Quote:
Originally Posted by Otto-matic
To be honest it could also just be Dougie wanting to spend some time at home after a long NHL season. We've had a ton of players consistently decline invites to the World Championships and most of us didn't even care, not sure why Dougie is a exception to that.
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Hockey Canada doesn't expect veterans and players with families to go. But there is an expectation that younger, healthy players wear their country's jersey.
You honestly don't think Treliving was disappointed when none of the four Flames he invited to Team Canada in 2016 accepted? Also, you didn't address the fact that Hamilton was not even invited to the World Cup camp.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Erick Estrada
I don't recall too many people calling out Iginla for never accepting invites for the World Championships. Sure Iggy had a family most of those years he declined but the fact is he simply didn't want to go to Europe after the season because lots of guys with families still go if they want to. I fail to see how Hamilton should be looked at any differently here. It's a tournament North Americans don't care about and after a long and disappointing NHL season I don't see why it has to be looked at as mandatory for these guys to just want to hop on a plane overseas to play with a team quickly thrown together to play for a trophy that's not overly important to a lot of players.
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It's not mandatory. But voluntarily going to overseas to play in a competitive tournament demonstrates a passion for the game.
I guess if you don't buy into the reports from multiple sources that the Flames management is not happy with the compete and passion level of the team, then there's nothing to see here. If you do, then it's perfectly legitimate to ask where the problems.