I said Ramsay will call players which have no problem to back check and "ride their asses on ice" as everyone likes to say, Panik is not one of them as Jurco is not one of them, if they were they would be on WCH now...giving someone roster spot based on previous merits is not Ramsay"s style...you fit in system or you dont play
Then why was Panik invited for the World Championship?
Does Satan and Ramsay not see eye to eye? or does Ramsay's system of "ride their asses off" change between Olympics and WC?
You must be new to the hockey if you dont know that players in Sekera"s age dont want to get injured while they are without contract...he wouldnt be first and wouldn"t be last to deny the invitation
I'm not new to hockey, but thanks for your concern. My sign-up date here is 2006, and I followed hockey a few years before then also.
And no, denying an Olympic inviation is not a common thing, at all. This thread is about the Olympics, not World Championships. Off the top of my head, the only player I can recall turning down the Olympics is Tobias Enstrom, who simply quit the team Sweden altogether. He never had much desire to represent the national team to begin with. That can't be said about Sekera and Slovakia.
But let's pretend your logic is real for a while... Sekera has already made his career earnings. There's no big NHL contract awaiting him after his current one expires. There's actually much less risk for him to participate and getting injured at the Olympics, compared to some 27 year old in his prime, and who's a pending UFA looking to cash in in free agency.
Now, I don't know if Sekera has been quoted saying he's done with the national team and is doubtful about the Olympics. If so, please provide a link.
and yes i wouldn"t count Cehlarik and Hrivik in when they were playing minor roles in NHL or not contributing in AHL
So if Cehlarik returns to North America next season, which is likely, and again it turns out he's a fringe NHL'er, he should be left off the Olympic team? Does he magicially become a worse player than he is now (leading Slovakia in scoring at the WC), because he moves to a different league which is more competitive than the SHL?
Marincin is not national team material, he"s even scratched in AHL team and played only 14 games and you would call him to represent Slovakia...god help them then
Marincin is not scratched in the AHL. He only played 14 games because he was on the Maple Leaf's taxi squad half the season. He's by no means a good NHL defenseman, but if he sucked to the point you think, then surely they would have let him join Slovakia for the World Championship, similar to how Boston let Lantosi go.
Marincin led team Slovakia at the 2019 World Championship in both points (3 goals, 6 assists) and +/- (+6). He had a brainfart against Germany which became costly, but overall he had a very stellar tournament, and was once again re-signed by Toronto.
And guess who was tied for team lead in points? Panik.
Guess who lead team Slovakia in goals in 2018? Jurco.
And these were tournaments where the opposition iced much stronger teams compared to the ongoing World Championship, where Slovakia just fell 1-8 against a Swiss team with no Josi, Fiala or Niederreiter.
Again, Marcincin and Jurco are maybe not locks for the Olympics, but acting as if they are not in the mix is plain silly. They are by no means good NHL players, but they are just on the cusp of the best league in the world, which is more than you could say about most Slovak players in Europe. At least Marincin is defending against the likes of Matthews and Marner every day in practice, and has had 200+ games of experience defending against NHL competition. Tell me who Rosandic is defending against again?