Hiii hope you are feeling better. I had a cold last week too and I always feel like the long tail is the worst part - the bit where you’re kind of well enough to do things again but not so well that it’s easy 🫤 Wishing you clear sinuses, soft tissues and comfy beds.
This is a bit more of a general hockey question so apologies in advance if it’s not your bag. Asking you as a certified unrepentant Canadian: I can see the IIHF world championship is happening at the moment, and I wondered why Canada’s team is so different to their recent Olympic team? Is it that lots of their Olympic line up are still in the playoffs / injured, or is there some other mysterious reason entirely? Why isn’t the real CMD (ie not CMD in my phone) there?
Thank you beeherself! I'm improving, but definitely not getting chapter 33 done in time. It's getting there but needs another couple days, depending on how they play out.
Ah, international play is a tricky thing with NHLers. First of all, Worlds overlaps with the playoffs, so only players not in the playoffs (or who lose in usually the first or at latest second round, see Sid showing up last minute) can go. Players do not get paid for international play, it's purely voluntary, and their teams have to agree to them going (there's also complicated and expensive insurance stuff involved). If you go and play in an international tournament and get injured, then it's a big hit for you as a player but also as a team (like the Kings losing Fiala, or Sid getting injured hurting the Pens). Plus, it eats into a player's offseason rest & recovery time!
Worlds is somewhat less of a problem than the Olympics for health reasons because it's at the start of the offseason rather than pre-playoffs, so minor injuries are less of a concern, and Worlds is usually not as heavy play as say, the NHL playoffs or Olympics, but it's still a risk. For Team Canada and the USA, Worlds are generally seen as less prestigious than the Stanley Cup by a pretty large amount, whereas a gold medal at the Olympics is much more highly valued (I believe most NHL players would still take the Cup over one any day). For European teams, Worlds generally holds much more significance (it's played in Europe, much more visible, and also a tournament where European teams have done well over the years), so there's more pressure on the best European NHLers to show up, I think, but that's just not true of the best Canadian players. You tend to get guys who either (a) have something to prove (e.g., Bouchard is probably there as a "fuck you" for not getting a top-3 Norris vote this year, Nurse probably because he's trying to up his value if a trade is on the table), (b) often younger stars on teams that are not making the playoffs and have energy to spare (Macklin), (c) players who looooove playing for Canada and have a long history of doing it (e.g. Dylan Cozens), or (d) are insane and never want to NOT be playing hockey/older guys who are squeezing their last glory days out (Sid).
It doesn't surprise me that neither Connor -- who is presumably still healing from whatever ankle-ish fracture he suffered in round one, given he hasn't been spotted actually training yet (except for Lauren-mandated beach yoga and pilates, it seems) -- and Leon, who wouldn't necessarily be 100% recovered from what was likely an MCL sprain, went to worlds. You don't do worlds if you are nursing any injury, and both those guys have played a shit ton of hockey over the last 3 years. They have earned the rest!
