On Thursday, Hockey Canada announced its 25-man roster for this month’s Channel One Cup tournament in Moscow. There are plenty of names on the list that will stick out to you like Derek Roy, Rene Bourque, Gilbert Brule, P.A. Parenteau, Simon Despres and Ben Scrivens.
One name that’s been bandied about for months but wasn’t included is Jarome Iginla.
The 40-year-old Iginla failed to latch on with an NHL team this off-season, which opened up the door to play for Canada at the PyeongChang Olympics in February. He recently underwent a minor hip procedure and was planning to begin skating again this week.
According to TSN’s Darren Dreger, Canada had an open invite for Iginla to play in the Spengler Cup later this month but it looks like he won’t be ready by Dec. 26 and now his Olympic chances are in danger.
“As good a player as Jarome has been, as good a man as he is, if he’s not playing, it’s hard to give yourself opportunity for a fair evaluation, quite honestly, of what he might be able to do in the Olympic Games,” Hockey Canada president and CEO Tom Renney said last month. “It’s tough to go from zero to 60 as a 40-year-old.”
Sportsnet’s Nick Kypreos reported last month that Iginla hasn’t given up hope of returning to the NHL. If the Olympics are now out of the equation he can fully focus on finding a team to give him at least a tryout for one last shot at The Show. But time is running out.
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Sean Leahy is a writer for Pro Hockey Talk on NBC Sports. Drop him a line at phtblog@nbcsports.com or follow him on Twitter @Sean_Leahy.
