Team Canada comes into the 4 Nations Face-Off with a dominant forward unit and a title to defend. They've won the three most recent international best-on-best tournaments dating back to 2010. A mainstay through it all is Penguins and Team Canada captain Sidney Crosby. Despite a recent upper-body injury, Crosby was on the ice for their first practice of the tournament on Monday.

According to Sportsnet's Elliotte Friedman, Crosby played center in practice with Nathan MacKinnon and Mark Stone as his wingers. As his career has progressed, Crosby has struggled in the defensive zone, which is important as a center. So putting a center, MacKinnon, and the best defensive winger, Stone, on his line makes a lot of sense.

Crosby was also on the first powerplay unit, with MacKinnon, Cale Makar, Connor McDavid, and Sam Reinhart. With so many things elite forwards, their top two lines and powerplay units are stacked. After practice, Crosby told the media he was going to play in the 4 Nations Face-Off.

Team Canada takes on Sweden in Montreal on Wednesday to open the tournament and Crosby will be there. The only injury they have dealt with so far is Alex Pietrangelo, who was replaced by Drew Doughty in practice.

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Sidney Crosby leads a loaded Team Canada

Team Canada center Sidney Crosby (87) holds up the World Cup of Hockey championship trophy after defeating Team Europe 2-1 in game two of the World Cup of Hockey final at Air Canada Centre.
Bruce Bennett/Pool Photo via USA TODAY Sports

Team Canada is coached by Tampa Bay Lightning bench boss Jon Cooper and built by Boston Bruins general manager Don Sweeney. But there is no questioning who the leader of Team Canada is. Crosby was the captain of the 2016 World Cup of Hockey squad and the 2014 Olympic team, both of which won the event. And he scored the game-winner in the 2010 Olympic Gold Medal game.

In these previous events, Team Canada has been loaded from top to bottom. From great forwards to dominant defensemen and great goaltending, they have been impossible to beat. But there is one big flaw for this team that has not existed before. They have the worst goaltending in the tournament coming in. Crosby and the forwards will have to make up for the poor goaltending.

While there are questions about Team Canada heading into the 4 Nations Face-Off, they are still the favorites coming into the tournament. According to FanDuel, they are +140 to win the tournament, slightly better than USA's +160 line. That price is based on the forward unit, which is the best of the tournament on paper. If Crosby can continue his Team Canada magic, they have a great chance of winning their fourth straight title.