Nathan MacKinnon talks Cups, Canada and Cwench, his new sports drink

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Nathan MacKinnon would much rather be making news in late June for winning another Stanley Cup final.

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But he’ll be very prominent next week in Las Vegas, on both NHL awards night as finalist for Hart and Lindsay honours on the 27th, and the following day’s announcement of Canada’s first six players for the Four Nations Face-Off.

The competitor he is, neither potential pick can ease MacKinnon’s pain of his Colorado Avalanche not getting past the second round against Dallas for a shot at Connor McDavid’s Oilers in the conference final and the lure of a second title in three years.

“I’ve not got over it,” MacKinnon declared Tuesday on a Zoom call with national media to announce his partnership with Cwench Hydration, a sports drink in conjunction with trainer Andy O’Brien and other Canadian athletes. “Even nominated for a couple of trophies, I couldn’t find enough to help the team, to come through when I needed to.

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“I still want to be playing. But (the Stars) were a great team, a deep team that had our number.”

Though centre MacKinnon and defenceman Cale Makar were among the Avs who had great individual years, the club still didn’t have injured Gabriel Landeskog and, three games into the Dallas series, suffered a major distraction when winger Valeri Nichushkin entered the player assistance program for a second time in the season. MacKinnon noted Nichushkin had nine goals in his eight playoff games.

“We hope he finds peace, gets help. He’s a great teammate, we all love him. It’s obviously bigger than the game.

“It was a good year for a lot of guys on our team. I made changes (resulting in a career high 140 points, second only to Tampa Bay’s Nikita Kucherov). If you don’t make changes, you’re not getting better. I tinkered with a few things.

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“In (the thick of) playoffs, sometimes you’re in your own world, though at the end of the day you’re battling with all the guys in the room. But the year is over. We didn’t win, when the idea is to win Cups.”

The 2024 fanfare isn’t quite through for MacKinnon, who has watched the Florida-Edmonton final from his home province of Nova Scotia. He’s been part of the closest MVP/MOP races in recent memory with at least six worthy winners. Nine players posted 100 points or better.

In the end, MacKinnon, McDavid and Kucherov are Hart finalists as most valuable player, as picked by the Professional Hockey Writers Association, while the Lindsay player ballots substituted Toronto’s league-goal leader Auston Matthews for McDavid in the definition of most outstanding.

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Also getting consideration for both awards were Artemi Panarin of the Rangers and Sidney Crosby of Pittsburgh. MacKinnon, 28, is a four-time Hart finalist, finishing second twice, hoping to join Peter Forsberg and Joe Sakic as Colorado stars to have won the award this century.

“During the season, you’re not really looking at that,” MacKinnon insisted. “It’s super-cool to be in that conversation, it’s flattering. But it’s also out of my hands. Some people will vote for me, some not. I’m just excited to be going to Vegas with my friends and family.”

Not only is the potential of playing in the Four Nations in February with fellow Bluenoser Crosby a feel-good story, the duo would be a big part of Canada’s chances against the United States, Sweden and Finland. Crosby and Makar could be part of the starting six reveal in Vegas.

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“I’d love to play with Sid on a line — on the wing,” MacKinnon enthused. “We’d have good chemistry. We’d be talking about the lineup. We are hockey fans above all.”

HE’LL DRINK TO THAT

MacKinnon’s new health and wellness agreement, includes Toronto-born NBAer Andrew Wiggins of the Golden State Warriors and female international soccer player Adriana Leon from Mississauga. O’Brien, a strength coach for 25 years, developed non-sugar Cwench with all-natural ingredients and seven performing electrolytes in four different flavours.

O’Brien flew to Denver this season to explain to MacKinnon a full range of health supplement products as well as the drink. Cizzle Brands founder John Celenza was active with the successful Bio-Steel energy drink before selling his majority stake in 2019 for an effective $80 million evaluation.

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“I’m pretty careful what I put in my body,” MacKinnon said. “I trust Andy as much as anyone and have worked with him since I was 15. He’s not just a strength coach, he’s taught me a lot about nutrition.”

Restoring fluids becomes much more important when playing almost 50 games a year and practising up in the Rocky Mountains.

“(Hydration) is a low-hanging fruit that everyone should take seriously and definitely at altitude,” MacKinnon said. “I was on a mission when I came in the NHL to be the best I could. My dad was always getting me into whole wheat bread and little things to be healthy. It’s a big advantage for me. Even at the top level, it’s important to get an edge.”

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BRAIN CHILDREN

On Tuesday, the Carolina Hurricanes confirmed that Don Waddell’s successor is Eric Tulsky, 10 years after he joined the team as a consultant and soon after becoming its first manager of analytics.

Assistant GM since 2020, the 49-year-old Philadelphia native (he once wrote for a Flyers fan blog) has some impressive ‘real life’ credentials. They include a B.A. in chemistry and physics from Harvard, a PhD in chemistry from the University of California, Berkeley, and a two-year, post-doctoral study at the Naval Research Lab in Washington, D.C. He also worked in the high-tech industry, managing research teams focused on using nanotechnology to solve problems in DNA sequencing, solar energy, displays, and energy storage. He currently holds 27 U.S. patents.

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Across the country in Utah, Chris Armstrong was named president of hockey operations of the former Arizona Coyotes.

Armstrong worked 14 years as an executive at Wasserman, a Los Angeles-based sports marketing and talent management company, prominent in an acquisition strategy that put the firm on the hockey representation map in 2018. He negotiated several contracts for prominent hockey execs and helped the careers of top players and personalities in pro golf, including Utah native Tony Finau.

OHIO A NO GO

Waddell started his new tenure in Columbus as GM by letting go coach Pascal Vincent on Monday. The Blue Jackets are now in need of a fourth coach in 14 months after Brad Larsen was let go, Mike Babcock’s unsettling tactics resulted in firing during 2023 training camp and Vincent wasn’t able to improve a young team in what most saw as a no-win situation.

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Todd McLellan, who applied a couple of places earlier this spring, is still out there, though if teams such as Toronto did not get far with getting a definitive word on whether Joel Quenneville can leave league-mandated purgatory, it’s doubtful the Jackets will.

Other candidates might come forward in the coming days. Waddell will address the media on his search Thursday

MORE SUGAR FOR SPOONER

It’s icing on the cake for Natalie Spooner after the Canadian and Professional Women’s Hockey League Toronto star was named International Ice Hockey Federation’s female player of the year.

Her PWHL-best 20 goals and 27 points made the 33-year-old the six-team circuit’s inaugural MVP and top forward. She also had four points in Canada’s gold-medal win over the U.S at the world championship in Utica, N.Y. Spooner received 33.6 per cent of votes by media from the top 16 IIHF women’s nations. American Alex Carpenter received 14.6 per cent, Canadian captain and PWHL Montreal forward Marie-Philip Poulin received 11.5.

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Czechia captain Roman Cervenka was voted male player of the year after the nation won gold on home ice at the male worlds.

ICE CHIPS

Defenceman Filip Hronek has definitely found a home in Vancouver. Since coming from the Detroit Red Wings in 2022-23, he had a career-best 48 points this season, was a plus-33 and got rewarded Tuesday with a new eight-year, $58 million US deal … The New York Rangers have placed forward Barclay Goodrow, and his three remaining seasons of $3.641 million AAV, on waivers. The 31-year-old had a six-year pact … The Blues have extended defenceman Scott Perunovich for one year at $1.15 million … Late Tuesday, the Calder Cup finals were to resume in Thousand Palms, Calif., between the Coachella Valley Firebirds and the Eastern Conference champion Hershey Bears. The rematch of last year’s best-of-seven, won by Hershey, is tied 1-1.

lhornby@postmedia.com

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