Mar 22, 2014; Dallas, TX, USA; Ottawa Senators right wing Bobby Ryan (6) watches his team take on the Dallas Stars during the third period at the American Airlines Center. Ryan leaves the game with an injury. The Stars defeated the Senators 3-1. Mandatory Credit: Jerome Miron-USA TODAY Sports
Unfortunately, the Ottawa Senators are at a point in their season where a number of players will be asked by their respective countries if they want to play at the World Championships in Minsk, Belarus.
While many players will be playing for the right to hoist the Stanley Cup, the World Championships offers some players a chance to extend their season and play for a rare title. This is an unusual season in that the World Championships come a mere 4 months after the elite players in the league represented their countries at the Olympics.
Many of the players who played in Sochi will understandably take a pass on the Worlds this year, but many Ottawa Senators will likely get the call, and I will get to those later on.
One of those players might be Bobby Ryan, who was so unceremoniously left off the Team USA roster for Sochi and then came the ESPN behind the scenes article including Brian Burke’s comments about his lack of intensity and also poor spelling ability.
So, with many stars in the NHL playoffs and other eligible players taking a pass after already making the trip to the Russian area once this season, there isn’t much doubt that Ryan would get the call, assuming he is healthy enough.
So, given the very public comments about him combined with the snub, would Bobby Ryan accept the invitation to represent the US?
Ryan was understandably upset about being left off the roster, but he didn’t really burn any bridges with comments of his own in response. Like Canada, the U.S. is becoming very deep and a turned down invitation might be remembered for future Olympics, should the NHLers go to South Korea in 2018.
However, the perceived snub might still resonate deep with Ryan and I wouldn’t be surprised at all if he turned down the invite, should it indeed come.