lawrence
Registered User
- May 19, 2012
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Olympics: NHL participation in the 2022 Olympics
- Thread starter TheGoldenJet
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Devilsfan992
Registered User
- Apr 14, 2012
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I love the Olympics, but if there was any Olympic to sit out it would be this one. I just wished we participated in the last Winter Olympics.
Eye of Ra
Grandmaster General of the International boards
Looks like Canada will play in Channel One Cup. This could only mean one thing, becuse they where not in it to begin with. They are using this as a pre-olympic tournament to get the team together. Which is a indicator that no NHLers will come to Olympics.
https://www.hockeycanada.ca/en-ca/news/2021-22-nmt-staff-named-for-mens-team
https://www.hockeycanada.ca/en-ca/news/2021-22-nmt-staff-named-for-mens-team
This was set a few weeks ago already, and discussed in European hockey media. They are using it as an option for the case the NHL participation is cancelled. It is definitely no indicator of any sudden turn or decision, but means clearly that Hockey Canada cannot be sure if the NHL will be able to come to Beijing. This is apparently because of the uncertain COVID situation. Also, some political affairs in China may also be the problem. From how I understand the situation, they are re-evaluating multiple circumstances, with an uncertain result. I expect NHLPA to try to negotiate witch the Chinese organisers regarding their super strict COVID policies, if NHLPA doesn't succeed, it is possible they may cancel the NHL participation. So the situation is really uncertain as by now.
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JackSlater
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- Apr 27, 2010
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LeBrun: Gary Bettman's future, an Olympic update and more from the Board of Governors meeting
LeBrun looked into the Olympics at the BoG meetings. Mostly the same as before - the owners don't want to go, but they are going due to their promise to the players during CBA talks. The players want to go but the covid situation has them nervous. The interesting thing is Daly talking about January 10 as a deadline in terms of financial penalty but not a hard deadline at all. His exact quote is "Everybody’s been talking about Jan. 10 as a critical date, in our agreement there is no deadline for us to say we’re not going to Beijing. It can certainly be past Jan. 10, it depends on how circumstances play out. Jan. 10 just has to do with financial responsibility for costs at that given point in time."
LeBrun looked into the Olympics at the BoG meetings. Mostly the same as before - the owners don't want to go, but they are going due to their promise to the players during CBA talks. The players want to go but the covid situation has them nervous. The interesting thing is Daly talking about January 10 as a deadline in terms of financial penalty but not a hard deadline at all. His exact quote is "Everybody’s been talking about Jan. 10 as a critical date, in our agreement there is no deadline for us to say we’re not going to Beijing. It can certainly be past Jan. 10, it depends on how circumstances play out. Jan. 10 just has to do with financial responsibility for costs at that given point in time."
What about the logistics?
If I remember it correctly, the last time the NHL players participated (2014), there were 2 specially chartered flights to get the NHLers to Sochi, one jumbo plane from the east coast (NY) and another one from the west coast (LA).
The east-coast NHL players arrived something like at least half a day earlier than the west coast players and due to a very short acclimatisation period, it could be said that the arrivers from the east coast had an advantage.
Now, as we have this COVID situation still going on, will be interesting to see if once again the world's best hockey players will risk it to fly over to Beijing all together in pretty much a very compressed aerospace - and if someone on the plane is covid-positive, it could mean that all the players and staff travelling on that same plane should be quaranteened for 14 or more days when they arrive...
If I remember it correctly, the last time the NHL players participated (2014), there were 2 specially chartered flights to get the NHLers to Sochi, one jumbo plane from the east coast (NY) and another one from the west coast (LA).
The east-coast NHL players arrived something like at least half a day earlier than the west coast players and due to a very short acclimatisation period, it could be said that the arrivers from the east coast had an advantage.
Now, as we have this COVID situation still going on, will be interesting to see if once again the world's best hockey players will risk it to fly over to Beijing all together in pretty much a very compressed aerospace - and if someone on the plane is covid-positive, it could mean that all the players and staff travelling on that same plane should be quaranteened for 14 or more days when they arrive...
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And another thought,
- it would be very much justified to boycott the olympics in China
- as it has already been scheduled and it's been a very long time since a real best-on-best tournament this Olympic ice hockey tournament could/should be still taking place but should be relocated (and I would suggest relocating it to Switzerland)
- it would be very much justified to boycott the olympics in China
- as it has already been scheduled and it's been a very long time since a real best-on-best tournament this Olympic ice hockey tournament could/should be still taking place but should be relocated (and I would suggest relocating it to Switzerland)
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- and if Switzerland does not want it on such a short notice, this should be re-scheduled to February 2023 (in Switzerland or elsewhere not in a dictatorship)
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Probably talked over several times, but still unclear for me:
Can teams pick players from outside those long (50 player?) lists?
Can teams pick players from outside those long (50 player?) lists?
3-5 week quarantine for a positive test is going to be a dealbreaker for the players I assume, and I don’t blame them one bit.
Well I’m so glad everyone here on hfboards have constructed there countries hockey teams with nhl players, because it’s looking really possible that nhlers won’t be going
Eye of Ra
Grandmaster General of the International boards
JackSlater
Registered User
- Apr 27, 2010
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TheBeastCoast
Registered User
If only the NHL/IIHF had gotten their head out of their asses sometime in the last oh I don't know 6 years and come up with an actual international schedule with best on best tournaments you could pull out from this Olympics because it might be the most sensible option. But because of the lunacy of the people running hockey we are looking at the reality a player the quality of Connor McDavid will go his entire prime without seeing a best on best international tournament. That is a failure on the part of the NHL and the IIHF.
The NHL was free to join the previous Olympics as well, it was not on the IIHF that they chose not to. The pandemic neither side can do anything about.
TheBeastCoast
Registered User
The blame definitely falls more so on the NHL. There should be a set international calendar that fans and players can count on. Make a actual World Cup every 2 years and then the Olympics 2 years later. The NHL consistently can not get out of it's own way though and would rather every tournament be up in the air up to weeks leading up to the tournament. Commit to making best on best international hockey an important part of the hockey calendar and something like the World Cup could actually mean something again if people know it won't be gone for another 20 years when the NHL needs some more cash.
vorky
@vorkywh24
- Jan 23, 2010
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Just come back to the 2012 Barcelona Hockey Forum
Fehr began. “Let me give you a notion, a purely hypothetical idea. One thing I’ve talked to the players about is to do a rolling four-year schedule, following the Olympic cycle. “Say you play the Olympics in Year One, and Year Three you have a World Cup. Maybe in the other year you do a club championship across the Atlantic, and in the other year you do a special event. This year, for instance, is the 40th anniversary of the Canada-Russia series which has no equal in those countries. It’s like the Ryder Cup in golf, which was just made up, and went on to have enormous success. You are trying to build something the fans can identify with, associate with a club or team or country.”
What he (Kurbatov) proposes is an annual break every February. His proposal of a four-year cycle is not unlike what Donald Fehr discussed casually of his own opinion with differences when it comes to NHL participation. Kurbatov believes February should always be the break for Olympic Winter Games and also for World Championships that should only be held in non-Olympic years. But to make this successful from the sporting view it would need an NHL break every year.
TheGoldenJet
Registered User
TheGoldenJet
Registered User
Yeah, but most posters on here didn’t consider the 2016 world Cup as a best on best tournament at all, due to the joke non-international teams that were involved.
It would be better to do one competition properly than to start multiple half-arsed attempts simultaneously. After 2012 we've seen even the World Cup fail so miserably that any relaunch attempt would be met with skepticism. Something like a club competition every four years would be very difficult to make work.
Every non-Olympic team would be worse off which is not really desirable for a sport that is struggling to stay relevant outside a handful of countries.
I think the current state of USA - China relationships is not helping the negotiations at all. Everything probably depends on what the players say themselves. I would not blame them if they decide to not go to Beijing since the (pretty absurd) quarantine rules set by the Chinese are the clear deal breaker. In fact, this may affect athletes in other sports as well, and I wouldn't be surprised if quite a number of them decides to not participate. It is sad, it is probably going to be a very strange Olympics, but let's hope there will be some top international hockey in the years to come after all.
JackSlater
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- Apr 27, 2010
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I do not think any entity is to blame if the 2022 tournament is a no go, but it is definitely a failure that the 2018 Olympic tournament was pointless and the 2016 world cup was a bad joke.
Play a World Cup with only national teams on a regular schedule, like say... every four years like most other world cup tournaments. Take a break of a few weeks every four years and let the players go to the Olympics. Outside of covid times it's pretty simply to figure out.
Play a World Cup with only national teams on a regular schedule, like say... every four years like most other world cup tournaments. Take a break of a few weeks every four years and let the players go to the Olympics. Outside of covid times it's pretty simply to figure out.
And don't make it an invite-only thing. What makes it a commercial exhibition tournament is that only arbitrary teams are allowed to compete with no reference to IIHF rankings and a non-existent avenue for teams ranked 8th-10th in the World to make the tournament.
That's no World Cup.
