http://www.philly.com/mld/philly/sports/hockey/nhl/13836585.htm
For the first time, Forsberg spoke of the possibility of going to Turin even if he isn't ready to play for Sweden, then joining the tournament in progress. His employers, the Flyers, don't seem at all thrilled by that possibility, which coach Ken Hitchcock pretty much discounted yesterday.
Hitchcock said the NHL learned from the 1998 and 2002 Olympics that the grueling schedule does not help injuries heal.
"If you go in a little bit banged up, you come out a lot worse... All the players are fearful; that's why you see players dropping out. Everybody learned that lesson," said Hitchcock, who will be a Team Canada assistant coach. "You don't get healthy going through these games. You play so much hockey over a short period of time. There's no break... If you're not healthy going in, there's no point in going. Different countries have different situations. Some countries can afford to have a player sit and maybe play three games into this thing. But most countries want their players playing right away. The unfortunate part for the players this year is, there's four games in five nights to start, so you have no opportunity to get healthy... the players literally leave here and are playing a day-and-a-half later. If you're not healthy by Sunday, when the season shuts down, there's no way you're going to get healthy by Tuesday, when you have to play.
"He got through practice today, he went the whole deal, we'll see how he feels in the morning. But if he's not healthy and can't play games by this weekend, he's not going to put himself in jeopardy and try to play injured. He knows it would be very disappointing for himself and everybody here in this city if he had to do that right now."
Asked about Hitchcock's reluctance, and even stronger statements earlier in the week from Flyers chairman Ed Snider advocating that Forsberg stay here and heal, Forsberg sighed.
"I understand where [Snider] is coming from," he said.