"I'm not going to say we're going to make the playoffs, but if it started today we'd be in," Coach Cooper said. "If you look at the three guys who are driving the bus at each position of our team, it's Ben Bishop, Victor Hedman and Marty St. Louis. It's a shame the hockey world is not going to see any of those guys play in February."

Martin St. Louis on Olympic decision "You guys can imagine how I feel, I'm obviously disappointed and I'll just leave it at that.''
Martin St. Louis has registered the most points in the NHL (294) since the 2010 Winter Olympics.

"I've played the best hockey of my career," said Victor Hedman, who acknowledged he got the news by email about a week ago. "I was hoping that would be enough to make the team. I got the short stick I guess."


Coach Cooper on Martin St. Louis, "That's why he is a champion. That's why he has a Stanley Cup ring and that's why he is our captain. To go through something like that and respond the way he did you can't say enough about him. He is a human being and I know he really wanted to make that team but he just did what he does best. The whistle started and he came to play and good for him I'm really happy for him.''


Steve Yzerman on not picking Martin St. Louis for Team Canada, "I'm not going to pass the buck. If you want to put this on me, that's fine. I can't let my duties as general manager of the Lightning conflict with my role with the Canadian Olympic team. I suppose that if I insisted on a certain player then I could have had that player. But that's not the way to do things."

"I will tell you this: I'm confident that we put together the best team we possibly could to compete in this tournament.''


Steve Yzerman has known that very same disappointment, twice getting cut from the Canada Cup early in his career. But the situation is different with St. Louis, now late in his tremendous career and unlikely to have an opportunity to play in the Olympics ever again.

"To be perfectly honest I was bitter. Extremely bitter," Yzerman said. "It took a while to get over that."


Excerpt from Dave Schoalts article 'Speed and smarts were prerequisites for roster spot on Team Canada'.

Yzerman, who is the Lightning GM, would have liked to see his captain play in the Olympics, but Babcock and the other GMs thought he is a bit too slow. So, Yzerman acquiesced and then made one of the most difficult phone calls of his management career.

“This is pro sports, there are difficult decisions made,” Yzerman said. “When it’s in your own organization these things are hard. I was a player and Mike Babcock was my coach. He had to make some hard decisions with me in my final year. I respect the job he had to do. It doesn’t mean I liked it at the time.

“I’m hopeful that we can get through this. [St. Louis] is a guy that I want to finish his career [with the Lightning]. There’s not much I can say – I can’t apologize. We’ve got to make these decisions.”