NHL not expected to participate in 2018 Olympics
Barring something unforeseen, don’t expect the NHL to participate in the 2018 Winter Olympics.
With the rebirth of the World Cup of Hockey, the NHL has been less motivated to participate in the 2018 Winter Olympics. The injury to John Tavares during the 2014 Olympics in Sochi likely scares a lot of general managers. Despite the players being adamant about wanting to play in Korea, deputy commissioner Bill Daly isn’t having it.
“If the status quo remains, I don’t expect us to be in the Olympics,” said Daly, via Yahoo Sports. “As of right now, there’s not a will [to participate].”
The league has not been very open about its reasons for not wanting to participate. They’ve given just about every reason possible for not wanting to go except for the real reason. It’s not a money issue, according to commissioner Gary Bettman.
“I think there’s concern from teams about the ongoing disruption in the season. The schedule. A whole host of other things. I’ve never said that just raising the money was the issue,” Bettman said.
Scheduling is probably not an issue. After all, the league didn’t care about scheduling with the World Cup of Hockey. Why would they suddenly care about scheduling now? Because the league doesn’t get much money out of it. It gets far more money having its players playing in North America.
This puts the league in a very awkward position, as the NHLPA is fighting for players to be able to go to the 2018 Olympics if they choose. Alex Ovechkin of the Washington Capitals is on record saying he’s going regardless of what the league chooses. More importantly, Caps owner Ted Leonsis supports his decision.
Alienating the players isn’t something the NHL should be interested in doing. Not participating could hurt the league globally. The NBA flourished after David Stern helped increase the league’s global influence.
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