Who’s in, who’s out?
Team Canada roster debate heats up Turin squad could have fresh faces
There was 1998, the year Team Canada didn’t want Mark Messier. Then there was 2002, when the Salt Lake City mission didn’t include Joe Thornton. Both were national hockey controversies and both are likely to pale in comparison to the intense debate that is already growing across the country over membership on Canada’s 2006 Winter Olympic squad.
Little seems settled with six weeks left before the Canadian roster must be announced.
For example, look at the three players who were, for a variety of reasons, guaranteed positions on the squad. Mario Lemieux, at least, has started to pick up his game of late. But he declined to attend the August orientation camp in Kelowna, B.C., and there are many wondering if this is the year Lemieux politely steps aside.
Don’t forget, there was bitter criticism in Pittsburgh in ’ 02 when Lemieux played for Canada, then returned to the Penguins for only a handful of postOlympic matches before packing it in for the season.
Steve Yzerman, on the other hand, has accomplished little this season aside from working himself back from a serious eye injury and then fighting off a groin problem to return to the Detroit lineup seven games ago. Yzerman notched his first goal of the year last night to go along with three assists. Even Stevie Y would tell you these are not Olympic numbers.
Finally, there is the case of the notorious Todd Bertuzzi. Hockey Canada practically tripped over itself to welcome Bertuzzi back into the fold when he was reinstated by the NHL during the summer, and executive director Wayne Gretzky said at the time he “ expected” Bertuzzi to be part of Team Canada for Turin.
Well, Bertuzzi hasn’t been injured like Yzerman, but his numbers ( three goals, 10 assists) are similarly un- Olympian. To put him on the team based on his performance to date would be an insult to Canadian hockey fans, leaving the big winger 42 days and 18 games to dramatically improve his production.
Based on play, not politics, Bertuzzi isn’t in the top 20 Canadian forwards right now, and only 13 can make it.
Outside of those players, there is other personnel uncertainty.
Goaltender Martin Brodeur
has been missing from the New Jersey lineup for almost three weeks and hadn’t enjoyed a strong start to the season up to the time of his injury.
Roberto Luongo has tailed off after a strong start and Jose Theodore has been up and down.
In fact, Canada’s best goalies so far this season were decidedly on the periphery when the campaign began. Manny Legace of Detroit wasn’t on either the Kelowna camp roster or the 81name master list submitted last month, while a revitalized Curtis Joseph of the Phoenix Coyotes wasn’t in Kelowna but was, at least, part of the larger Olympic list. Up front, meanwhile, another huge hole has opened up with the knee injury suffered by Columbus winger Rick Nash that will almost certainly knock him out of contention for an Olympic spot, a stunning development given that his performance at the world championships in Austria last spring appeared to set the stage for a permanent position on the national team.
Players that weren’t in Kelowna but are now knocking loudly on the door include Maple Leaf defenceman Bryan McCabe, Calgary blueliner Dion Phaneuf, Buffalo centre Daniel Briere, Carolina centre Eric Staal and Ottawa pivot Jason Spezza. And yes, Sidney Crosby, suddenly tied for 12th in NHL scoring and moving up. IIHF president Rene Fasel, meanwhile, either simplified matters or added another layer of complexity two days ago when he announced that the Olympics will adopt the same zero tolerance on specific penalties ( hooking, holding, interference) that have been used to spectacularly highlight the speed and skill of the NHL game this season. But with Europe still using the one-referee system, it’s not clear whether Fasel has the wherewithal and structure to make this happen. So Lemieux, Yzerman and Bertuzzi are no longer locks; Legace and Joseph are outplaying all Canadian- born goalies; Nash is likely out of the picture; and maybe Gretzky and Co. will have to take individual performances this season in the “ new” NHL more seriously than past reputations. Or maybe not.
Let the debate rage.