When the NHL shut the door last month on sending its players to next month’s Winter Olympics in Beijing, it made it possible for Ducks prospect Mason McTavish to walk through and become a member of Team Canada next month. McTavish’s name is on a long list of candidates, according to multiple reports.

McTavish would follow in the footsteps of Ducks right wing Troy Terry, who played with Team USA in the 2018 Olympics, the last time the NHL didn’t send its players to the Games. McTavish was a member of Canada’s World Junior Championships team before the tournament was canceled last month.

The Ducks drafted McTavish third overall in July. He made their roster and played nine games before they returned him to his junior team, the Peterborough Petes of the Ontario Hockey League. He had two goals and one assist while with the Ducks and recorded a hat trick upon his OHL return.

McTavish, who turns 19 on Jan. 30, could be joined by his World Junior teammate Owen Power, who was picked first overall by the Buffalo Sabres in July. McTavish returned to Peterborough and Power went back to the University Michigan when the junior tournament was called off because of COVID-19.

Olympic rosters will be made up of junior players, collegians, minor-leaguers and players on European club team rosters, much as they were for the 2018 Games. Terry, the Ducks’ fifth-round pick in 2015, made the U.S. team while in his third and final season at the University of Denver.

Team Canada is expected to finalize its roster within the next two weeks, according to reports. The Beijing Olympics begin Feb. 4.

COMTOIS UPDATE

After 14 games to forget, after layoffs because of hand surgery and COVID-19, left wing Max Comtois has started to play the sort of role the Ducks envisioned for him when the season began. Comtois has had assists in each of the past two games, his second and third points of the season.

Last season, Comtois was the Ducks’ leading scorer with 16 goals and 33 points, a breakout season if ever there was one. This season, he had largely been invisible, with only one assist in his first 14 games, as he battled a hand injury that eventually required surgery in November.

Now he has a two-game scoring streak, after assisting on goals Tuesday by Terry against the Philadelphia Flyers and Sunday by defenseman Cam Fowler against the Colorado Avalanche. Comtois, Terry and center Isac Lundestrom made up the Ducks’ top line Tuesday.

Comtois played only once after his surgery until returning to the lineup Sunday.

“I don’t worry about what happened in the past,” Comtois said after Tuesday’s game, a 4-1 victory. “I have two hands now, which helps to play hockey. I just have more fun. I’m focusing on my next shift. I don’t care what happened. If I make a turnover, I’m going to make turnovers. I don’t really care.

“I’m just trying to play my game, trying to go back, trying to bring some energy. I think since that break, I’ve done a pretty good job. It was hard against Colorado to come back in the altitude against a team that strong. It was a game to get my feet under me. (Tuesday), right from the puck drop, I had some legs.

“I think I did a pretty good job.”

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SCHEDULED DAY OFF

The Ducks didn’t practice Wednesday, taking advantage of a scheduled day off. It had nothing to do with a recent COVID-19 outbreak, which prompted the cancellation of Monday’s practice. Nicolas Deslauriers, Ryan Getzlaf, Derek Grant and Trevor Zegras were all in the league’s COVID-19 protocol, as of Tuesday.