Nash now toughest call for Turin

Injuries cast cloud over Jackets star

There will be no more difficult choice for Wayne Gretzky and Co. to make than whether or not to name Rick Nash to Canada’s Olympic team.

It wasn’t, of course, supposed to be this way. Nash emerged as a bona fide star at the world championships in Austria, and other than a temperamental hook on a referee that the IIHF decided to overlook, he left many with the impression that if he wasn’t already the best player in the world, he would soon be. For the Olympics this time around, he was, at least during the summer, considered a shooin. But with 15 days left before Gretzky names the ’ 06 squad for Turin at a press conference in Vancouver, Nash has yet to make a case for himself.

That, of course, is because the 21-year- old Columbus Blue Jacket has barely played. He missed the first 11 games of the season with a high ankle sprain suffered on the second day of training camp, returned to skate 20 shifts against Edmonton and then another 20 shifts two nights later against Calgary before being hit by Flames defenceman Rhett Warrener late in the game.

That put him on the shelf with a knee injury, and he only resumed skating on his own late last week. Columbus GM Doug MacLean said yesterday he hopes to see Nash join the team for full practices late this week, and said the most reasonable time frame would see the young sniper activated for a Dec. 15 game in Raleigh against the Carolina Hurricanes.

That would give Team Canada only three games to evaluate Nash — on top of the 34 minutes and 34 seconds of NHL action he’s seen already this season — before the team is named Dec. 21.

“ I talked to ( Hockey Canada president) Bob ( Nicholson) at length about this,” said MacLean. “ It’s a very tough decision for them, particularly with the uncertainty about ( Mario) Lemieux and ( Steve) Yzerman.

“ I would really like to see Rick in the Olympics. I think with the tough year our organization is having, it would add a little credibility.” The Jackets are down about 1,000 tickets per game, and certainly the absence of Nash is responsible for some of that shortfall, along with the team’s losing record.

Unlike Columbus, however, Team Canada has alternatives to turn to if there is too much uncertainty surrounding Nash, and there already may be.

For starters, Simon Gagne and Dany Heatley, both members of the ’ 04 World Cup champs, are having spectacular years in the new- look NHL, thus lessening the need to take a risk on another offensive- type player.

Eric Staal, Jason Spezza and Sidney Crosby, meanwhile, have emerged as credible young gun substitutes if Nash isn’t deemed healthy enough to be selected.

“ But we know ( Nash) is going to be 100 per cent by February,” said MacLean.

Leaving Nash off the team, then, is as risky as adding him.

Gretzky and his staff will be looking at this and other scenarios Friday when they meet in Philadelphia.

Gretzky and his key lieutenants, Kevin Lowe and Steve Tambellini, begin a brief tour today in Toronto and are expected to view tonight’s Leafs-Kings game and then head off to New Jersey and Philly.

In Philly they’ll be joined by assistant coaches Ken Hitchcock and Jacques Martin, national team coach Marc Habscheid and national junior team scout Blair Mackasey, who has also been doing some scouting for the Olympic club.

Assistant coach Jacques Martin will join by conference call, while head coach Pat Quinn may attend in person or join in the meeting by phone. Lemieux has yet to confirm whether he wants to play, while it’s expected Yzerman is going to pull himself out of contention in the near future. If both veterans aren’t part of the Turin expedition, that would open more room to add Nash.

It will be, almost certainly, the hardest choice of all.