SIMMONS SAYS: McDavid-MacKinnon are the new Gretzky-Lemieux

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When Team Canada won gold at the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver, their top centres were Sidney Crosby, Jonathan Toews and Ryan Getzlaf.

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When they won four years later in Sochi, almost clinically, it was again Crosby and Toews in the top two centre spots.

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Now, it’s a completely different world. It’s like turning the clock back to 1987 when Wayne Gretzky and Mario Lemieux played centre together in that famed Canada Cup tournament. The two greatest scorers in hockey history on the same team — and sometimes on the same line.

Gretzky and Lemieux back then. Connor McDavid and Nathan MacKinnon now.

Coach Jon Cooper, a student of hockey history, is fully aware of the famous Gretzky-to-Lemieux overtime pass that led to Canada’s win over the Soviet Union in what might have been the most exciting tournament final ever played. 
And no doubt the notion of having McDavid play alongside MacKinnon began with the memory of Gretzky and Lemieux.

McDavid and MacKinnon started Game 1 centring their own lines for Canada with Sidney Crosby centring the line that started the Olympics. That’s the strongest combination of centres, really, in Canadian hockey history.

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But by early in Game 2 against Switzerland, McDavid and MacKinnon began playing on the same line with the terrific teenager Macklin Celebrini. And the line looked rather unstoppable in a variety of ways.

With McDavid supplying his breathtaking speed, vision and innate passing ability. With MacKinnon bringing his electric power, his engine, his passion and a shot few can match in hockey. With Celebrini understanding his positioning — and also staying out of his linemates’ way.

Gretzky passed and Lemieux shot. Nobody did it better than they did — then or now. But McDavid passing and MacKinnon shooting — or the combination reversed — or the inclusion of either Celebrini or the blue-line wizard, Cale Makar, may be unmatched in Team Canada hockey history.

And this is just the beginning of the tournament for these immense talents.

THIS AND THAT

McDavid has six points in two Olympic Games. The most any NHL player has had in a best-on-best tournament was 11 points. That’s Saku Koivu and Teemu Selanne … Before he played in the WHA or NHL, Vaclav Nedomansky had an eight-point game for Czechoslovakia against Poland at the 1972 Olympics. Two years later, he defected to Canada and signed with the Toronto Toros … Not only did the 1987 team have Gretzky and Lemieux at centre, they also had the options of using Mark Messier, Dale Hawerchuk, Doug Gilmour and Brent Sutter in the middle, as well. Mike Keenan was the coach. Gretzky ended the nine-game tournament with 18 assists. Lemieux had 11 goals … Name to know about, if you don’t already: Johannes Hoesflot Klaebo of Norway has now won eight Olympic gold medals in cross-country skiing, including three in Italy this time around. No Canadian has ever won more than four … Hockey aside, will this be an Olympics without Canadian stars to remember? I don’t see a Catriona LeMay Doan, a Clara Hughes, or a Charles Hamelin on the horizon. Or the kind of shock that happens when a Kerrin Lee-Gartner unexpectedly wins the downhill or a Chandra Crawford becomes a national name by winning a cross-country gold … What I’ve been hearing for way too many years: If only this country or that country invested more in women’s hockey the field would balance out. Truth is, the better the PWHL gets, the stronger American and Canadian hockey players will get. Which makes women’s hockey the only two-country sport in the world … At Sochi, 12 years ago, I discovered some media seating that was so close to the ice you could almost touch it. From my seat, I could see the expression on the faces of those playing as if you were skating right beside them, hear them speak on the ice. The game looked and sounded completely different from that close. The speed of Olympic hockey is ridiculous on most nights. That close to the action, it was like discovering a new game for the very first time … A coach Dave King quote from the 1992 Olympics: “I have two meetings every day. One for the team. And one for Eric Lindros.”

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HEAR AND THERE

Anthony Santander, who will miss most of the 2026 season after undergoing shoulder surgery on Wednesday, may not be the worst free-agent signing in Jays history, but he’s on the short list … This is how it works in Major League Baseball these days: You want to get a rid of a bad contract, you call the Blue Jays. They’re like Mikey. They’ll eat anything. They took on Andres Gimenez and Myles Straw that way. And that worked out all right. Now it’s Jesus Sanchez, a platoon outfielder who Houston was happy to get rid of at $7 million a year. The Astros were also thrilled to get back their own draft pick, Joey Loperfido, in the deal, even happier that his salary is still at the major-league minimum. Loperfido was a seventh-round pick in 2021 … It has to be Joe Siddall alongside Dan Shulman for Blue Jays broadcasts, now that Buck Martinez has retired. Doesn’t it? … Best double-play combinations I’ve seen: 1. Alan Trammell and Lou Whitaker. 2. Omar Vizquel and Roberto Alomar; 3. Dave Concepcion and Joe Morgan … Being a great NHL coach doesn’t mean you’ll be a great general manager. Barry Trotz was a great coach. In his short time with the Nashville Predators, he wasn’t a great GM … The best GMs in hockey — Bill Zito, Jim Nill, Julien BriseBois, Chris MacFarland, Bill Guerin — were never head coaches in or around the NHL. Kelly McCrimmon, the great Vegas GM, coached junior hockey for years in Brandon, Man., where he managed and owned the team and probably did the laundry as well … Burlington’s Vicky Mboko is the 13th-ranked women’s tennis player in the world. By Monday, she should be top 10. She’s just 19 and only one of the players ranked ahead of her is younger … A personal announcement of sorts: This begins my 40th year at the Toronto Sun, my 38th year writing these Sunday notes columns. Thanks for being along for this most unexpected ride. My first story was a double byline with the Hall of Famer, Bob Elliott: The subject was whether they could put real grass instead of artificial turf in the new stadium being built called the SkyDome. Turns out they couldn’t.

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SCENE AND HEARD

There are eight teams in the PWHL. The Toronto Sceptres, coached by Troy Ryan and managed by Gina Kingsbury, have scored the fewest goals and allowed the most against in the league. It’s hard enough to have faith in this Olympic version of Team Canada — whipped by Team USA in their round-robin match — but when they’re managed by Kingsbury and coached by Ryan, there’s some reason to doubt … There are few Olympic sports as cruel as figure skating. Just ask Kurt Browning and now the latest Browning replica, American skater Ilia Malinin, the jumping giant who fell all over himself in Milan … The ‘tush push’ was not invented by the Philadelphia Eagles. It was invented by short-track speed skaters in relay races years ago … Not sure who did the voting for the top 50 junior hockey players of all time but, boy, did they miss a bunch of sure things: Two time MVPs, Mike Vernon (WHL), Brad Boyes and Alyn McCauley (OHL) were not on the list. Neither were brilliant juniors such as Dale Derkatch, Steve Tsujiura and Bryan Fogarty. Voters clearly favoured accomplished NHL players: Rob Schremp, who had 140 more points with the London Knights than Brendan Shanahan had, did not make the list. Shanahan did. Also mysteriously missing: Gilbert Perreault, who had 267 points in three seasons for the Montreal Jr. Canadiens … In the four preliminary-round wins by the Americans in women’s hockey, the shots on goal have been 183-58. The total score: 20-1 … Good thing the Los Angeles Kings picked up Artemi Panarin just before the Olympics. Yes, losing Kevin Fiala, the Kings’ second leading scorer, during the Olympic round-robin, is a tough blow. But adding the skilled Panarin at least gives them an offensive weapon of high power they’re going to need … In his final season in the NHL, Anze Kopitar has only 22 points in 41 games … Mark Stone is the best slow-skating forward in hockey. His game is all brains and positioning. Speed is left for other players. He’s a different-level Jason Allison.

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AND ANOTHER THING

Nine of the top-10 rated programs on traditional Canadian television last calendar year were Blue Jays playoff games. The only program to crack the top 10 was the Super Bowl. Wonder what the ratings number will be this year if the Canadian men’s hockey team plays for gold at Milan … In non-Canadian World Series years, the usual television ratings at the end of the year are: 1. Super Bowl; 2. Academy Awards; 3. Grey Cup. This past year it was 1. Blue Jays. 2. Blue Jays. 3. Blue Jays … Why does the halftime show matter so much at the Super Bowl, political nonsense aside? In Canada, 9.6 million people tuned in to watch Bad Bunny when an average of 6.8 million watched the actual football game … Did you see Ronald Acuna Jr., the Atlanta Braves star, as part of Bunny’s entourage? How did he get there? He and Bunny have the same agent … The gold-medal hockey game, by the way, is next Sunday at 8 a.m. ET … The Seattle Seahawks defence doesn’t have the big names such as Mike Singletary or Richard Dent, but its Super Bowl performance was reminiscent to me of the Chicago Bears’ demolition of another New England Patriots team in Super Bowl XX. The Bears, with Mike Ditka and Buddy Ryan coaching, with Walter Payton running the ball, beat a Patriots team that didn’t look Super Bowl ready, 46-10. Forty years later, the Patriots, again not looking Super Bowl ready, scored just 13 points against this brilliant Seahawks defence, one of the greatest championship defences we’ve ever seen … Next stop for Chris Paul, the Basketball Hall of Fame. He’s an easy first-ballot entry for a Hall that’s way too easy to get into … Eight teams in the NBA are playing under .400 basketball, with too many of them tanking. It makes for a rather miserable regular season. The NHL, with two more teams than the NBA, has just one team under .400 — the Vancouver Canucks. Major League Baseball, with 30 teams, had just two teams — the White Sox and Colorado Rockies — under .400 last summer … Is this LeBron James’ last season in the NBA? It sure has that feel, doesn’t it? Suddenly, it seems like he’s aging worse than Sidney Crosby, who doesn’t seem to age … I felt for Breezy Johnson, who won gold in the downhill and got engaged shortly thereafter, that her remarkable accomplishment was somehow overshadowed by Lindsey Vonn’s crash. It reminded me of Lennox Lewis winning gold in 1988 in boxing and never getting over the fact that Ben Johnson’s positive drug test took some of the joy away from his great victory …. The two best passes I’ve seen at the Olympics thus far: Mitch Marner’s backhand saucer pass on Stone’s goal; Abbey Murphy’s blind backhand pass to Hannah Bilka in USA’s romp over Canada. The 20-something Americans on their roster are indeed impressive … I wish you had known Jim Robson. Or were familiar with his play-by-play of hockey games. Or just had the good fortune to be around him at times. He was among the best broadcasters, the best people. He passed away at the age of 91 … Sports that never should have been added to the Olympics: Mixed doubles curling, team figure skating, mixed team ski-jumping, mixed team skeleton, mixed biathlon, mixed team luge … And a conversation you never have with a friend: Who do you like in mixed team luge? … Happy birthday to Jaromir Jagr (54), Jim Kelly (66), Drew Bledsoe (54), Russell Martin (54), Jaxon Smith-Njigba (24), Craig Simpson (59), Marian Gaborik (44), Nik Ehlers (30), Lane Hutson (22), Richard Hamilton (48) and Gabriel Moreno (26) … And hey, whatever became of Todd Brooker?

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