VOORHEES, N.J. — Before the Flyers started practice Monday, John Tortorella huddled his guys together at center ice.
As the coach addressed the team, players tapped their sticks and patted the heads of Travis Konecny, Travis Sanheim and Rasmus Ristolainen. It sure looked like they were celebrating news of the three Flyers making their respective clubs for the 4 Nations Face-Off.
The tournament, which replaces the NHL All-Star break, features the United States, Canada, Finland and Sweden. It'll be held in Montreal and Boston from Feb. 12-20. Rosters had to be submitted Monday and they'll be officially announced Wednesday.
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Konecny and Sanheim would be playing for Canada, while Ristolainen would play for Finland. Tortorella will be an assistant coach for the United States.
"If I get fortunate enough to represent my country, it would be a huge honor, something that I've worked hard to get to," Sanheim said after practice. "We'll have to wait and see what happens."
Konecny and Sanheim have become close over their 10 years together in the organization. They were also teammates on Team Canada for the 2014 IIHF U-18 World Junior Championship and 2016 IIHF U-20 World Junior Championship. So representing their country again as best friends would mean a lot.
"From kind of coming up in all the different tournaments and levels and experiencing that stuff together," Konecny said. "We haven't always been as close as we are now, so it has kind of been cool watching that happen. That would definitely be special and I know both of us would be rooting for the other to be on that team.
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"In the meantime right now, we're just focused on the Flyers and just making sure we're doing the things here."
After being named an All-Star last season for the second time in his career, Konecny has led the Flyers this season with 30 points (13 goals, 17 assists) through 25 games. Entering Monday, only two NHL players had recorded more points since Oct. 23 than Konecny's 27: the Hurricanes' Martin Necas (31) and the Wild's Kirill Kaprizov (28).
"I think he's very deserving," Sanheim said. "These last two years, the way he has carried this hockey team, he has been our best player by far. It seems to be that whenever he's on, we're winning hockey games. It would be really special to do it with him. In saying that, if I don't get the opportunity, I really hope that he does."
And they'll know what to expect from the bruising Ristolainen, who likes to be a "pain in the ass" to play against.
"I practice against him every day," Konecny said. "He plays hard in practice, so I get that pleasure every single day."
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