden Francis. He’s not expected back for at least half a season but he already looks forward to returning … Manoah told MLB Network that in his first year of high school: “I was a little fat catcher.” He then moved to first base before becoming a pitcher … The Jays rotation includes Scherzer, now 40; Chris Bassitt, 36; Kevin Gausman, 34. This team should be great on Oldtimers Day … Hard to figure what Masai Ujiri and the Raptors are doing. They started the season tanking for a high draft pick, which made some sense. Then they started winning too often, which didn’t make a whole lot of sense. Now they’ve traded for the talented Brandon Ingram, a pending free agent, who usually misses 20 or so games each season. Acquiring Ingram is a poor man’s Kawhi Leonard kind of deal, a decent talent to add to roster with Scottie Barnes, Immanuel Quickley, RJ Barrett, and Gradey Dick. But where does the tank go, now? And what kind of player will the Raptors get if they’re not in the bottom five of the NBA at season’s end?