Jarome Iginla, a six-time NHL All-Star currently a free agent at age 40, could still make the Canadian Olympic hockey team, Hockey Canada CEO Tom Renney reportedly said Wednesday.
Iginla, who recently underwent a hip procedure, was invited to play in a pre-Olympic tournament for Canada this month but declined, according to Sportsnet.
“Jarome is going to have to be playing hockey [to have a shot at the Olympic team],” Renney said, according to the report. “It’s one thing to talk about names that could play. If those people aren’t playing … ”
Jarome is not playing hockey, at least in a competitive league, at the moment. He obviously can’t play in the NHL and the Olympics. Canada has another pre-Olympic tournament in mid-December.
Iginla, an Olympian in 2002, 2006 and 2010, split last season between the Colorado Avalanche and Los Angeles Kings but did not re-sign with LA.
Iginla would be by far the biggest star on either the U.S. or Canadian Olympic hockey teams with no active NHL players participating for the first time since 1994.
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