We’ll find out today whether or not Jeff Carter will be an Olympian. He’s in Vancouver, ready and willing to take the place of injured but not so injured Ryan Getzlaf. The Ducks forward played last night in Anaheim’s final game before the Olympic break after missing two straight with a sprained ankle. With Canada’s scouts watching intently, he proved that they should keep him on the squad, scoring two goals and notching two assists.
Steve Yzerman and the Canadian brass have to make a decision on their final lineup by 3 PM Eastern today. It may seem like a cut and dry decision given Getzlaf’s game last night, but before we jump to that conclusion, let’s take a hop in the wayback machine.
Torino, 2006. Canada is knocked out of the tournament in the quarter finals by the Russians just four years after winning their first gold in 40. The seventh place finish still stings the entire country, and many blamed it on the fact that they had a lot of banged up players on the team.
Yzerman does not want that criticism again and that means a healthy Carter could knock off a borderline Getzlaf. Either way, though, the question is do you want Carter playing for Team Canada?
More after the jump…
There are a lot of pros and cons here. Starting with the negatives, there’s obviously the chance he gets hurt. Canada is going to go deep in the tournament and they’re going to play a lot of games, so the chance of Carter getting injured jumps exponentially with every game he plays, even once he returns to the NHL schedule.
But in that case, there are other Flyers to worry about more in that regard. Carter is, by all accounts, healthy as an ox while Chris Pronger and Kimmo Timonen are beat to hell and also playing in the Olympics. Still, the possibility for burn out is always there.
On the flip side, Carter has played really, really well in the last few games. If he takes the two weeks off, he risks losing the good mojo he has going right now. Playing in the Olympics can also give you an extra confidence boost that can carry over to the regular season, and we all know that Carter could use any extra jump he can get this year.
There are pros and cons. The decision will be known today, but what do you prefer? Do you want Jeff Carter to be an Olympian?
Do you want Jeff Carter playing for Team Canada?
| Yes | 130 |
| No | 126 |
