Thursday LNN: 4 Nations Face-Off Final, Another CTE Diagnosis, Trade Talks and More

• The 4 Nations are now down to 2 Nations. Tonight at 8pm, we get Canada-USA. The NHL got what it wanted: a highly-anticipated match-up between the two North American hockey powers. I doubt they're quite as keen on Team USA GM Bill Guerin going out of his way to double down on politicizing the thing:

• Seems like Guerin is hardly alone in his beliefs:

• It's the official position of this blog that Canada should not be up for annexation as the 51st state.
• Charlie McAvoy remains in the hospital after getting an infection in his shoulder during the 4-Nations tournament. It seems like there may have been a treatment mistake from the US Team Doctor who initially treated the shoulder injury. Apparently the Boston Bruins are not very happy with Team USA’s handling of the injury.
• Jaccob Slavin has been helping to lead Team USA from the blue line.
• Full preview of tonight's 8 o'clock start here.

In other non-4 Nations news:

• It comes as no surprise that veteran hockey players have been more exposed to the risks of CTE. Now, more evidence is coming through as unfortunately these veterans start showing symptoms and allow for research on their brains post-mortem. In a recent study, it was found that Hall of Famer Bobby Hull was found to have stage 2 CTE at the time of his death in 2023. Before his death, he suffered from memory loss amongst other symptoms.
• Seth Jones wants to taste the sense of winning. While he has not formally requested a trade, he has let the Chicago Blackhawks know he would like the opportunity to be traded.
• The Pittsburgh Penguins have very iconic landmarks to its franchise; one of these landmarks is colour commentator, Mike Lange. The team announced today that Lange had passed away at 74 years old. He was with the team from 1974 until 2021.
• The NHL is liking the taste of expansion teams. After the success of the Las Vegas Knights and Seattle Kraken, the NHL may be looking towards New Orleans. The NHL met with a group to assess the interest in the Southern region.