It's challenging to label exactly what a “snub” means when it comes to Team Canada's Olympics roster. Team Canada's roster for best-on-best hockey is one of the toughest in sports, and Connor Bedard is no exception. It's no slight to any player, whether it's Bedard, Seth Jarvis, Mark Scheifele, or Sam Bennett, not to make this competitive roster.
The issue is that any little thing could be used against any of those players. For Jarvis, it might be the uncertainty of his injury that is keeping him out. For Bennett, it's the inclusion of players with similar skill sets to his that could keep him on the outside looking in. But for Bedard, it might be a Team Canada decision he made previously in his career, according to Ben Pope via The Chicago Sun Times.
“Still, it's hard to disregard the inkling that politics came into play,” Pope wrote. “Bedard, who has been stuck on 44 points in 31 games since his injury, turned down Team Canada's invitation to play in the world championships last May, deciding to instead give himself a full offseason to focus on his training and mindset at home in Vancouver.”
It's a cruel double-edged sword for Bedard. Without his commitment to his craft last offseason, he might not have had the breakout that he did to start the year. The breakout was what got him snubbed from Team Canada's roster, but it might've come at the cost of not going to Milan.
It isn't the end of the world that Bedard is missing his first chance at the Olympics. Hockey Canada also left Sidney Crosby at home for the 2006 edition, and after a poor showing in Turin, Crosby joined the team in 2010 and scored the gold-medal-winning goal in overtime. There is still plenty of time for Connor Bedard to make his mark with the national team.
