Pens' Crosby, Fleury -- But Not Staal -- Named To 2010 Team Canada Olympic Roster

To nobody's surprise, Pittsburgh Penguins' Captain Sidney Crosby was named today to the 2010 Team Canada Olympic Team roster.

Crosby will also serve as one of Team Canada's alternate captains, with defenseman Scott Niedermayer wearing the "C".

Also to almost nobody's surprise, Pens' netminder Marc-Andre Fleury was named to the team.

While Fleury's idol Martin Brodeur is likely to be the #1 man in Vancouver, time will tell who gets to serve in the #2 role -- hometown Canuck Roberto Luongo or Fleury.

Meanwhile, the Penguins' player who was on the bubble for making the squad -- center Jordan Staal -- was not named to the team.

Instead, among the other bubble players I named in this space yesterday, Philadelphia Flyers' center Mike Richards, Boston Bruins' center Patrice Bergeron and Dallas Stars' LW Brendan Morrow all made the team.

While I didn't think these three guys would make it, I suppose I can understand how Morrow -- and, even to a lesser extent, Richards -- made the team. Both are physical, two-way guys who are captains of their respective clubs.

Bergeron is the guy that puzzles me the most.

While Bergeron is a skilled player and while he can play multiple positions, he's unlike Richards and Morrow -- and, more importantly, unlike Staal -- in that he's just a finesse guy.

Staal is much more in the ilk of Richards and Morrow than Bergeron is. We all know Team Canada has skill and finesse in abundance, so I'm not sure why they went for Bergeron exactly, but I suppose it is what it is.

Unless he's later named as an injury replacement (something unlikely, but not completely out of the realm of possibility), it looks like Staal is going to get a few extra weeks off this year.

Truth be known, the Penguins will be the ones who benefits from a healthy, rested Staal down the stretch. With Crosby and Malkin likely playing big minutes and key roles for their respective clubs in the Olympics, Pittsburgh will probably need #11 more than ever at that time.

Penguins/Devils recap tomorrow.