Team Canada has given Sidney Crosby a chance.
The all-time great, and the captain for Canada at these 2026 Winter Olympics, didn’t play in Friday’s semifinal against Finland due to a lower-body injury sustained two days earlier.
Canada nearly didn’t make it through. They trailed Finland 2-0 before rallying and winning on a Nathan MacKinnon goal with 35 seconds left.
But with that late winning goal came the chance for Crosby to still make it back on the ice for these Olympics.
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The gold medal game is on Sunday, a 2 p.m. local start in Milan. Canada’s game on Friday finished about 7:30 p.m. locally in Italy.
Crosby’s got a bit of time to get out there, but not a lot.
NHL insider Elliotte Friedman shared from Canada coach Jon Cooper the simple fact that Crosby has a better chance of playing on Sunday than he did on Friday.
Jon Cooper on Sidney Crosby’s availability for Sunday:
We have 48 hours to determine…he has a better chance of playing that then he did of playing today.
— Elliotte Friedman (@FriedgeHNIC) February 20, 2026
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It seems like it’s probably worth it for Canada to dress Crosby on Sunday.
He’s the captain, for one, and international roster rules actually provide a bit of cushion.
Canada has been dressed 13 skaters for each game. That means that if Crosby ends up being unable to take all his shifts, you can still have four fully stocked forward lines for Canada.
And if Crosby shows off his clutch gene in the gold medal game, all the better.
