Skip navigation
Favorites
Sign up to follow your favorites on all your devices.
Sign up

Sakic says Olympics more helpful for players than vacation

Patrick Roy, Joe Sakic

FILE - In this May 28, 2013 file photo, Colorado Avalanche coach Patrick Roy, left, and Joe Sakic, pose together at a news conference in Denver. After another disappointing season, the Avalanche shook up the team, bringing in Roy, and giving Sakic, the longtime face of the franchise, more responsibility in the front office. Matt Duchene, Gabriel Landeskog and the rest of the Avs kick off training camp on Thursday, Sept. 12, 2013. (AP Photo/Brennan Linsley, File)

AP

With a number of NHL players soon headed to Sochi for the 2014 Winter Olympics, many others are getting set for a two-week vacation in the middle of the season.

You would imagine getting time to rest and heal up before the run for the playoffs would be a good thing. Colorado Avalanche executive vice president of hockey operations, and former Team Canada member, Joe Sakic disagrees as he shares with Adrian Dater of The Denver Post.

“It’s better to play,” Sakic said. “I think it keeps you sharper, and the level of hockey you’re playing that whole time, that can make you better.”

It’s tough to disagree with a guy who is in the Hockey Hall of Fame and won the gold medal in 2002 in Salt Lake City. Ideally getting time off would seem like a helpful thing, but he’s right about staying sharp.

Perhaps teams loaded with Olympians will be set to go on a tear following the Sochi games. That would be good news for teams like the Detroit Red Wings fighting to get into the postseason.

Follow @JoeYerdonPHT