Bobby Ryan and Ryan Whitney have been included on the United States Olympic team orientation camp roster, released today.
GM Brian Burke and team spread out the roster among veterans and youth. The oldest is 39-year-old Olympic team vet Mike Modano, and 20-year-old Patrick Kane is the youngest.
Whitney, 26, and Ryan, 22, have never played in the Olympics before and, in some cases, their youth trumped experience. Defensemen Mathieu Schneider, Derian Hatcher, Jordan Leopold and John-Michael Liles, as well as forwards Jason Blake, Erik Cole, Brian Gionta and Keith Tkachuk, were on the 2006 team that went to Turin, but were left off this year by Burke.
A native of Cherry Hill, N.J., Ryan has played in 87 NHL games and was a Calder Trophy runner-up last season. He led all rookies with 31 goals and 57 points in 64 regular-season games, plus five goals and seven points in 13 playoff games for the Ducks.
Whitney, who hails from Boston, had 10 assists and was plus-1 in 20 games for the Ducks after being acquired from the Pittsburgh Penguins for forward Chris Kunitz. He also posted a goal and six points in 13 playoff games.
The complete roster, courtesy of the U.S. Olympic Committee, can be found here.