Nathan MacKinnon doesn't mince his words about pressure of upholding Canada's "our team, our sport" pride at 4 Nations Face-Off 

Nathan MacKinnon doesn't mince words when it comes to the pressure of upholding Canada's “our team, our sport” pride at the 4 Nations Face-Off tournament.

The Rogers ad campaign plastered around Montreal sends a bold message – four words in French, all capitalized:

“NOTRE ÉQUIPE. NOTRE SPORT."

"Our team. Our sport."

As the tournament featuring Canada, Finland, Sweden and the United States gets underway, Canada above all claims hockey as its own.

"Definitely feel a lot of pressure," MacKinnon said via NHL.com. "Absolutely. I think pressure is a privilege, and I'm glad there's pressure. It means people expect a lot from us.

"We're maybe an inspiration to some young kids around the country. If I was 10 years old right now, I'd be tuned into this tournament. So, definitely excited," he added.

Canada remains the largest supplier of NHL players by far. In recent years 40-45% of players came from Canada compared to 26-29% from the US and around below 10% each from Sweden and Finland.

Canada has the deepest talent pool in the world and its national team is stacked with champions and award winners.

Canada has won nine of the last 13 best-on-best tournaments including four of the last five and each of the last three.

The tournament started as the Canada Cup back in the 1970s and 80s, played mostly in Canada, which won four out of the five events. Canada won two of three World Cup tournaments. At the Olympics, Team Canada won three of five gold medals.

Analyst Bruce Boudreau suggests moving Nathan MacKinnon to center in Team Canada lineup

At Monday’s practice, Nathan MacKinnon was slotted in as the second-line right wing. However, NHL analyst Bruce Boudreau questioned the move, saying MacKinnon is too skilled to be playing on the wing instead of his natural center position.

"I don't think he should be on the wing at all, man. This is Nathan MacKinnon, and he's the leading scorer in the NHL. If you watch their games, he wants the puck all the time," Boudreau said on TSN's 'That's Hockey'.

"If he's playing wing, he's not going to get the puck. I think it, it should be McDavid and MacKinnon is the one, two centers," he added.

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Canada opens against Sweden in Montreal on Wednesday, then plays the US on Saturday, also in Montreal. They close the tournament against Finland in Boston on Feb. 17.