Latvia receives bad news regarding Blueger and the Olympics qualifying event

The Final Qualifying Tournament for the 2026 Winter Olympics is set to get underway in less than two weeks, with a ton of current and former NHLers participating across the three groups which are hosted by Riga, Latvia; Aalborg, Denmark and Bratislava, Slovakia.

In Riga, the hosts are looking to qualify for their second consecutive Winter Olympics and will be doing so with Vancouver Canucks netminder Arturs Silovs between the pipes. Silovs has been lights out for Latvia in the past, including at the 2023 IIHF World Hockey Championship where he was named tournament MVP.

On Friday, the Latvian Ice Hockey Federation announced their preliminary roster for the tournament, with training camp beginning on Monday, and they announced that Vancouver Canucks forward Teddy Blueger will not be participating.

In a post on their website, the LHF announced that Blueger, along with Columbus Blue Jackets goaltender Elvis Merzlikins, won't be playing at the Olympic qualifiers for personal reasons.

Blueger, 30, signed a two-year contract extension at the end of June to remain with the Vancouver Canucks. The Riga native last played for his country at the 2019 IIHF World Hockey Championship where they finished in tenth place.

Latvia will begin their Olympic qualifying tournament on August 29th against Slovenia. They'll also take on Ukraine on August 30th and France on September 1st. The winner of the round robin tournament will qualify for the 2026 Winter Olympics in Italy.

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Source: Latvian Ice Hockey Federation
The Latvian national team starts preparing for the Olympic qualification tournament on Monday!