HC Jon Cooper sings praises of $49,000,000 Bruins superstar as Canada prepares for 4 Nations elimination game

Jon Cooper is head coaching in a best-on-best international tournament for the first time in his career at the 4 Nations Face-Off. The longtime bench boss of the Tampa Bay Lightning is used to battling against rivals like the Florida Panthers, Toronto Maple Leafs and Boston Bruins. When coaching Team Canada, several of his usual rivals become a part of his team.

One player that sticks out is Brad Marchand. The Bruins captain has had plenty of dust-ups and interactions against Cooper's Lightning over the years, but at the 4 Nations, they came together for Canada.

Jon Cooper spoke very highly of Marchand during his media availability on Sunday ahead of an elimination game against Finland on Monday:

"I can't say enough great things about him. Energy. Passion. He's one of the elder statesmen on this team and he seems to find the fountain of youth, and anytime he comes into one of these tournaments, so many players are new on our team to this kind of environment.

"We've got Sid and Doughty, but Marchy's right there. And so those are the guys kind of bringing all these young guys under their wing. And there's been nobody better at it than him."

He continued:

"And he's a, you know, he's one of the guys everybody turns to when, you know, everything's kind of under fire. And then even down the stretch in games, when we were tied against Sweden, you know, overtime, down against the US, the loudest, you know, guy on the bench pumping everybody up is Brad Marchand.

"And for somebody that's been around as long as he has, he doesn't have to do that. He wears, like his heart's the shape of a Maple Leaf, and it's awesome to be around."

Marchand played just 8:23 minutes in Saturday night's 3-1 loss to the US. Cooper could look to give the 36-year-old more ice-time to spark the team moving forward.

The career-long Boston Bruin faces an uncertain future with the only team he's ever known as he's in the final season of an eight-year, $49,000,000 contract. It will be an interesting situation to keep an eye on as his name has even come up in trade rumors ahead of the deadline.

Jon Cooper has some line shuffling to do for Monday's game against Finland

Jon Cooper will certainly be playing with his lines ahead of Monday's do-or-die clash with Team Finland.

Other than one brilliant rush from Connor McDavid, the Canadian forwards were neutralized the entire night against Team USA. Cooper put his lines in the blender during the third period but nothing amounted from the changes.

Many fans want to see a Nova Scotia line of Nathan MacKinnon, Sidney Crosby and Brad Marchand. Crosby and Marchand have notable chemistry going back to the World Cup of Hockey in 2016, and the three players skate and train together in the offseason.

Jon Cooper and Team Canada will look to stay alive on Monday afternoon when they take on Team Finland. The puck drops at 1 p.m. EST at TD Garden in Boston.