Team Canada looks to go younger in Vancouver than in Turin, where the respect given veterans produced a seventh-place finish.
CALGARY -- By rights, Dany Heatley shouldn't have a prayer of making Team Canada.
Forget about head coach Mike Babcock's insistence on Monday that he wants "200-foot players" -- guys who play both ends of the rink, which has never been Heatley's strong suit.
Wasn't Heatley the guy who complained that the Ottawa Senators weren't using him the way he wanted to be used? And didn't that perceived change in his role coincide with the late-season surge the Senators made under new coach Cory Clouston?
So, to paraphrase, isn't Heatley basically saying that his own personal satisfaction is of a greater importance to him than whether the Senators win or not?
That kind of player, Babcock all but promised, will not be in Vancouver unless he buys a ticket to get in the door.
Here in Calgary, much of the scuttlebutt revolves around which of the many centremen at this Team Canada camp are able to play on the wing. It's such a predicament, that Babcock wouldn't even drop a single name when asked for candidates to make that switch.
"We're going to ask guys to do different things," Babcock said before the first practice Monday night. "And I don't think we'll have any problems getting them to do it."
However, one of those "different things" might be to score goals. Canada scored only three times in its final four games in Turin, with three shutouts mixed in. Scoring is something that Heatley can do.
And so the intrigue begins, which always occurs when you put together an all-star team like this one. Remember it is not every day that players of this calibre find themselves trying out for a team. When is the last time Chris Pronger or Scott Niedermayer came to a training camp without an absolute guarantee of making the team?
Now, both are pretty much locks for this club -- but not if they don't perform well during the first three months of the upcoming season. But what about a couple of other guys: Simon Gagne and Captain Canada himself, Ryan Smyth?
Those two veterans were part of the last two Canadian Olympic teams. But with the infusion of youth we're seeing in Calgary this week, can both make the Olympic team in 2010? Or is it an either/or situation?
"It's not going to come easy," said Smyth, who is 33 years old and once played in seven consecutive World Championships for Team Canada. "There are so many great young players coming up taking jobs that you've got to be on top (of your game). You have to work for everything, and I do.
"I like that, I thrive on that."
The irony, for Smyth and Gagne, is that they have always had to battle to make these teams. Neither has ever had the luxury of Jarome Iginla or Sidney Crosby's immense skill set, yet each has played in two Olympic Games based on his willingness to compete and to fill any and all roles handed to him by the coaching staff.
Now they're still battling. Nothing comes for free.
"It's not because I made the team in 2002 and 2006 that I'm on this team," Gagne said. "I'm going to have to have a good camp and a good start to the season to hopefully force Steve Yzerman to choose me.
"I think I'm the type of player who can play in a lot of situations. That might be a plus."
In the orientation camp in 2001, there were 15 players out of 34 invited who were 30 or older. This time, only 15 out of 46 are 30 or older. The respect given veterans in Turin produced a seventh-place finish. So loyalty will come behind productivity in Vancouver.
And when it comes to experience, it is still highly valuable.
"I've gained so much over the years that I just want to deliver that experience," said Smyth, who marveled at Wayne Gretzky, Mario Lemieux and Steve Yzerman when he first walked into a Team Canada dressing room back in '02. "I may not be the stature as those guys … but the tremendous amount of respect that has trickled on from those guys, I want for sure to give that experience."
All he has to do is make the team, which is far easier said than done.
