Posted by Scott Burnside
PITTSBURGH -- We had a chance to chat briefly with Steve Yzerman, executive director of the 2010 Canadian Olympic team, Thursday night at Mellon Arena.
He has been splitting time between his duties as the Red Wings' vice president of hockey operations and his Olympic duties. After watching the Wings dispatch Columbus in the second round, he was in Switzerland for the World Championships, where Canada fell to Russia in the gold-medal game.
Now, he's back in North America, preparing for a busy summer after the NHL season ends. By the end of June, he'll send out invitations to players who will attend a four-day Olympic orientation camp in Calgary in August and name a coaching staff.
No doubt, Yzerman was interested to see in person a number of players in the Eastern Conference finals series, namely Carolina's Eric Staal and Pittsburgh's Sidney Crosby. Both players appear to be locks to make the Vancouver team, but it's hard to imagine Yzerman wasn't also curious about the play of the two netminders, Cam Ward (Canes) and Marc-Andre Fleury (Pens).
Ward's strong playoff season (not including the six goals he allowed on 41 shots in Thursday's 7-4 loss to the Pens) and résumé (which includes a Stanley Cup and a Conn Smythe Trophy) have vaulted him onto the radar for one of the three goaltending spots on the Canadian roster.
But what of Fleury? If he leads the Pens to a second straight Stanley Cup finals and perhaps a Cup win, well, he's definitely not going to make Yzerman's job any easier.
ESPN.com Stanley Cup playoffs blog
