Could a stellar Olympics lead back to the NHL for some members of Team Canada?
Posted January 27, 2018 4:17 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
VANCOUVER (NEWS 1130) – The list of names on Team Canada’s men’s hockey team for this year’s Winter Olympic Games includes a number of players with previous NHL experience.
So could a hot performance at the tournament in South Korea next month be parlayed into a ticket back to the big show?
Beyond giving it 110 per cent and leaving it all on the ice, turning heads with the maple leaf on their chest could mean one final opportunity in the spotlight, according to Sportsnet 650‘s James Cybulski.
“I totally think it’s conceivable that if somebody gets on a run, some NHL team will take a look at somebody. And somebody with a proven track record… if he shows that he’s still got the wheels and can maybe contribute a little offensively, maybe a contender can use that guy.”
And timing could be key, since the Olympics end the day before the NHL trade deadline. “It doesn’t cost you anything except for the contract for the rest of the season. It’s kind of a potential low-risk, high-reward scenario.”
Cybulski says it may seem like a pipe dream adding an experienced veteran without giving up something at the same time right around the deadline. “There’s a possibility of a Gilbert Brulé, or a Wojtek Wolski, or Chris Kelly. And in one sense you look at it and say ‘hey, there’s a lot of NHL experience here.'”
But, there’s another side to it. “The problem is, this is a group of the Island of Misfit Toys. It’s more about guys that the NHL has kind of seen a lot of their acts before and there’s a reason they’re not in the NHL right now.”
The NHL announced last spring it would be pulling out of the Olympic tournament.
The Pyeongchang games will be the first time the NHL won’t let its players attend the Winter Olympics since 1994.
