News Article: NHL will NOT go to 2018 Olympics in South Korea

[smithformeragent]

I remember how I felt watching the 2010 gold medal game, so it sucks. I know everyone wants to blame the owners, but can we address one of the obvious issues here:

They've been incredibly lucky that no one has been seriously injured since 1998, save for Tavares. Imagine if a player suffered a career ending injury in 2018...fans of that team would be crying bloody murder and demanding to know how the NHL could have allowed it to happen.

I don't want to open a can of worms here (owners v. players), but the NHL teams pay a professional salary to their athletes to play in NHL arenas.

Owners are going to take the brunt of this blame, but the IOC deserves it's fair share too.

This is a really solid post.

The answers rarely are in one extreme or another, but rather somewhere in the middle.

 

[ODAAT]

l have absolutely no issues with this at all. Been pretty vocal about my opinions of the NHL sending it`s players to the Olympics

 

[Fossy21]

Good thing the league doesn't have to take one two week break every four years. The humanity!

 

[riverhawkey91]

I remember how I felt watching the 2010 gold medal game, so it sucks. I know everyone wants to blame the owners, but can we address one of the obvious issues here:

They've been incredibly lucky that no one has been seriously injured since 1998, save for Tavares. Imagine if a player suffered a career ending injury in 2018...fans of that team would be crying bloody murder and demanding to know how the NHL could have allowed it to happen.

I don't want to open a can of worms here (owners v. players), but the NHL teams pay a professional salary to their athletes to play in NHL arenas.

Owners are going to take the brunt of this blame, but the IOC deserves it's fair share too.

To be fair, that scenario is true for any international, non-NHL competition. The NHL itself sanctioned the WCOH and it would have entirely possible to see that happen there as well.

I don't think they can live in fear of something happening to their players during international competition. Imagine the Olympics do become a sticking-point in the next CBA, the NHL ends up in a lockout and some player gets injured overseas playing in a Swiss league to stay ready...there's just no way to prevent accidents like that.

 

[KrejciMVP]

As long as they still have hockey at the olympics Im fine with it. dont really care if the NHL sends their players or not.

 

[ODAAT]

full disclosure, with the time difference for the next two games, I won`t be catching much in the way of games live

 

[617Marine]

To be fair, that scenario is true for any international, non-NHL competition. The NHL itself sanctioned the WCOH and it would have entirely possible to see that happen there as well.

I don't think they can live in fear of something happening to their players during international competition. Imagine the Olympics do become a sticking-point in the next CBA, the NHL ends up in a lockout and some player gets injured overseas playing in a Swiss league to stay ready...there's just no way to prevent accidents like that.

You're absolutely right, it could happen anywhere. But as you pointed out, the NHL sanctioned the WCOH, which means - abridged version here - if a player was injured there, he was covered by NHL insurance.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but the NHL is simply saying that they are not stopping the season next year for the olympics. Which is why some players like Ovechkin might go, and Ted Leonsis won't stop him.

Again not taking sides over a hypothetical lockout/strike, but if the players want to participate in the olympics, are they going to sign off on things like covering themselves through insurance? or forfeiting salary for lost time (missing NHL games)?

It's a little cynical but hey, let's call this what it is from the NHL standpoint: this is about a multi-billion dollar business, insurance, liability, and protecting a product.

Obviously there's more to this situation, and numerous factors to the decision by the NHL, I just brought up the most extreme 'what if?' scenario in my original post.

 

[TMac21]

I'm indifferent to it.

 

[Pia8988]

Assuming this doesn't sit well with the players, keep in mind the date September 15th, 2019. That's the day the NHLPA can trigger a termination of the CBA.

Nah, 95% of players aren't going to die on the sword because 5% didn't get to go to the olympics. There is a reason the players turned down the CBA extension for olympic participation.

 

[Fenway]

Nah, 95% of players aren't going to die on the sword because 5% didn't get to go to the olympics. There is a reason the players turned down the CBA extension for olympic participation.

No but those 95% enjoy the vacation time so.......

 

[Pia8988]

No but those 95% enjoy the vacation time so.......

I'm sure they enjoy getting paid more. Olympic participation won't be the contention point for the CBA, it'll still go back to money.

 

[TwineTickler]

If this league is dumb enough to endure another labor stoppage, I'm out.

I'll start watching college hockey or something.

What a tone deaf group of owners.
Totally out of touch with regards to what the fans want to see.

I don't have an issue with them not playing in the Olympics... interrupting the season and putting players at risk for injury for something like that never made all that much sense to me... however if this leads to a lockout I'm 100% in agreement. I won't be out but since I've become a huge hockey fan which has basically spanned 15 years, there has already been a season and a half lost. That's too much and it better not happen again. This seems like it may force another one, which ****ing sucks.

 

[smithformeragent]

Will the league be cool with a guy like Ovechkin going to participate?

Let's assume his owner gives his blessing.

We know how well the resting of star players has gone over in the NBA recently.

Let's say you buy tickets to a Caps' game and he doesn't play because he's at the Olympics.
Could the league in theory suspend the player or reprimand the club?

 

[BruinDust]

While we don't yet know how each country will put together their respective teams now that NHLers are out, there is a chance that the tournament could be even better than it was with NHLers participating.

Seriously, was there anything truly riveting about watching Canada steam-roll everyone playing shut-down defense in the Sochi games?

Personally I think a tournament that has more than 2 or 3 legit contenders, and having 6-7-8 teams that legitimately have a chance, could be great and far exceed the drama and entertainment value of the NHLers in the Olympics, even if the skill level overall takes a drop.

 

[riverhawkey91]

You're absolutely right, it could happen anywhere. But as you pointed out, the NHL sanctioned the WCOH, which means - abridged version here - if a player was injured there, he was covered by NHL insurance.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but the NHL is simply saying that they are not stopping the season next year for the olympics. Which is why some players like Ovechkin might go, and Ted Leonsis won't stop him.

Again not taking sides over a hypothetical lockout/strike, but if the players want to participate in the olympics, are they going to sign off on things like covering themselves through insurance? or forfeiting salary for lost time (missing NHL games)?

It's a little cynical but hey, let's call this what it is from the NHL standpoint: this is about a multi-billion dollar business, insurance, liability, and protecting a product.

Obviously there's more to this situation, and numerous factors to the decision by the NHL, I just brought up the most extreme 'what if?' scenario in my original post.

I definitely think they're going to have a solid debate on their hands with that one.

I honestly have no idea how that's going to work for these Olympics. I'm relatively sure in the past there's been a deal between the IOC/NHL with the NHL covering all that insurance-related stuff, but that's obviously not going to be the case this time.

I would also guess in the past the NHL had to sign off on players going, so I'd assume they're saying more than just they're not stopping the season. To your point, if the goal is to protect their product, I can't imagine they'd sign off any of their players going, especially when they now have no control over anything that happens and gain absolutely nothing from it. It's easy for Leonsis to say that now though, after he's already been a part of the decision to not let players attend...sounds more like he's saving face with Ovi.

 

[patty59]

Put hockey in the summer olympics

 

[LSCII]

Surprised to see so many fans here happy about this news. Personally, I love the Olympic hockey tournament and hate that the NHL is pulling this ********. Guaranteed that the KHL, SEL, and other professional leagues let their players come over. The only teams that will be at a huge disadvantage will be Team USA and Team Canada. Sad really.

 

[Mount Kramer Cameras]

Would it have hurt the league to start the season a few weeks earlier, to compensate? The summer break is long enough as it is.

 

[riverhawkey91]

Will the league be cool with a guy like Ovechkin going to participate?

Let's assume his owner gives his blessing.

We know how well the resting of star players has gone over in the NBA recently.

Let's say you buy tickets to a Caps' game and he doesn't play because he's at the Olympics.
Could the league in theory suspend the player or reprimand the club?

I think there was some talk about that kind of situation when this issue first arose and some speculated that Ovechkin might have to take a year off from the NHL in order to play in the Olympics.

I can't imagine this is just about shutting down for 2 weeks and/or covering the insurance for the players. There would be so many better ways to go about all this and not make it such a huge thing if that's all it was. I have a feeling the NHL is going to do just that with players/clubs -- tell them they won't allow them to participate and that they'll be fined/suspended if they go, regardless of whether the owner signs off on it.

 

[Mount Kramer Cameras]

Also, for those saying that it doesn't really matter - a lot of great players never win a cup. Lifting this kind of trophy can mean a lot when all is said and done.

 

[Fossy21]

Surprised to see so many fans here happy about this news. Personally, I love the Olympic hockey tournament and hate that the NHL is pulling this ********. Guaranteed that the KHL, SEL, and other professional leagues let their players come over. The only teams that will be at a huge disadvantage will be Team USA and Team Canada. Sad really.

I understand indifference (I'm indifferent regarding most things ), but hard to see this as a positive, at least a significant one.

 

[BruinDust]

Surprised to see so many fans here happy about this news. Personally, I love the Olympic hockey tournament and hate that the NHL is pulling this ********. Guaranteed that the KHL, SEL, and other professional leagues let their players come over. The only teams that will be at a huge disadvantage will be Team USA and Team Canada. Sad really.

Are you going to be up at the wee hours of the morning to watch the games?

If this was being held in NA in normal hours of the day, more would be upset.

But then again, if it was in NA, the NHL would absolutely be going.

 

[LSCII]

Are you going to be up at the wee hours of the morning to watch the games?

If this was being held in NA in normal hours of the day, more would be upset.

But then again, if it was in NA, the NHL would absolutely be going.

It would honestly depend on whom was playing. Team USA vs Team Canada, yes I would be. Team USA vs Japan? Not so much.

But you're spot on about this being a location thing as to why they're not participating. Personally to me, it sucks.

 

[Fossy21]

Are you going to be up at the wee hours of the morning to watch the games?

If this was being held in NA in normal hours of the day, more would be upset.

But then again, if it was in NA, the NHL would absolutely be going.

Not being upset is one thing, being ecstatic another.

Besides, they can't just pick and choose which Olympics to go to or not (or shouldn't be able to, at least), so they're (or should be) effectively choosing not to participate in any upcoming Olympics with more accommodating time difference.

In reality, the NHL will probably kiss and make up at that point, and the IOC will just take it.

It's also not exactly unheard of for international tournaments to schedule some games at times that suit the countries participating better.

 

[riverhawkey91]

Reaction from Hockey Canada and USA Hockey:



Since there has already been some question on this, these statements definitely do not sound like either team is planning on having any NHL players for the games.