It was inspiring at first but enough already.
 
It seems like the Olympic hockey hype in this country has been underway ever since Canada embarrassed themselves with a seventh place finish at the Turino Olympics in 2006.
 
So I won’t be talking about Canada’s team or Team U.S.A for that matter because quite frankly anything that has needed to be said about those two teams has been said and been said more than twice.
 
Instead here is a little chatter about the European teams rosters who will take the ice in Vancouver just over a week from now. More specifically the players we once knew.
 
With the recent trend of players leaving the NHL to go play professionally or semi-professionally in their home countries, the Vancouver Olympics provides a stage for former NHLers to prove that they still have what it takes to compete with the finest the NHL today has to offer. 
 
Playing for Russia: Sergei Fedorov, Alexander Radulov and Alexei Morozov.
 
Fedorov: On June 25^th 2009 Sergei Fedorov left the NHL and signed a two-year deal with Magnitogorsk of the Kontinental Hockey League. Fedorov is the highest scoring Russian born player of all time with 483 goals. In his first season with Magnitogorsk Fedorov has nine goals and 28 points in 47 games.
 
Radulov: After a promising 2005-2006 campaign in the QMJHL where he scored 152 points as a member of the Quebec Remparts, it looked like Alexander Radulov had a promising NHL career ahead of him. However, after only two seasons as a member of the Nashville Predators, he signed a three-year deal with Salavat Yulaev Ufa of the KHL even though he was under contract with the Predators for one more season. An article in USA Today in 2008 quoted Predators GM Dave Poile saying that he would be extremely surprised if Radulov didn’t return to the NHL at some point. Nearly two years later Radulov is still playing for Ufa.
 
Morozov: After playing seven years as a member of the Pittsburgh Penguins and scoring 84 goals from 1997-2004 Alexei Morozov went to play for Kazan Ak-Bars in Russia during the NHL lockout. Morozov never returned to the NHL even though rumors over the past few

years have suggested that the Penguins 25^th overall pick from 1995 might make an NHL return. In six seasons with Kazan Ak-Bars Morozov has tallied 161 goals and 354 points. 

 
 
Playing for Czech Republic: Jaromir Jagr and Petr Cajanek
 
Jagr: Arguably the most prominent non-NHL player in the world Jaromir Jagr left the NHL in 2008 when dedcided to pursue a career in the KHL. He signed a two year contract with Avangard Omsk and led his team in points in the 2008-2009 season with 53 in 55 games. Jagr recently made headlines in North America when a series of fights during a game between Avangard Osmk and Vityaz Chekov resulted in 691 total penalty minutes and a calling of the game. To this day Jagr is one of the most prolific NHL goal scorers to ever play andis 12^th all time with 646 career goals.
 
Cajanek: A brief stint in the NHL saw Petr Cajanaek spend four seasons in St. Louis from 2002-2007. Never known as a flashy player Cajanek chipped in every once in a while scoring a career high 15 goals in 2006-2007.  However, Cajanek was waived the following season and with no offers from other NHL teams he moved to play in the Russian Super League and now plays for St. Petersburg of the KHL where’s he’s reached 21 goals and 40 points in 46 games.
 
 
Playing for Slovakia:  Ziggy Palffy
 
Palffy: After the NHL lockout in 2004-2005 Zigmund Palffy signed a three year contract with the Pittsburgh Penguins worth 13.5 million dollars. But in the midst of the 2005-2006 season Palffy abruptly retired due to a reported shoulder injury. In 2007 Palffy returned to hockey as a member of Skalica HK 36 of the Slovak Extraliga (the highest level of hockey in Slovakia). Palffy had some great seasons in the NHL with back to back 40 plus goal seasons while playing for the New York Islanders in the mid 1990’s and three straight 30 plus goal season’s playing for the L.A Kings in the early 2000’s.
 
 
Playing For Sweden: Peter Forsberg
 
Forsberg: When he was healthy and playing for the Colorado Avalanche in the mid 1990’s and early 2000’s Peter Forsberg was one of the most dangerous players in the NHL. However, after an Art Ross trophy winning season in 2002-2003 injuries began to scratch away at his career. Since the lockout in 2004 Forsberg has never played a full NHL season spending two years as Philadelphia Flyer before being shipped to Nashville to play only seventeen games as a Predator. Since 2008 Forsberg has been back playing for Modo of the Swedish Elite League where he has scored eight goals and tallied 17 points in 14 games.
 
It will be interesting to see which of these players will make the most impact, improving their countries chances of taking home the gold in Vancouver.
 
 Sidenote: Other former NHLers playing in Vancouver include Jozef Stumpel and Branko Radivojevic (Slovakia) and Niko Kapanen (Finland).