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Why Jon Cooper calls Marner, Crosby and Stone Team Canada’s stabilizers
Photo credit: Geoff Burke-Imagn Images
Mitch Marner, Sidney Crosby, and Mark Stone just became Team Canada’s “stabilizers”, and that tells you exactly how this Olympic lineup wants to win.
Jon Cooper didn’t dress it up. He basically stamped a role on them and moved on.
That role matters because everybody is going to drool over Macklin Celebrini and the Macs.
Celebrini is 19, drafted in 2024, Round 1, by the San Jose Sharks.
That hype is real, but Olympic games swing on the shifts that stop the bleeding.
Cooper’s point is simple: Marner, Crosby, and Stone calm things down, keep structure, then slice you anyway.
"They're kind of a stabilizer for us. Clearly we're going to talk about Celebrini & the Macs, but that line's been outstanding. I just call them stabilizers. They just calm the waters, & they're pretty damn good players."
- John Cooper
- John Cooper
This line gives Team Canada a quiet superpower
Leafs fans have lived the Marner discourse for years, so watching him get this kind of trust on a best-on-best bench hits different.
Marner’s own read on it is even better: Crosby talks constantly, and that makes the details automatic.
When Sid is directing traffic, wingers can cheat less and still attack more.
That’s where Stone fits, too, because he lives for stick lanes, body position, and winning ugly.
"We just keep talking a lot & that’s the great thing about Sid. He communicates a lot about where he wants us to be, where he likes us to be ... It’s pretty easy to play with Sid, if I’m going to be honest."
- John Cooper
- John Cooper
If Cooper keeps this trio together, it’s a signal he wants a line that can absorb pressure, kill time, and still pop an offense-driving shift when the game gets tight.
The next game will tell you if they’re a matchup line, or the line Cooper throws over the boards to put out fires and start them.
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