Hockey

Ryan Smyth will be out of the lineup for the Los Angeles Kings for up to one month, greatly hurting -- if not ending -- his chances of making the 2010 Canadian Olympic men's hockey team.

Smyth, off to a hot start this season, suffered an upper body injury during the second period of Monday night's game at Florida. He left the game and did not return for the third period.

Kings head coach Terry Murray would not say what the "upper body" injury was, but confirmed after practice on Wednesday that Smyth would be out for up to a month.

"It's very unfortunate that you lose a player that's an important player for your team that's going to be out up to that length of time," admitted Murray to the L.A. Times. "But you know what? You take a look around the league, there's all kinds of injuries to top players and you've got to deal with it. It's part of the game.

The 33-year-old Canadian Olympic hopeful had 23 points (nine goals, 14 assists) in 22 games in his first year with the Kings while playing on the top line with the NHL's current goal-scoring leader, Anze Kopitar, and right winger Justin Williams.

Smyth, who attended the men's Olympic orientation camp in Calgary in August, has represented Canada on numerous occasions. He played in six World Championships (2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004 and 2005), and was a gold medallist with Canada at the 2002 Salt Lake City Olympics and played a key role in Canada's victory at the 2004 World Cup of Hockey. He also played in the 2006 Turin Games.

Smyth has represented his country so many times that he has been often called "Captain Canada".