Canada coach Claude Julien said fans can still expect to see ice hockey "the Canadian way" at next month's Beijing Olympics as 2010 gold medal winner Eric Staal was on Tuesday named in a team assembled from outside the NHL.
Staal, who scored 441 goals and 1,031 points in his 17-year National Hockey League career, will be the leader on a squad cobbled together from European, minor and junior leagues after the NHL decided in December to end its Olympic participation after a surge in COVID-19 cases forced the postponement of more than 100 games.
Canada was among the nations hardest hit by the NHL's decision.