Niedermayer’s Hurt and Out for Canada

Mighty Duck captain Scott Niedermayer will undergo arthroscopic surgery on his right knee and has decided to not play for Canada in the upcoming Winter Olympics at Turin, Italy.

Barring any further complications to the injured knee, Niedermayer is expected to have the surgery Monday after playing in the Ducks’ game Friday at Vancouver and home game Sunday against Chicago before the NHL takes two weeks off for the Olympic break.

Niedermayer opted for the procedure to remove torn cartilage after consulting with team doctors for a final time Tuesday.

The 32-year-old defenseman notified Hockey Canada President Bob Nicholson of his decision at a meeting Wednesday. Canada is expected to successfully defend its gold medal, but it will be that much tougher without Niedermayer, considered one of the world’s best defenders.

“I’d love to be there,” said Niedermayer, who injured the knee in December. “My health is obviously something that’s important to me as well. That was a big part of it.”

Niedermayer said part of the reason why he opted for the surgery was so that he would be injury-free for the Ducks’ stretch run.

The 13-year veteran is expected to be sidelined three weeks.

“Obviously this team here, Anaheim, paid me well to play hockey for them,” said Niedermayer, who signed a four-year, $27-million free-agent contract in August. “It was tough. I wanted to be everywhere. I wanted to do all of it. I guess I just couldn’t.”

Duck Coach Randy Carlyle said they will benefit from Niedermayer’s decision but added that he understood his plight.

“From a coach’s standpoint, you’d like to have a player available to you and healthy at all times,” he said. “On the other hand, as a Canadian, I know how much it means to represent your country.”

Niedermayer, a standout international performer for more than a decade, is the only hockey player to have won an Olympic gold medal, a Stanley Cup, a world championship and World Cup along with a Memorial Cup and world title in junior hockey.

Nicholson was traveling to Italy and unavailable for comment.

Sources told the TSN network that Florida’s Jay Bouwmeester would replace Niedermayer in the active lineup.

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The Czech men’s hockey team added New Jersey Devil forward Patrik Elias to its roster to replace New York Ranger forward Petr Prucha, who has a knee injury. Finland added defenseman Anti-Jussi Niemi, who plays for Frolunda in the Swedish Elite League, to replace Philadelphia’s Joni Pitkanen, who has a groin injury. Finland also substituted Niklas Backstrom for Atlanta Thrasher goaltender Kari Lehtonen, who has a chronic groin injury.

Also, defenseman Alex Zhitnik of the New York Islanders withdrew from Russia’s team because of a sprained ankle.

Times staff writer Helene Elliott contributed to this report.