Just because the NHL decided not to send its players to Beijing, it doesn’t mean that there won’t be intrigue around the 2022 Winter Olympics.
Or second guessing.
In the case of Team USA, some of this second guessing has been due to the fact that Bobby Ryan’s name wasn’t included when its roster was announced earlier this week. Ryan, 34, hasn’t played a game this season, but he put up a respectable seven goals and seven assists in 34 games with the Detroit Red Wings last season.
Ryan had also attended training camp with the Red Wings this past fall and was preparing to play for Team USA at the Spengler Cup, before that tournament was canceled due to COVID concerns.
Ryan’s full body of work includes 261 goals in 866 games across 14 NHL seasons, and he was also awarded the 2020 Masterton Trophy for his perseverance after taking a leave from the Ottawa Senators to a well-publicized battle with alcoholism.
On Friday’s episode of The Daily Faceoff Show, Frank Seravalli said that Ryan just never seemed to be in the plans for USA Hockey, which elected to go with a younger roster.
Seravalli: “One of the things I’m second guessing is just the lack of real veteran play. Brian O’Neill, in Jokerit, he’s the one returning player. Yes, some of these college players are on the older end of the college spectrum.
“But why not go with Bobby Ryan? He clearly wanted to participate and here’s how much so. The Spengler Cup ended up getting cancelled, we know, at the last minute. But Bobby Ryan actually missed Christmas with his family because he spent it in a hotel in Switzerland prepping for the Spengler Cup. Because he wanted to make a comeback to try to get on to Team USA.
“This is a guy that actually had a contract in place with the Detroit Red Wings. They wanted to see what Lucas Raymond would look like. Would he stick with the team after 10 games? There might have been waivers involved with Bobby Ryan. That was something at the moment that he wasn’t ready to deal with.
“And in this case, you look at some of these guys, you mean to tell me there wasn’t a spot for Bobby Ryan and all that he’s accomplished in his career? It’s not like he had not played that long ago, as I mentioned, just went through training camp with the Red Wings a few months ago. How long would it really take him to get back into shape? I just feel like that’s one of those moments you look at, that’s a little bit of a miss.”
You can watch the full episode of The Daily Faceoff Show here…
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