For the NHL’s misplaced era of Olympians, 4 Nations Face-Off is a reminder of what may have been

It damage then. It hurts just a little extra now.

Then, he was 21 years outdated, on the prime of his sport and the highest of the world. The phrases “acetabular labrum” weren’t in his vocabulary, and COVID-19 didn’t even exist. There was nothing however 40-goal seasons forward, and he’d be pulling that Workforce Canada sweater — and that gold medal, too — over his head quickly sufficient. Time and expertise had been on his facet.

So yeah, it stung when Tyler Seguin was left off the 2014 Olympic crew. It had come right down to the wire, and his red-hot begin to his first season with the Dallas Stars, his fourth season within the NHL, wasn’t fairly sufficient to get him in. However he was genuinely blissful for his buddy Jamie Benn, who did make that Canadian roster that went on to win gold in Sochi, Russia.

“I used to be in a position to reside vicariously by way of him, and that took the sting off rather a lot,” Seguin mentioned.

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As a result of Seguin’s flip was coming. He was certain of it. Whenever you’re younger, you’re at all times certain of it. Doubt and remorse don’t dwell within the thoughts of a 21-year-old celebrity skilled athlete. He had gained the Stanley Cup as an 18-year-old rookie and returned to the Last two years later. All the pieces appeared to come back simple again then.

“At the moment, you’re nonetheless assured in your self that you just’re going to remain wholesome and keep elite and be on the prime of the league,” Seguin mentioned. “You assume you could have one other likelihood. Then impulsively, it’s 2025 and also you understand you don’t have one other likelihood.”

Seguin has loved a hell of an NHL profession. He’s 12 video games shy of 1,000. He’s scored 360 targets, posted 808 factors and performed in 133 playoff video games and 6 All-Star video games. His title is etched in silver on the sport’s most hallowed prize.

However there’ll at all times be a niche in that resume. He’ll by no means be an Olympian. He is aware of that now.

“Is there bitterness?” he asks himself. “You’d should ask me once more in 10 years. I’m nonetheless bitter about not making the World Juniors, that’s at all times bothered me. So far as the Olympics, I don’t know, you’ll should ask me once I retire. However man, what an expertise it will have been.”

Seguin is a part of a misplaced era of Olympians within the NHL whose careers peaked between 2015 and 2024. They missed out on the 2018 Video games in Pyeongchang, South Korea, due to a dispute between the NHL, IOC and IIHF, and the 2022 Video games in Beijing due to the pandemic. With the 4 Nations Face-Off beginning this week in Montreal and Boston, it’s fairly clear who’s on the radar for the 2026 video games in Italy — and whose Olympic hopes have been dashed eternally. And it’s fairly an inventory.

Because of damage and/or circumstance, Steven Stamkos by no means performed for Canada within the Olympics. Neither did Brent Burns, Ryan O’Reilly, Taylor Corridor, Claude Giroux or Mark Scheifele. Anders Lee by no means suited up for the USA, nor did Mikael Backlund for Sweden.

Giroux put up 102 factors through the 2017-18 season — he would have been a lock for Workforce Canada in Pyeongchang. O’Reilly was within the midst of his fourth straight top-five Selke Trophy season in 2021-22, lower than three years faraway from a Conn Smythe. He would have made Workforce Canada in Beijing. Stamkos must be a three-time Olympian, however a damaged leg value him Sochi, the NHL robbed him of Pyeongchang, the pandemic took Beijing from him, and Father Time very effectively may maintain him out of Milano Cortina.

These are a number of the finest and most achieved gamers of their period. Lots of them have worn their nation’s colours for the World Championships, or the 2016 World Cup of Hockey.

However none of them performed on the world’s greatest stage. And it’s possible none of them ever will.

“If it doesn’t occur, it simply wasn’t meant to be,” Stamkos mentioned. “I had three years the place I might have went. One 12 months damage, two years didn’t get to go. It could possibly be rather a lot completely different story, however that’s how life goes, proper? It’s what it’s.”

It’s a fluke greater than something, an odd quirk of unhealthy timing. And none of those gamers wanted an Olympics to validate his illustrious NHL profession. Nevertheless it’s a kind of issues that gnaws in the back of a participant’s thoughts, that leaves a gap in a resume and in a hockey soul. Sidney Crosby nonetheless can be one of many best hockey gamers of all time if he hadn’t performed for Workforce Canada in Vancouver in 2010, however the golden purpose he scored towards the USA elevated him to a fair larger echelon within the sport’s historical past. Carey Worth by no means gained the Stanley Cup in Montreal, however his efficiency in Sochi gave him a champion’s aura and repute.

Not going to the Olympics doesn’t damage a legacy. However going to the Olympics can cement one.

“Taking part in within the driveway as a child, you’re pretending to win the Stanley Cup,” O’Reilly mentioned. “The journey of that and the way laborious it’s to try this, that’s why it issues essentially the most. The Olympics is such a brief match, so it’s completely different. Nevertheless it’s actually finest on finest. That’s what makes it particular. I don’t know if I ever thought I’d have the chance to do it, however being in that scenario, being shut however not getting in, it’s disappointing. It’s a bummer.”

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It’s not nearly legacy, both. The very thought of being an Olympic athlete conjures up one thing distinctive within the sports activities world — residing in a quaint alpine village, testing the ski leaping and the luge, mingling with elite athletes from all around the world.

Summer season hockey within the Toronto Maple Leafs’ rink towards Workforce Europe and Workforce North America merely can’t measure up.

“To be an Olympian is one thing so cool and completely different,” O’Reilly mentioned. “I’ve been fortunate sufficient to nonetheless play lots of worldwide video games. I acquired to be part of the World Cup (in 2016), which was cool. Nonetheless, it’s not the identical. You hear the tales of men simply being within the village and attending to expertise that, going to different occasions, it’s one thing that’s simply so cool. It’s not even the hockey and representing your nation — it’s simply being an Olympian. That’s one thing particular. It could have been good to have the chance to attempt, at the very least.”

Identical goes for the 4 Nations Face-Off. Like that 2016 World Cup, it must be enjoyable, sure, nevertheless it doesn’t contain Czechia, Slovakia, Denmark, Switzerland, Germany, Latvia and, in fact, Russia. The match must be thrilling and the hockey must be of top of the range, however for the gamers, it’s as a lot an audition for the 2026 Olympics as anything. That’s the one which counts. And make no mistake, NHL gamers have their eyes set squarely on Milano Cortina.

Hurricanes goaltender Frederik Andersen suited up for all three of Denmark’s video games within the IIHF qualification match final September simply to verify his nation would make the Olympics, so he may lastly understand his personal dream of turning into an Olympian at 36 years outdated. He was 8 years outdated when he watched NHL gamers taking part within the Video games for the primary time in Nagano, Japan, and that instilled in him two lifelong targets — to be an NHLer and to be an Olympian. The primary dream got here shortly. The second is three a long time within the making.

“In Denmark, we didn’t actually watch the NHL as a lot rising up,” Andersen mentioned. “However I bear in mind watching the ’98 Olympics on TV as a result of they had been in Japan, and the time zone was higher for us. It was actually cool and it made me wish to try this.”

For NHL gamers, the 2018 Video games in South Korea had been the actual missed alternative, the one which engenders essentially the most frustration with the league’s decision-making. Gary Bettman and the house owners are at all times cautious of shutting down their league for 3 weeks in the midst of the season — through the one month the place they don’t have any soccer or baseball competitors, at that — however the gamers have been steadfast of their insistence on returning to the Olympics. The 2018 determination was a bitter capsule for the gamers to swallow.

There’s not practically as a lot remorse in regards to the 2022 Video games in Beijing, which had been performed beneath extreme COVID restrictions and lacked the standard Olympic really feel and aptitude.

“I do know a number of the guys who went, they usually had been clearly blissful to be there, however they knew that it wasn’t the actual expertise,” Andersen mentioned.

Andersen is a pending unrestricted free agent and is popping 36 within the fall, however he’ll play for Denmark whether or not he has an NHL job or not. Different gamers gained’t be so fortunate. Workforce Canada is just too good, too deep, for ageing veterans like Seguin and Corridor, O’Reilly and Burns to make. Stamkos continues to be holding out hope that he can show worthy of consideration subsequent 12 months, however getting left off the 4 Nations roster after a gradual begin doesn’t bode effectively for the 35-year-old future Corridor of Famer.

“Who is aware of what may occur till it truly goes off subsequent 12 months?” he mentioned.

For the others on this misplaced era, sporting their nation’s colours on the sporting world’s grandest stage will stay a remorse, a what-if, a dream unfulfilled.

“I don’t assume it’s one thing I take into consideration, nevertheless it’s one thing I’ve thought of,” Seguin mentioned. “It pops in my head now and again. It’s one thing that I’ll look again on as soon as my profession’s finished and it’s simply type of unlucky. I feel it’ll be tougher because the years go on.”

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If nothing else, the misplaced Olympians hope they will function a reminder to the hockey world to by no means let this occur once more.

“It’s your dream to be within the NHL, however above that’s representing Canada at a best-on-best match, and I used to be by no means ready to try this,” Corridor mentioned. “There’s an entire era of men that weren’t in a position to. Hopefully, they don’t make that mistake once more, as a result of we belong on the Olympics. Hockey followers need to see finest on finest. It’s good for the sport and good for everyone.”

— The Athletic’s Joe Smith contributed to this story.

(Prime picture: Jonathan Nackstrand / AFP by way of Getty Photographs)