Your wife has told the media you are brokenhearted at Canadians’ reaction to you these days. Funnily enough, that is how Canadians are feeling about you.

Your continued silence says that you just don’t get it. I’ll try to explain.

You were our hero. Whether we should put a hockey player on a pedestal is a question to debate another time, but you were The Great One. Arguably the best ever to play our national sport.

When you fell in love with an American girl and asked to be traded to a team closer to her work, we understood. You still showed up to play for Team Canada internationally. You were still ours.

We understood when you took out US citizenship. You lived there, you worked there, your wife and kids were American. But you kept your Canadian passport. In our hearts we felt you were still ours.

We even understood you being friends with Donald Trump. He’s probably a nice guy to his friends. And nobody wants to dictate who you do or don’t associate with.

But times have changed since the calendar hit 2025. You seem to have missed that. It looks to us like you have decided to take sides against Canada. Your silence reinforces that perception.

You were a logical choice as honourary team captain for Canada at last month’s Four Nations Faceoff. Canadians watching though saw someone who looked like he was supporting the American team.

Emotions are raw here these days. Our country is under attack by the USA. We took your actions personally.

The honourary captain of Team USA came onto the ice in uniform. You wore a suit. Have you given away all your Team Canada sweaters from your glory years? It looked like you were ashamed of being Canadian.

You made a point of interacting with the American team before the game. Fraternizing with the street thugs that emulated their president by starting three fights in the first nine seconds of the previous game between the two teams. Fights that they admitted were pre-planned, just like the tariffs.

To Canadians it looked like you had switched your allegiance. So much for being a hero. The honourary captain of Team Canada seemed to be cheering for the USA.

In Edmonton, where you reached the height of your hockey glory, there is a movement to re-name the street named after you. I don’t doubt you are brokenhearted, but your fans here are devastated by what they see as the ultimate betrayal.

And you remain silent.

Canadians are a forgiving people. Maybe one day you will be The Great One again. But we will remember that when we expected you to wear the sweater with pride, you chose a business suit.

You made your choice. I respect that. But if your heart is broken, you broke it yourself. Right after you stabbed your homeland in the back.

Now do you understand?