Daily Faceoff’s Matt Larkin discusses the “strategies” being utilized by NHL players who were left off Team USA’s World Cup of Hockey team as they attempt to crack the Americans’ Olympic roster, and he offered a short comment from Red Wings forward Patrick Kane:
The Last Dance strategy
Given the fierce competition for spots on Canada and USA, the odds of a greybeard reversing time after not making the 4 Nations squad are slim. But they aren’t zero in the mind of players like Patrick Kane, who did, notably, receive an invite to Team USA’s summer camp. Particularly for the Americans, who so often have played for the gold but fallen short in the best-on-best era, adding an all-time clutch player to the dressing room isn’t the worst idea. But if Kane is to make it, he believes it will come down to how he’s playing rather than how he played as a younger man. Hall of Fame career aside: can he maintain the elevated play he showed with the Detroit Red Wings late last season after they switched coaches from Derek Lalonde to Todd McLellan?
“It would be a great opportunity,” Kane said. “I’ve said all along I don’t want to be chosen just for what I’ve done in the past. I’d love to be a guy that gets off to a great start, gets picked for the team and can help in any way possible once you get there.”
Continued; I do hope that Kane makes it, even as a 13th forward.
