People like to take a “glass half full” approach when looking at NHL player participation in the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics.
After all, seeing Evgeni Malkin, Alexander Ovechkin, and Ilya Kovalchuk on Team Russia; Sidney Crosby, Rick Nash, and Jonathan Toews on Team Canada; and Phil Kessel, Patrick Kane, and Zach Parise on Team USA should lead to a lot of end-to-end action.
But while the 12 days that the men’s teams are taking part in the Olympic tournament will be bliss for puck fans, there will be some side effects felt before and after by the NHL.
Wear and Tear
While it is an honor for all NHLers to play for their respective national teams, they will be subjecting their bodies to more wear and tear than their NHL teammates that have the Olympics off.
Players already have to endure the rigors of an 82-game regular season schedule and the marathon that is the NHL playoffs.
If Crosby or Malkin do well in the Vancouver Olympics—let’s say they both make the gold medal game and Canada and Russia have byes to the quarterfinals—and make a return trip to the Stanley Cup finals in the spring, they could play as many as 116 games. That’s 82 regular season NHL games, six Olympic hockey games, and 28 playoff games if each playoff series goes the full seven games.
That’s a lot of hockey.
The Vancouver Canucks, Detroit Red Wings, and Anaheim Ducks all have seven players in the Olympics while the San Jose Sharks have a league-high eight players. Player fatigue could affect these teams most if they go on prolonged playoff runs.
The break could be beneficial to other teams who don’t have many Olympians.
The Colorado Avalanche are one of the surprise teams of the NHL so far and only have three players going to the Olympics. They are one potentially playoff-bound team that can use the time off to regroup for the stretch drive.
Wheeling and Dealing
The Olympic break will also have a trade freeze which kicks in on Feb. 12 and is in effect until March 1. The trade deadline is two days later and there has already been a flurry of deals in anticipation.
The Toronto Maple Leafs traded center Matt Stajan, winger Niklas Hagman, center Jamal Mayers, and defenseman Ian White to the Calgary Flames for defenseman Dion Phaneuf, winger Fredrik Sjostrom, and young D-man Keith Aulie.
Toronto also dealt goalie Vesa Toskala and winger Jason Blake to the Anaheim Ducks for netminder J.S. Giguere.
The Flames also acquired forwards Chris Higgins and Ales Kotalik for center Olli Jokinen and forward Brandon Prust.
Expect general managers to be busy during the Olympics with an even busier NHL trade deadline.
Homeless Wanderers
The host city’s NHL team, the Canucks, have been temporarily evicted from GM Place, dubbed Canada Hockey Place during the games due to advertising restrictions, in order for Olympic preparation. They will be forced to play an epic 14-game road trip that will last about six weeks, including the Olympic break.
While it will be a marathon, Canucks GM Mike Gillis said that the trip is set up to make it easier on the team.
“Obviously when you’re away for that length of time you get concerned,” said Gillis to NHL.com.
“But the Olympic break does break up the trip, so it’s really two segments of a trip as opposed to one long month away from home.”
A similar situation befell the Calgary Flames during the 1988 Winter Olympics and the team managed to go 5–5–1 during an 11-game road swing. The Flames finished with a record of 48–23–9 through 80 games and won the President’s Trophy for the best record in the league.
Hockey fans are eagerly anticipating the 2010 Olympics, as it will bring the world’s best players for the ice hockey tournament.
It will be a double-edged sword however as the Vancouver Games will condense the period for the trade deadline and parts of the schedule.
Puck fans get the best of both worlds. They’ll see super teams filled with NHL stars and have a condensed stretch run followed by the usual hockey playoffs soon after.
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