November 23, 2001
The Last Word
Even if other Canadians decide to emulate Patrick Roy and skip the Olympics, Canada's hockey team in Salt Lake will have plenty of world-class players.
By AL STRACHAN -- Toronto Sun
For a country that is supposed to be in such bad shape when it comes to producing quality hockey players, we certainly are facing plenty of problems in picking an Olympic team.
Most countries would be devastated by the loss of a goaltender of Patrick Roy's calibre, but in Canada we just shrug and say that the decision is now a bit easier.
In fact, no matter how much doom and gloom the critics heap upon our system, the fact remains that Canada's problem is not a shortage of talent, but a whopping surplus.
If you sat down with a friend and took turns staging an imaginary draft of talent, you both could come up with Olympic teams fully capable of winning the gold medal.
If you started with the goalies, he might draft Curtis Joseph, Martin Brodeur and Sean Burke. You could take Patrick Roy (it's a hypothetical draft of talent, so he's still eligible), Ed Belfour, and Roberto Luongo.
Would either of you be at a disadvantage?
When you turn to defence, he might take Rob Blake, Scott Niedermayer, Adam Foote, Eric Brewer, Wade Redden and Scott Stevens.
You could take Al MacInnis, Chris Pronger, Eric Desjardins, Derek Morris, Ed Jovanovski and Jason Smith.
That still leaves a lot of solid, quality defencemen who could be used as extra picks or injury callups -- such as Kyle McLaren, Denis Gauthier, Robyn Regehr (who we can claim unless Brazil suddenly becomes a hockey power), Darryl Sydor, Mathieu Dandenault, Patrice Brisebois, Brad Stuart or Richard Matvichuk.
When it comes to forwards, there is even greater depth, so much so that a player of Jason Allison's ability didn't even get invited to camp for the simple reason that there were already so many high-quality centres that he wouldn't be able to make the team.
In fact, it is quite likely that even Mario Lemieux will vacate his usual spot in the middle for the Salt Lake City Olympics. At the moment, the idea is that he would be the right winger for Paul Kariya, with Brendan Shanahan as the left winger.
Don't be surprised to see Steve Yzerman shunted to the wing either.
Shanahan and Jarome Iginla are further examples of Canadian depth. Even though neither was on the original invitation list for the September training camp in Calgary, they were added to the roster when Joe Sakic and Simon Gagne got hurt.
In both cases, their play has been so solid that they almost certainly will make the team and Shanahan has been elevated to hypothetical top-line status.
If you wanted to take the negative view, you could say that this is a case of Canada being so short of players that even those who aren't in the original top 40 can come in and move up to the top line.
The reality is much more positive. It's a case of there being so many players, that even after 40 are in camp, there are still many more out there who are fully capable of joining the team and playing at the very highest level.
EASY TO REPLACE
This is one of the reasons that Canada did not want to name eight players last spring. We have so many world-class players that we are easily able to replace a normally elite player who may be having an off-season.
The eight were named merely to satisfy the International Olympic Committee bureaucrats who like to justify their existence by sticking their noses into places they're not needed in the four years between Games.
In this case, they wanted to have the right to submit all the National Hockey League players to random drug testing. Instead, a compromise deal was worked out which allows them to test the eight named players.
It's not that the NHL is full of druggies. That's another league. But the NHL does have a lot of people who, by virtue of having to fly a lot in winter, are constantly exposed to various germs and viruses. As a result, they often take cold medicines that are banned by the IOC.
As events have unfolded this season, it's quite possible that a couple of players on that eight-man list might not be named to the team next month if they hadn't already been granted positions.
But there is some leeway. Even though Canada can name 23 players, only 20 will dress for any game. Executive director Wayne Gretzky and coach Pat Quinn feel that 22 players on the bench (the third goalie wouldn't dress) is more of a hindrance than a help.
But it does allow the organizers to name someone such as Ryan Smyth, even though he is out for at least eight weeks because of a broken ankle.
For one thing, if he still is unable to play by February, he can be replaced under the IOC's injury rules. And even if he's playing but not fully up to Olympic standards, the team still has those two extra spots in reserve.
Whether the organizers use those spots on a gamble like Smyth or fill them with known quantities is one of the many tough decisions they face.
But either way, there's no doubt that the system has produced more than enough talent. There is still plenty of depth even if more players follow in Roy's footsteps.
2002 Games Men's Hockey Coverage
