CBC-Sports

Yzerman's job is just beginning

November 5, 2009 04:47 PM | Posted by   Cassie Campbell  

Steve Yzerman was on our Hockey Night in Canada Sirius Satellite Radio show Tuesday and it was great to hear him talk about how everywhere he goes in Canada people have their opinions on who should be on our country’s Olympic team and who shouldn’t be.

For the most part though, he told us that generally people in this country are simply wishing him luck. Typically Canadian and I love it!

Here are some other things you need to know about the picking of the men’s Olympic team.

Team Canada’s 23-player roster will be announced on Dec. 31 and most likely will coincide with the celebration of the world junior tournament which is taking place in Saskatoon during that time. According to IIHF rules, all countries must name their men’s 23-player Olympic hockey rosters by Dec 31, unless they have special permission to name later, like Team USA. They will name their roster on Jan. 1, 2010, at the Winter Classic. However, what does this all mean?

Basically, it means Yzerman and his staff’s job doesn’t end the day they name that 23-man roster.

The Dec. 31st announcement day may be when teams have to name 23 players, but men’s Olympic rosters are not really final until Feb. 15 – the night before the first game.

So, if there is an injury between Jan. 1 and Feb. 15, Yzerman and company can replace a player or players. Or even if a player is not playing well and they want to replace him with another (highly doubtful, of course), but they can do that too.

Case in point, back in 2006 at the Torino Olympics, two players named to the original roster on “deadline day” - Scott Niedermayer and Ed Jovanovski - ended up having an injury and were unable to compete in Italy.

In 1998 at the Nagano Olympics, Paul Kariya was originally named to the roster, but was replaced by Mark Recchi after Kariya suffered a concussion. In fact, the only Olympics where the original roster ended up being the actual roster was in 2002 at Salt Lake City.

Remember prior to 2002 Olympics there was one player who was a question mark for Team Canada due to injury? It was none other than Steve Yzerman. He of course played and was a big part of the gold medal success.

Yzerman and his talented staff need to continue to scout to see who continues to play well right up to the Olympic break and also be aware and updated on all injury situations.

So each team can change its roster up until Feb. 15, but after that day each team is bound by the players you’ve “registered” the night before the competition begins.

For this Olympics in Vancouver, there are some significant changes to what has happened in the past. In 2002, men’s Olympic hockey teams had to name their first eight players in November, then the remainder of the roster in December. This year they didn’t have to do that. In 2006, each team was allowed a taxi squad (i.e.; three players that are not on the team but they are on the roster – extras if you will). This year, no taxi squad. All of these rules and regulations are carefully followed and monitored by Hockey Canada and its staff.

The other issue when it comes to competing at the Olympic Games is doping. The rules when it comes to which drugs are banned and which drugs are not are slightly different for Olympic athletes compared to NHL players. Let me tell you from personal experience Olympic athletes can barely take anything even when it comes to the common cold. Because of different changes to such doping rules, athletes and NHL hockey players had to be told what they can and cannot take. This information was given to all 46 players invited to Team Canada’s orientation camp in August.

Now, Yzerman, Kevin Lowe, Ken Holland and Doug Armstrong have the task to select Team Canada – only 99 days until the opening ceremonies in Vancouver! Good luck, gentlemen!

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