Be aware: Sidney Crosby and Nathan MacKinnon join forces to play for Canada at the ice hockey world championship after 10 years.
As all eyes are on the NHL playoffs, the two major stars are in Europe for the worlds opening on Friday across the Swedish capital of Stockholm and Denmark’s city of Herning.
It is the final men's international test before the 2026 Winter Games in Italy, where NHL players return to the Olympics after 12 years.
The two friends and neighbours in Halifax, Nova Scotia, were on the team that Crosby captained to gold at the 2015 worlds. By winning the tournament in Prague then, Crosby joined hockey’s Triple Gold Club, a small group of players who have won the Stanley Cup, the Olympics and the worlds.
These are the third worlds, and first since 2015 for Crosby, a three-time Stanley Cup winner (2009, ’16 and ’17) and double Olympic champion (2010 and ’14). He's captured gold for Canada at every international tournament, including the 2016 World Cup of Hockey and the 2005 world junior championship.
In February, the 37-year-old also shone alongside MacKinnon as he captained Canada to the 4 Nations Face-Off trophy, beating archrival the United States in overtime.
Crosby has behind him a 20th NHL season featuring 33 goals, 58 assists and 91 points in 80 games for the Pittsburgh Penguins, who missed out on the NHL playoffs.
MacKinnon opted to join Canada after his Colorado Avalanche were knocked out in the first round. It will be the fourth worlds and and first since 2017 for the 29-year-old center, who recorded the second highest points in the regular season — 116 — and added another 11 in the playoffs.
Crosby will also reunite with goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury who has just exited the NHL but postponed his retirement at age of 40 to play again with Crosby and at the worlds for the first time.
“It’ll be fun to go spend some time together and yell at him in practice a bit, keep him honest,” said Fleury, who won the Stanley Cup with the Penguins three times.
Among the rising stars, Canada includes the 18-year-old Macklin Celebrini, the top pick in the 2024 NHL draft who collected 63 points from 25 goals and 38 assists in his rookie season for the San Jose Sharks.
Canada is the most successful nation at the tournament with 28 titles and is a favorite every year no matter who is available. With Crosby and MacKinnon, it is definitely the team to beat.
David Pastrnak is back for the defending champion Czech Republic after his Boston Bruins didn’t advance to the playoffs.
The Czechs beat Switzerland 2-0 in the final in Prague last year with Pastrnak scoring the winner. It was the seventh title won by the Czech Republic — or Czechia — since the 1993 breakup of Czechoslovakia. Pastrnak racked up 106 points in the NHL, reaching one hundred for the third straight season.
Utah captain Clayton Keller will also captain a U.S. that is seeking a first worlds medal since a bronze in 2021. Alternate captains, forward Tage Thompson of the Buffalo Sabres and forward Conor Garland of the Vancouver Canucks, were on that team four years ago. Columbus defenseman Zach Werenski and Boston net-minder Jeremy Swayman were on the team that was fifth last year.
Filip Forsberg will appear again for the Sweden team that beat Canada 4-2 in the bronze-medal game last year. The left winger will return home to play in two regular season games between Nashville and the Penguins in Stockholm in November as part of the the NHL global series. Others on the Sweden squad include New York Rangers forward Mika Zibanejad and New Jersey defenseman Jonas Brodin and goalie Jacob Markstrom.
The 2022 champion Finland struggled at the previous two worlds, finishing seventh and eighth, its worst results in decades. Nashville goalie Justus Annunen, Chicago forward Teuvo Teravainen and Rangers forward Juuso Parssinen hope to help turn things around.
Switzerland features a trio from New Jersey; forwards Nico Hischier and Timo Meier and defenseman Jonas Siegenthaler.
The 16 teams are divided into two groups for the preliminary round.
Canada is in Group A in Stockholm with Sweden, Finland, Austria, France, Latvia, Slovakia and newcomer Slovenia. Group B in Herning includes the Czechs, Switzerland, the U.S., Denmark, Germany, another newcomer Hungary, Kazakhstan and Norway.
The top four in each group make the quarterfinals. From the semifinals, all games will be in Stockholm at the iconic Avicii Arena, previously known as Globen. The final and bronze-medal game are scheduled for May 25.
AP sports: https://apnews.com/sports
Colorado Avalanche's Nathan MacKinnon (29) sores against Dallas Stars' Jake Oettinger (29) as Brock Nelson (11), Dallas Stars' Jamie Benn (14) and Ilya Lyubushkin (46) look on in the third period in Game 7 of a first-round NHL hockey playoff series Saturday, May 3, 2025, in Dallas. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez)
FILE - Canada players, Nathan MacKinnon and Sidney Crosby talk on the bench during 4 Nations Face-Off hockey practice in Brossard, Quebec on Feb. 10, 2025. (Christinne Muschi/The Canadian Press via AP, File)
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — U.S. President Donald Trump said Iran wants to negotiate with Washington after his threat to strike the Islamic Republic over its bloody crackdown on protesters, a move coming as activists said Monday the death toll in the nationwide demonstrations rose to at least 544.
Iran had no immediate reaction to the news, which came after the foreign minister of Oman — long an interlocutor between Washington and Tehran — traveled to Iran this weekend. It also remains unclear just what Iran could promise, particularly as Trump has set strict demands over its nuclear program and its ballistic missile arsenal, which Tehran insists is crucial for its national defense.
Meanwhile Monday, Iran called for pro-government demonstrators to head to the streets in support of the theocracy, a show of force after days of protests directly challenging the rule of 86-year-old Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Iranian state television aired chants from the crowd, who shouted “Death to America!” and “Death to Israel!”
Trump and his national security team have been weighing a range of potential responses against Iran including cyberattacks and direct strikes by the U.S. or Israel, according to two people familiar with internal White House discussions who were not authorized to comment publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity.
“The military is looking at it, and we’re looking at some very strong options,” Trump told reporters on Air Force One on Sunday night. Asked about Iran’s threats of retaliation, he said: “If they do that, we will hit them at levels that they’ve never been hit before.”
Trump said that his administration was in talks to set up a meeting with Tehran, but cautioned that he may have to act first as reports of the death toll in Iran mount and the government continues to arrest protesters.
“I think they’re tired of being beat up by the United States,” Trump said. “Iran wants to negotiate.”
He added: “The meeting is being set up, but we may have to act because of what’s happening before the meeting. But a meeting is being set up. Iran called, they want to negotiate.”
Iran through country's parliamentary speaker warned Sunday that the U.S. military and Israel would be “legitimate targets” if America uses force to protect demonstrators.
More than 10,600 people also have been detained over the two weeks of protests, said the U.S.-based Human Rights Activists News Agency, which has been accurate in previous unrest in recent years and gave the death toll. It relies on supporters in Iran crosschecking information. It said 496 of the dead were protesters and 48 were with security forces.
With the internet down in Iran and phone lines cut off, gauging the demonstrations from abroad has grown more difficult. The Associated Press has been unable to independently assess the toll. Iran’s government has not offered overall casualty figures.
Those abroad fear the information blackout is emboldening hard-liners within Iran’s security services to launch a bloody crackdown. Protesters flooded the streets in the country’s capital and its second-largest city on Saturday night into Sunday morning. Online videos purported to show more demonstrations Sunday night into Monday, with a Tehran official acknowledging them in state media.
In Tehran, a witness told the AP that the streets of the capital empty at the sunset call to prayers each night. By the Isha, or nighttime prayer, the streets are deserted.
Part of that stems from the fear of getting caught in the crackdown. Police sent the public a text message that warned: “Given the presence of terrorist groups and armed individuals in some gatherings last night and their plans to cause death, and the firm decision to not tolerate any appeasement and to deal decisively with the rioters, families are strongly advised to take care of their youth and teenagers.”
Another text, which claimed to come from the intelligence arm of the paramilitary Revolutionary Guard, also directly warned people not to take part in demonstrations.
“Dear parents, in view of the enemy’s plan to increase the level of naked violence and the decision to kill people, ... refrain from being on the streets and gathering in places involved in violence, and inform your children about the consequences of cooperating with terrorist mercenaries, which is an example of treason against the country,” the text warned.
The witness spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity due to the ongoing crackdown.
The demonstrations began Dec. 28 over the collapse of the Iranian rial currency, which trades at over 1.4 million to $1, as the country’s economy is squeezed by international sanctions in part levied over its nuclear program. The protests intensified and grew into calls directly challenging Iran’s theocracy.
Nikhinson reported from aboard Air Force One.
In this frame grab from video obtained by the AP outside Iran, a masked demonstrator holds a picture of Iran's Crown Prince Reza Pahlavi during a protest in Tehran, Iran, Friday, January. 9, 2026. (UGC via AP)
In this frame grab from footage circulating on social media from Iran shows protesters taking to the streets despite an intensifying crackdown as the Islamic Republic remains cut off from the rest of the world in Tehran, Iran, Friday, Jan. 9, 2026.(UGC via AP)
In this frame grab from footage circulating on social media from Iran showed protesters once again taking to the streets of Tehran despite an intensifying crackdown as the Islamic Republic remains cut off from the rest of the world in Tehran, Iran, Saturday Jan. 10, 2026. (UGC via AP)
