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TORONTO -- USA Hockey huddled up its NHL GM advisory group here Tuesday night with a focus on the upcoming IIHF men’s world championship, but it was also a chance to update player evaluations for next February’s Olympic team.

Brian Burke, Don Waddell, Ray Shero, David Poile, Dale Tallon and Stan Bowman met for close to two hours with Jim Johannson, assistant executive director of hockey operations for USA Hockey.

Missing from the USA Hockey NHL GMs advisory group were Dean Lombardi and Paul Holmgren.

USA Hockey has yet to name its GM for the Olympic team.

"In the end, we’re waiting to make sure the NHL is a full-go with it," Johannson said. "I know the talks are going well but it’s hard to do anything until that’s official."

Once the NHL and NHLPA sign off on Sochi, USA Hockey won’t wait too long to name its GM, which will come from its advisory group.

"My guess is we’ll do that in a timely manner," Johannson said.

Burke was the GM for the 2010 U.S. team in Vancouver but it’s not clear whether he’ll get the nod again this time. He’ll be part of the group either way.

Most of the meeting Tuesday night was focused on preparations for the May IIHF men’s tournament -- the late NHL regular season is going to make it more difficult for USA Hockey to fill its roster, given what will be a smaller NHL pool of players available at that time.

But of course there was also Olympic talk, with the group Tuesday night updating its player hopeful evaluations for Sochi 2014.

"We’ve always had a running list in our group and we updated guys’ thoughts on where they felt players were at," Johannson said. "There was a bit of an emphasis on some players that we need to keep track of a little bit more."

NEW YORK -- Watching his Tampa Bay Lightning players go through their morning skate drills Thursday at Madison Square Garden, general manager Steve Yzerman was puzzled at first when this ESPN.com hockey writer wished him a happy third anniversary.

Reminded of a certain gold-medal game on this very day in 2010, the Team Canada Olympic GM figured it out.

"It seems like forever ago," Yzerman said. "A lot has happened in three years. You’re totally engrossed with your [NHL] team. I didn’t realize that about today."

But with that, Yzerman took a few minutes to reminisce on that overtime victory over Team USA, a game as memorable for the young American team’s refusal to die -- tying the game late on Zach Parise's goal -- to of course the host Olympic country partying all night after Sidney Crosby found a hole and beat Ryan Miller.

"It was an incredible experience." Yzerman said. "It was like nothing I had been through throughout my entire career."

Truth be told, though, he most remembers one thing from that day in Vancouver.

"At the end of it, it was really about relief," he said, chuckling. "As much as you enjoyed the whole process, it was just a sense of huge relief."

Now that pressure is about to get ratcheted up again as Yzerman in the next 10 months figures out his Canadian roster for the Sochi Olympics (if indeed NHL players are going, which at this point appears more likely than not.)

"This is the fun part, you’re watching games, you’re watching players, you sit and debate it," Yzerman said. "The whole process is real enjoyable. Obviously, if you win it, it makes it all worthwhile."

Yzerman figures his management staff, which includes Detroit GM Ken Holland, St. Louis GM Doug Armstrong and Edmonton president Kevin Lowe, will get together around the March 20 GM meetings in Toronto to further discuss the process and their thoughts on players.

As we speak about the Olympics, Martin St. Louis and Steven Stamkos are among the last two players off the ice at Tampa’s morning skate, which is nothing new. Work, work, work.

It’s obviously a foregone conclusion that Stamkos -- the NHL’s leading scorer as of Thursday morning -- will make his Olympic debut, but what will be intriguing is where St. Louis, 37, fits into that.

No one should ever be second-guessed when they deliver a gold medal, but Yzerman was criticized by some for not picking St. Louis three years ago.

Ironically, just three months after winning Olympic gold, Yzerman become Tampa’s GM. One of the first things he did was deal with the elephant in the room and talk to St. Louis about the Olympic snub.

It was a smart thing to do. The two haven’t talked about it since.

"No, we haven’t," St. Louis told ESPN.com Thursday. "I didn’t tell him he made a mistake, but I told him it didn’t matter what he told me, I’ll still be disappointed forever. He was put in a position to make big decisions and there were a lot of guys who weren’t happy that didn’t make it, not just me. But it was a tough time for me at that time for sure."

One thing’s for sure: Whether St. Louis makes it or not in 2014, Yzerman has grown to know him better being around him every day.

"He’s playing extremely well, he’s one of the leading scorers in the league, he continues to be a good player," Yzerman said. "What he’s doing is not being ignored."

Some will point to St. Louis turning 38 in June, but to me he’s like a younger Teemu Selanne, and he’s kept his game at a world-class level despite his age. With the bigger ice in Sochi, St. Louis has a real good shot at making it.

And needless to say, Sochi is a goal for St. Louis.

"For sure, I think as a player when you stop being hungry for things like that or stop trying to get better, you’re in a fading process," St. Louis said. "As you get older, some people expect that any day. So you’re fighting that every day. I’m doing everything I can to put myself in a position to be on that team."

There obviously will be new faces on Team Canada given that Scott Niedermayer and Chris Pronger are no longer around, plus the obvious evolution of young stars.

"It’s not only the young faces that are coming up but also the veteran guys that play extremely well that were in consideration last time and maybe they’re the right fit this time," Yzerman said. "It makes it really interesting. But I also like following the young players and seeing their development. When the decision comes, are they ready to step in and do a better job than some of the older guys?"

Yzerman needs to balance and blend youth and experience on his roster.

"Everybody wants to put the young guys in there, but the end of the day, the older guys have been through it and know how to win," he said. "You don’t necessarily need them all but you need some of them."

Austria backed into the 2014 Sochi Olympics with a loss on Sunday, as reported here. Germany, which was ranked 10th heading into the qualifier, fails to make the 12-team tournament for the first time.

What the groups will look like in Russia, listed in seeded order:
Group A: Russia (1), Slovakia (6), USA (7), Slovenia (18)
Group B: Finland (2), Canada (5), Norway (8), Austria (15)
Group C: Czech Republic (3), Sweden (4), Switzerland (9), Latvia (11)

The format will be the same as it was in Vancouver 2010: The four teams with the best records (each of the three the group winners plus the best second-place team) advance to the quarterfinals. The remaining eight teams will play a qualification game to earn a spot in the quarterfinals.

Team USA and Team Canada will find out who fills out their respective Olympic preliminary groups for Sochi, Russia, after qualification tournaments wrap up across the pond Sunday.

Olympic qualifying tournaments in Germany, Latvia and Denmark that started Thursday and conclude Sunday will determine the final three countries that get to play in the Olympic men’s hockey tournament next February.

Team USA is in Group A at the Sochi Olympics along with Slovakia, host Russia plus one of the three winning qualifiers from this week’s tournaments.

Team Canada is in Group B in Sochi along with Finland, Norway plus a qualifier.

Group C in Sochi will feature Sweden, the Czech Republic, Switzerland and a qualifier.

Host Germany (ranked 10th) is hosting one qualifying tournament versus Austria (15), Italy (16) and Netherlands (24).

Latvia (11) is hosting another against France (14), Kazakhstan (17) and Great Britain (21).

Denmark (12) is hosting the other versus Belarus (13), Denmark (12), Slovenia (18) and Ukraine (20).

The highest seed of the three winning qualifiers will get sent to Group C in Sochi, the second-highest seed will go to Team Canada’s Group B, while the third-highest seed will be in Team USA’s Group A.

So, for example, should the three top-ranked teams win their respective qualifying tournaments this week, Germany (10) would go in Group C for Sochi, Latvia (11) would go into Group B and Denmark (12) would go to Group A.

The format in Sochi next February will be the same as it was in Vancouver in 2010. The three group winners in the preliminary round plus the best second-place record get byes to the quarterfinals, while the remaining eight teams play a qualifying game.

Team Canada, as you might remember, had to play Germany in a qualifying-round game in Vancouver three years ago to qualify for the quarterfinals before going on to beat Russia in the quarters, Slovakia in the semifinals and Team USA for the gold medal.

You can find out more on this week’s qualifying tournaments at IIHF.com.