'Human nature to think ahead': NHL stars focused on 4 Nations with Olympics looming

Jon Cooper hasn't heard any Olympic chatter from his players.

Canada's head coach is confident the team's focus is solely on the 4 Nations Face-Off tournament.

"It has never been mentioned in the room," Cooper said of the 2026 Games. "It's never been talked about."

That might indeed be the case. NHL players, however, are human. And they also know what's just over the horizon.

The 4 Nations — the United States, Sweden and Finland are also in the field — is the closest thing men's hockey has come to best-on-best since the 2016 World Cup.

The event that marks NHL players' return to high-level international hockey is also clearly an Olympic audition.

"I'm sure that this is part of the evaluation process," Canadian defenceman Josh Morrissey said. "The best thing any one of us could do is to win and play great. That's really what it comes down to."

WATCH | Marner's OT marker helps Canada edge Sweden in 4 Nations Face-Off opener:

Marner's OT winner lifts Canada over Sweden in 4 Nations Face-Off opener

The Winnipeg Jets blueliner added having one eye on the next tournament would be a mistake.

"I don't think you can be thinking about it too much," Morrissey said. "We want to go out there and play great hockey and win this event. That's the best thing you can do as a player."

The NHL went to five straight Olympics from 1998 through 2014 before skipping the 2018 Games for financial reasons. COVID-19 worries then scuttled plans for 2022 tournament.

The league announced Wednesday it will hold a World Cup in 2028 in hopes of having best-on-best events every two years moving forward from 2026.

U.S. forward Jack Eichel said the Olympics are hard to ignore.

"When you are in this environment again, with the guys, wearing the red white