Cooper, Lightning players will ‘hit the ground running’ at Olympics

TAMPA -- Brandon Hagel should feel comfortable when he plays for Team Canada at the Olympic Winter Games Milano Cortina 2026 next month.

The forward will play for Jon Cooper, his coach at the 4 Nations Face-Off, which Canada won last season, and with the Tampa Bay Lightning, who are on a 13-0-1 run entering their game at the Chicago Blackhawks on Friday (7 p.m. ET; ESPN).

“Even for practices, I probably don’t need to stress where I need to be,” Hagel said. “I know every drill. It goes through everything. Obviously, if you have your coach behind you, he knows you. You know him. You have [Tampa Bay teammates] as well. You know how they play.”

Canada could have an advantage with Cooper coaching Hagel and fellow Lightning forwards Anthony Cirelli and Brayden Point at the Olympics, if everyone is healthy. Cirelli left a 4-1 win against the San Jose Sharks on Tuesday because of an undisclosed injury. Point has missed four games because of a lower-body injury and is week to week.

Earlier this month, Cooper was asked about Tampa Bay forward Pontus Holmberg playing for Team Sweden at the Olympics. His answer also applied to Cirelli, Hagel and Point playing for Canada.

“A lot of times, people look at the score sheet and say, ‘OK, give me the 20 highest-scoring Swedes,’ or the 20 highest-scoring Americans or Canadians or whatever it is, and think that’s your team,” Cooper said. “And what people have to remember, well, there’s 6-on-5. There’s 5-on-6. There’s penalty kill. There’s power play. There’s 5-on-5. There’s 4-on-4.

“There’s so many different dimensions of the game, and not everybody plays that. Even the top scorers aren’t in all those situations. Plus, there’s guys that, like, check. There’s guys that hold onto the puck. There’s guys that can minute munch.

“And so, that’s the art, and the fun part, of building a team.”

Cooper knows Cirelli, Hagel and Point can help him win. Cirelli and Point helped him win the Stanley Cup in 2020 and 2021. The three of them helped him reach the Stanley Cup Final in 2022 with the Lightning and win the 4 Nations with Canada last season.

He knows he can rely on them in certain situations against top competition under pressure. At the same time, they know what to expect from him. Canada will play a lot like Tampa Bay.

“For us, it’s nice, because I think we play very similar,” Point said. “There’s only a few changes in the system, so you’re kind of just playing the game that you always play, which is nice. It helps with that comfort level, so it’s a big plus.”

Point was one of the first six players named to Canada’s roster June 16. He had two points (one goal, one assist) in four games at 4 Nations and has 30 points (11 goals, 19 assists) in 37 games this season.

Cirelli and Hagel were named to Canada’s roster when the full team was announced Dec. 31. Cirelli did not have a point in four games at 4 Nations but has 30 points (13 goals, 17 assists) in 44 games this season. Hagel had one assist in four games at 4 Nations; he has 46 points (25 goals, 21 assists) and is plus-28 in 43 games this season.

But Cirelli and Hagel play together on the penalty kill. They were first over the boards for Canada at 4 Nations, and they’re a huge part of Tampa Bay’s PK, which ranks third in the NHL this season (84.2 percent).

They played together as linemates at 4 Nations, with Hagel at left wing, Cirelli at center and various players at right wing. Same with Tampa Bay this season. They can play a checking role, but they also can play with elite skill. Their linemate Tuesday was Nikita Kucherov, who leads the Lightning and ranks third in the NHL with 73 points (24 goals, 49 assists) in 44 games this season.

Yanni Gourde has centered a checking line for Tampa Bay this season, freeing up the Cirelli line offensively.

“Those guys get hard minutes, and it’s hard minutes because they have to play the 200-foot game, and it’s always running against …,” Cooper said, his voice trailing off. “Name it. Just go to the front of the scoring leaders. But I think a part of why we’ve had success this year is the Gourde line’s been able to alleviate some of the stress that the Cirelli line has usually had to gobble up.”

Canada will practice in Milan on Feb. 8-11, then open against Czechia on Feb. 12. It has two more preliminary games -- against Switzerland on Feb. 13 and France on Feb. 15 -- before the elimination games. The gold medal game is Feb. 22.

“Obviously, it’s not a long tournament,” Cirelli said. “You don’t have time really to build chemistry. It kind of goes right into it right away, so obviously it’s huge that there’s some familiarity obviously with ‘Hags.’ We play together down here and PK and stuff like that. So, obviously, it’s a huge plus that that chemistry is already built a little bit. …

“It’s huge to hit the ground running.”