Archive for December, 2009

The Caps definitely have four players headed to the Winter Olympics in Vancouver in February. Star forwards Alex Ovechkin and Alex Semin and rookie
goalie Semyon Varlamov will play for Russia – along with former Caps Sergei Fedorov and Viktor Kozlov, who both spent the previous two seasons in Washington. Nicklas Backstrom was named to Team Sweden on Sunday and will play a major role for the defending Olympic champions. It also seems like forward Tomas Fleischmann (14 goals) is a mortal lock for the Czech Republic squad when that roster is finalized on Wednesday. That will give Washington five Olympians in all.

But what about No. 6? The last player waiting on pins and needles right now is defenseman Mike Green, who would be a lock if his last name was Sandstrom or Kozlov or Koivu or Mueller. Alas, he grew up in the hockey-player factory that is Canada. And while Green is definitely still in the mix for one of Team Canada’s final spots it will be close. After answering Olympic questions for months, Green’s about done speculating on his fate. So what do his teammates think of his chances when the final roster is announced on Wednesday at noon?

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Canwest News Service

Washington Capitals coach Bruce Boudreau doesn’t try to hide the fact his best defenceman Mike Green wants desperately to be part of Team Canada when the Olympics begin here in Vancouver.

There’s no quiet agenda going on, it’s pretty much open and Green is the same way. He doesn’t want to seem to be lobbying for a position, but he’s pretty clear that he thinks he can play low-risk hockey if that’s what the Canadian coaching staff is ultimately going to want from him.

And let’s be clear. With Jacques Lemaire and Ken Hitchcock affecting any advice Mike Babcock might be giving executive director Steve Yzerman and his co-GMs, Kevin Lowe and Ken Holland, with respect to picking the team, high risk is apt to be frowned upon.

“Mike can be as low-risk as you like, but why would we [the Caps] want to play that way?” said Boudreau. “I understand they didn’t have any problems with him at the orientation camp. I ask him to be more offensive with our team, but that doesn’t mean he can’t play any way you like.

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