The Puck Stops Here

The International Ice Hockey Federation has just announced that they will allow three man taxi squads. These are players who will travel to Italy for the Olympics but will not be able to be used except in case of injuries occurring during the Olympics. Since I have just named my picks for the Canadian and American Olympic hockey teams, I thought I would name taxi squads as well.

Traditionally, taxi squads for international tournaments (when they are allowed) have been young players who may gain some experience practising with an international team. That might be the way they are used in 2006, but they could also be used as a list of the best three players who were not named to the Olympic team. I think that the second use might give teams a slightly better (although small) chance at winning Olympic gold, so I will make my picks with that in mind.

My picks for the Canadian taxi squad:
Adam Foote
Rick Nash
Ryan Smyth

My picks for the American taxi squad:
Dustin Brown
Tim Connolly
John-Michael Liles

Since the actual taxi squads can be named as short as 24 hours before the Olympics begin, I expect that ideas on who should make them may change by then.

Here is TSN's story on the announcement of taxi squads.