Henrik Sedin puts team first in Sochi pullout
MONTREAL — To do what is best for the Vancouver Canucks, Henrik Sedin had to do what was worst for Sweden.
Out of the lineup, then out of the Olympics. Thursday was probably one of the worst days without a game in Sedin’s hockey career.
The Canucks’ injured captain informed Swedish national team officials that he will be unable to play for his country in the Olympic hockey tournament, a decision he explained in interviews with Swedish newspapers.
The Canuck organization was content to let the story get away from them, refusing to make Sedin available to Vancouver reporters who cover the National Hockey League team daily. The Canucks declined even to publicly confirm Sedin’s Olympic decision.
But while staff can shield players from reporters at the rink and try to manage every message, they can’t control the foreign press or prevent Sedin from answering his cellphone when there are calls from Sweden.
“I cannot do myself justice,” Sedin told one Swedish paper in a translated story. “The injury to the upper body has not healed as I had hoped. The two games I played this week since I made a comeback after injury have been painful, and I have not been able to go at 100 per cent.”
Pulled from the Canucks lineup before their game here Thursday against the Montreal Canadiens, Sedin said it made “no sense” for him to try playing a few minutes Saturday against the Toronto Maple Leafs, then travel to Sochi for the start of the Olympic tournament next week.
Sedin chose club over country.
He decided it was more important to spend the February Olympic break healing his injured ribs so he can play for the Canucks after the Sochi Games, rather than risk slowing or reversing his recovery by playing for Sweden in them.
“For him, the Canucks are No. 1, so Henrik’s going to do whatever is best for the Canucks,” Daniel Sedin said after the morning skate here.
“There have been a lot of things the last few weeks — us losing, then the injury, and the Olympics coming up. So it’s been tough for him.”
An unpenalized crosscheck to the ribs by the Phoenix Coyotes’ Martin Hanzal on Jan. 16 ended Henrik Sedin’s NHL ironman streak at 679 games — a remarkable run of endurance that lasted nearly 10 years.
Sedin, who had been playing with an injured finger before hurting his ribs, sat out six games and rejoined the Canucks this week for games Monday in Detroit and Tuesday in Boston.
He went pointless and without a shot on goal during the losses, and clearly was playing in pain. That led Canucks coach John Tortorella to “shut down” the centre, although Sedin agreed with the decision.
“I have a tremendous amount of respect for him as far as what he tried to do,” Tortorella said. “But it’s gotten to the point where he’s not as effective as we want him to be and sooner or later, you’re going to put him at risk. So we needed to do this.”
Asked in the morning about Sedin’s Olympic status, Tortorella said: “Do I want him to go? Absolutely not. I’m thinking about our hockey club. But I am not having a conversation with him about that; that is his call. That’s your country.”
And at 33, this was probably Henrik’s last chance to play for his country at an Olympics. He and Daniel participated in the last two Winter Games, helping Sweden win the 2006 gold medal in Italy. Danny travels to Russia after the Canucks end their pre-Olympic road trip Saturday against the Toronto Maple Leafs.
Tortorella marvelled at Henrik’s attempt to play.
“I go back to some of the conversations ... about the brothers here, the twins, that they’re soft,” Tortorella said.
“Henrik, he has done everything he possibly could to stay on the ice and get ready to try to help us win some games. And we have to shut him down. We’re not going to put him at risk.
We Canadians like to think smugly that we care more about hockey than anyone else and, by extension, are more devoted to our national teams.
But most Swedish players are fiercely loyal to their country and feel an obligation to support and repay Swedish hockey for what the players have achieved in the game.
Every top Swedish player understands that, by volume alone compared to Canada’s endless resource of players, he is incredibly important to his national team.
It is not easy to play in the NHL with damaged ribs, when every hit or torque of the body — even a deep breath — can be excruciating.
It was probably even harder for Sedin not to play for Sweden. But as he is on the ice, he is away from it — always doing the right thing, which is not always the easy one.