According to Chiarelli, it will be a matter of Bergeron’s threshold for pain after those two weeks, and if he feels good enough to go, he will play. Knowing the Bruins’ leading scorer and based on the way he fought back from a career-threatening concussion two seasons ago, chances are he will be back playing before the Olympics and will be ready to don the maple leaf for his native Canada at the Winter Games in Vancouver.
This news will hopefully calm the rampant speculation and rumors that Bergeron would miss the Olympics and that Hockey Canada executive director Steve Yzerman was already lining up his replacement. On Tuesday morning, Yzerman told TSN’s Darren Dreger that such speculation was “premature.”
Dreger also claimed that if it did ever get to the point at which a replacement was needed, the Flyers’ Jeff Carter would be the guy. But according to one Hockey Canada source, that may not be the case and Dreger’s speculation was just that. Under a controversial IIHF rule, rosters can be changed up until the eve of the Olympic tournament, so Yzerman is in no rush to make a decision just yet.
“Bergeron’s spot is secure for now and I don’t think we’re even thinking about that until we know more details,” the source told NESN.com. “[Yzerman] really put a lot into scouting a guy like Bergeron and believes he can be a valuable player for Canada, so he’s not going to give up just like that. If all goes well over the next two weeks, that spot is his. If he is still hurting then and it looks bad, then maybe we’ll start looking into that.”
The source also claimed that Carter wasn’t a lock to be Bergeron’s replacement, should one be needed. Apparently, Lightning forward Martin St. Louis was very much in the mix right up until Yzerman announced the Olympic squad on Dec. 30. But in the end, Bergeron’s performance every time Yzerman watched him made him just too good to pass up.
