McCabe’s lukewarm audition makes Gretzky’s task easier

As with every edition of Team Canada, some difficult choices have to be made by the key decision makers, and others are made for them. Such has been the case over the past few days for executive director Wayne Gretzky and his trusted group of advisors. Detroit captain Steve Yzerman, for starters, informed Gretzky on Sunday that he wished not to be a candidate for an Olympic roster spot, and Yzerman made that decision public yesterday.

It was, undoubtedly, a decision that came with a sense of relief for Gretzky, who had all but guaranteed Yzerman a place on the team before the 40- year- old Red Wing began the season and then watched along with the rest of the hockey world as Yzerman struggled terribly through the first quarter of the season.

Putting him on the Olympic team five years removed from his last strong NHL season, and leaving a more qualified player off, would have been a messy decision.

“ I’m disappointed he won’t be coming with us,” said Gretzky last night at the Air Canada Centre. “ I guess it’s a changing of the guard.”

Gretzky, along with Team Canada associates Kevin Lowe, Steve Tambellini and Marc Habscheid, was on hand to watch the Maple Leafs play the Los Angeles Kings last night, part of a mini- tour for the Canadian executive that will culminate with a meeting in Philadelphia on Friday. Only two players on the ice, Leaf goalie Ed Belfour and defenceman Bryan McCabe, were part of Canada’s 81- man preliminary list, and it was widely believed that McCabe was essentially auditioning for a Team Canada spot last night.

For those hoping McCabe will make the grade, it was not a gratifying night at the rink. The Leafs were slow out of the gate and spotty all night, and McCabe did not have one of his better games, taking two unnecessary penalties that were easy calls for the officials. The Leafs had an abundance of power play time, McCabe’s speciality, but other than a 5- on- 3 goal by Darcy Tucker in the second, the vaunted Leaf extrastrength unit didn’t have its usual flair and thus McCabe didn’t seem nearly as dangerous as he has been all year.

Indeed, his partner, Tomas Kaberle, played with far more flair and imagination, but Kaberle, of course, remains an important part of the Czech national team.

Since he wasn’t invited to the Kelowna training sessions in August and would have to jump over some very good rearguards to crack the Canadian lineup, an excellent performance last night would surely have been a tremendous aid to McCabe’s hopes of playing in Turin.

Clearly, with Yzerman removing himself from contention and McCabe unable to impress last night, these are some of the decisions that Gretzky and Co. are seeing made for them.

That may also turn out to be the case with Pittsburgh CEO and captain Mario Lemieux, a seven- goal, minus- 17 player this season who has been non- committal about his plans for the 2006 Winter Olympics.

Gretzky said he plans to visit with Lemieux Saturday in Pittsburgh, but has no plans to demand an answer well in advance of the scheduled unveiling of Team Canada Dec. 21 in Vancouver.

“ He can wait right until the end if he wants,” said Gretzky. “ He deserves that. He’s a special person in the game. I give him that respect.”

Interestingly, Gretzky said last night that he believes choosing goaltenders will be the most difficult part of the selection process, although he indicated 2002 Olympic starter Martin Brodeur is a shoo- in. Adding to the crease uncertainty has been Curtis Joseph, Gretzky’s own goaltender with the Phoenix Coyotes.

“( Joseph) has been outstanding. It’s a great story,” said Gretzky. “ He has come back a long way.” As well, Gretzky said he believes there is more quality on the depth chart than was even in the case for the ’ 02 Olympics, particularly on the wings.

“But it remains to be seen whether this team can be as good as the ’ 02 team,” he said.