With the 2010 Winter Olympics closing in, Steve Yzerman admitted he has been thinking about possible line combinations.
Yzerman, the executive director of Canada's men's hockey team for the games, appeared on TSN's Off The Record Wednesday and told host Michael Landsberg that while he thinks about who could be on the team, there is a long way to go.
When Landsberg brought up the topic of Martin Brodeur being the starter in 2010, Yzerman explained nothing was for certain.
"I'm not prepared to give anybody any job, whether it be a goaltender, a player or anyone on the coaching staff at this point, it's too early."
While he would not declare Brodeur the starter for 2010, Yzerman admitted the four-time Vezina Trophy winner's recent elbow injury is a concern.
"Marty was off to a great start again this year. Hopefully, from a Hockey Canada, Team Canada point of view, he can get back late in the regular season to play some games and have a successful playoff run. We'd like to see him do that, I think it's important for the program but I'm not prepared to say it's anybody's job at this point," said Yzerman.
Yzerman told Landsberg the chance to run Team Canada was “the chance of a lifetime” but understands winning in 2010 will be difficult.
"People have to accept that Canada is going to lose hockey games, we are not going to dominate," Yzerman said. "The other countries have players in our leagues, they dominate our leagues and it is a tremendous challenge for us."
"All of Canada expects us to win and our goal would be to win but the reality of it is the Russians and the Swedes who won the last Olympics, the U.S., these conuntries are good, they are great hockey players and they don't see Canada as the favourite," said Yzerman.
Landsberg then turned the conversation to former Detroit Red Wings teammate Sean Avery. Yzerman explained he enjoyed having Avery on his team but admitted speaking to him about certain aspects of his game.
"We used to talk to him about a lot of the things that he does and we talked to him about not doing it, I don't know that anybody is going to change Sean Avery. Having said that, a lot of the things he says I don't believe he really means, I think he says them for effect, unfortunately he can't take those things back," said Yzerman.
"I think he is doing himself a disservice because he's a better person than he's coming across as and he's a good hockey player and I've said that to him countless times."