remember that the offseason following the 2002 olympics, cujo walked. as a top guy at that level, i just don’t think you can hear that the guy steering your ship thinks there’s someone he’d rather have powering the boat than you. like imagine being patrick roy and finding out sakic and forsberg think hasek is better than you. in the context of a team trying to win it all at the absolute highest level of competition everyone has to have total trust and belief in each other or it just doesn’t work.
I think this is why it is often mentioned that everyone has to check their egos at the door in these tournaments. Dale Hawerchuk got 100+ points every year and when Team Canada came calling in 1987 he was relegated to a checking role with the likes of Sutter, Propp, Tocchet, etc. He thrived though, and he was a very underrated part of that team. Still scored too. But at the end of the day when Gretzky, Lemieux and Messier are your centres you have to look at yourself and say that you'll just do anything to be part of the team. I think that this is the method St. Louis should have had. I can remember Brent Seabrook being on the 2010 team over someone like Mike Green. This is just months before the Hawks started winning Cups, and it made sense because Canada always picks the Seabrook types. He's well rounded and he is content to be down the pecking order. When he wasn't picked in 2014, which I thought he would be, I can remember him sort of shrugging and saying he'll enjoy the time off and be sitting on his couch watching his team win the gold medal.
I think St. Louis should have probably been thankful to be on the 2004 winning team, even picked for the 2006 team. Sure he could have also been on the 2010 team, but he is hardly alone in the players all-time that weren't there. How does Patrick Roy not get picked automatically in 1996? That's an example. Steve Yzerman did the right thing because he was being fair. St. Louis should have never taken it as a slight to him not thinking he believed in him. In 2009 there was a summer orientation camp and Yzerman was running that one too and picking the 2010 team. The 5 goalies on the list were: Brodeur, Luongo, Fleury, Ward and Mason. Osgood wasn't there despite this being Yzerman's old buddy in Detroit and the fact that Osgood had his best postseason ever. The guy that beat Osgood was named. It is what it is. I think Yzerman's teams had less of the old boys club theme to it and they were picked for the best and most thought out reasons. Cujo too should have checked his ego at the door. And to be honest, he had the starting opportunity to make sure no one else got in his net. But he allowed 5 goals in the opening game. This is a short tournament and not one where you have to "find" your rhythm. Quinn did the right thing.
CBC did a behind the scenes documentary about how Canada was picked in 2014. I haven't seen it in a decade but they clearly gave a fair amount of consideration to who Babcock wanted and he was involved in conversations. I remember them talking about a bubble guy who "Mike already has him on the team" and assumed it was Nash.
Recchi is a decent comparable and he was always an afterthought internationally. There isn't much runway for playmaking wingers in recent times on Canada though. A big fuss was made about prime Kariya internationally and he was a priority for Canada, but he was a more versatile offensive player (better goal scorer) and if we're honest.... a better player than St. Louis. Fleury was always picked for Canada as well, which is somewhat harder to explain other than Fleury's more gritty game appealing to the selectors, especially when he played internationally.
Kariya at the time was right up there as the best player in the game in 1997. Even by 2002 he was still probably the best left winger in the game although Naslund was in his 3 year stint at that time. But he was fast, he was a better goal scorer than St. Louis and everyone and their mother knew he was going to be Mario's winger on the left side. It just made sense. It is almost more of a surprise they passed on him in 2004. Yeah, Fleury was always that no-brainer on right wing. 1991, 1996, 1998, 2002. Only 2002 was when we weren't sure if he'd make it. Canada was never strong on the right side, but again, a bit better of a goal scorer than St. Louis, also still a good playmaker, and definitely had that needed sandpaper and grit to go along with it. Was well known as a big game guy on a choking team too. Fleury, or someone of his ilk, makes Team Canada routinely, even today. Is Brad Marchand a good example of a winger like Fleury that would be there? It may have been just 2016 for him, but we all had him on the 2018 and 2022 Olympic teams too.
