How Will Personal Politics Play Into Team Canada Selection?

While the management group that is tasked with selected Team Canada is a strong group of hockey people, most of whom have been down the same road before, there can’t help but be some personal motivation when expressing opinions on who should be on the team when it us unveiled in less than a week.

CBC had a show called “Defending The Gold” earlier today (I’m not sure if that was the first time it was aired), with a behind the scenes look at how the team was being assembled.  And what struck me a couple of times was how a GM would go to bat for his own player.  The biggest example was Boston Bruins’ GM Peter Chiarelli and his backing of Milan Lucic, Bruins forward.

It is very tough to put personal feelings aside in such a situations, because these men know the players and want to see their teams represented as much as possible, because it sort of validates their ability to scout talent.

I’m not suggesting that the players that make the team will be there because someone had some more sway, but it will be interesting to see how many of the players come from teams managed by the selection group.  On the flipside, equally talented players could be left off simply because there was nobody in the know in the room to speak on their behalf.