NEW YORK — For the first time since 1994, NHL players will not attend the Winter Olympics.

The league has released a statement saying it "considers the matter officially closed."

Negotiations between the league, the NHL Players' Association and the International Olympic Committee have stalled in recent months.

In a statement, the NHL says it was open to hearing from the parties involved but that "no meaningful dialogue has materialized."

The league says it will now proceed with finalizing the schedule for next season.

The NHL Players' Association didn't immediately respond to the league's announcement.
The NHL had been at every Winter Olympics since 1998.

http://www.tsn.ca/nhl-will-not-particip ... s-1.714038

aw, poor owners holding their players (who want to go compete for their country) hostage over money. garbage.

While I love Olympic hockey, I fully understand the decision. Here's no other league that shuts down like this. (I should say NA league, as soccer has built in international breaks).

Curious to see what Ovy does, as he's continuously said he'd go regardless. Does set up well for the Russians in general as they do have lots of high end guys play in the KHL

Beatoni12 wrote:While I love Olympic hockey, I fully understand the decision. Here's no other league that shuts down like this. (I should say NA league, as soccer has built in international breaks).

Curious to see what Ovy does, as he's continuously said he'd go regardless. Does set up well for the Russians in general as they do have lots of high end guys play in the KHL

I fully do not understand the decision.

The NHL wants to grow it's sport. The Olympics are the biggest international stage. Yet, you don't send your best product to advertise your sport there? It's like sending an intern to do a sales pitch to your biggest client.

The best of the best should be there, simple.

Be curious to see what happens when players say "F it" and go anyway.

You know ovy will go.

Russians have more patriotic pride than any other country

Ozzies09tc wrote:You know ovy will go.

Russians have more patriotic pride than any other country

Wonder what the reaction will be if Tarasenko wants to go as well...from the organIzation and fans alike.

Dread_Pirate_Westley wrote:

Beatoni12 wrote:While I love Olympic hockey, I fully understand the decision. Here's no other league that shuts down like this. (I should say NA league, as soccer has built in international breaks).

Curious to see what Ovy does, as he's continuously said he'd go regardless. Does set up well for the Russians in general as they do have lots of high end guys play in the KHL

I fully do not understand the decision.

The NHL wants to grow it's sport. The Olympics are the biggest international stage. Yet, you don't send your best product to advertise your sport there? It's like sending an intern to do a sales pitch to your biggest client.

The best of the best should be there, simple.

Be curious to see what happens when players say "F it" and go anyway.

I'm all for increasing exposure to the sport, but a couple things from the news (PR) report I read:

1) It was about the $$$, but also about the exposure for the NHL. Per the release, it sounded as if the IOC or whomever makes the decision wasn't going to permit the NHL to show highlights from the games, or use it for their own marketing. So it really doesn't help the NHL if they cannot equally market the event: "Little had changed by early winter. Bettman continued to fume about money as well as the IOC's unwillingness to let the NHL be associated with the Olympics in any fashion. The league couldn't air highlights or promote their presence at the Games.
"It doesn't give you the warm and fuzzies," Bettman said at the PrimeTime Sports Management Conference."

2) We know some owners have loads of $$$ to burn through, but we also know that most owners are already losing tons of money. Stillman, whom I respect and think is an excellent owner, shut down Peoria over a loss of a couple million if IIRC, so for teams like the Blues or those in worse revenue situations, the cost would certaintly hurt them, way more than any potential gain or 'boost' from a few weeks of exposure. "In particular, Bettman was miffed that the International Olympic Committee was resisting payment on out-of-pocket costs for NHL players to attend — a subsidy that had been covered over the previous five Games." Bettman said the cost was "many, many, many millions of dollars" and doubted that owners would pay for the "privilege of disrupting our season".

3) back to the exposure thing, per the news report, very little 'boost' of new fans gained happens when the Olympics are held overseas, at least when compared to when held in NA: "The group also wasn't convinced that there was any tangible benefit to the NHL being in South Korea. The Games had shown some impact when played in North America, but little beyond its shores."

http://www.tsn.ca/nhl-says-it-won-t-tak ... s-1.714038

So they don't think there is a benefit to being in South Korea for the Olympics but they are going to play games in China?

I want to see the best players play in the Olympics, but I get the NHL's decision. The IOC should've known they were negotiating with a guy that is not at all afraid hit the big red button. Everybody loses here.

Dread_Pirate_Westley wrote:So they don't think there is a benefit to being in South Korea for the Olympics but they are going to play games in China?

unless I missed something, I don't think they'll (NHL) play in China either, per IOC's mandate they play in S. Korea also...

bradleygt89 wrote:

Dread_Pirate_Westley wrote:So they don't think there is a benefit to being in South Korea for the Olympics but they are going to play games in China?

unless I missed something, I don't think they'll (NHL) play in China either, per IOC's mandate they play in S. Korea also...

Canucks and Kings are playing in China next season in the first ever "2017 NHL China games"

Also here's a fun tweet. I imagine we'll see more of this. I think this is going to turn into a complete mess for the NHL.


Craig Custance‏Verified account @CraigCustance
Erik Karlsson calls the Olympic decision "crap." Politely declines to comment when asked if he'd play in Olympics anyways.

Not sure how I feel about this. I mean, I like Olympic hockey, but I also loved watching the World Cup of Hockey this summer. Sure, less people watch the World Cup then Olympic games, but as far as being a hockey fan goes, I think it was more entertaining to watch the youngsters play against Russia in the World Cup then watch Canada play Germany or whoever in the olympics.

Besides from Oshie's shootout awesomeness, the only thing I remember from Olympic hockey last time was Tavares blowing out his knee and being out for the rest of the year. I get why the owners can think its too big of a risk to have midseason.

i'm very curious why NHLPA hasn't commented. we're going to see a lot of guys go i think, and there will be "punishments" coming down from bettman for owners. this is either bettman posturing or it's going to be a complete shitshow next year when guys actually go. you can't say "hockey is unlike any other sport" and then complain that "no other professional league does this". yeah, no shit - they aren't hockey.

i will say i completely understand the argument that the intent of the olympics was to have non-professional athletes compete. if that's what the IOC said, fine. but they didn't. this is about money. bettman is the messenger for the owners, i get it, but he wants the ire, fine - he's got mine. this is going to be a train wreck next year. some guys will leave - how will that "help" the league when the great 8 leaves?

hey owners, you knew this shit was happening when you bought the team. if you have been an owner long enough to have purchased a team when it wasn't, then you've been letting it happen for nearly two decades. you can't now cry over it.

Here is what the NHLPA said on their twitter account

yep, a shitshow to come. that being said, it's their own fault for not taking care of this contractually after the last lockout.

I'm pretty confident that the number of players who go "rogue" and go play will be pretty small. The players don't have much of an argument here to justify skipping NHL games to play in the Olympics.

Beatoni12 wrote:I'm pretty confident that the number of players who go "rogue" and go play will be pretty small. The players don't have much of an argument here to justify skipping NHL games to play in the Olympics.

What does small mean to you? Less than 5 players? Less than 10?

Dread_Pirate_Westley wrote:

Beatoni12 wrote:I'm pretty confident that the number of players who go "rogue" and go play will be pretty small. The players don't have much of an argument here to justify skipping NHL games to play in the Olympics.

What does small mean to you? Less than 5 players? Less than 10?

Less than 5 and virtually no marquee players other than Ovi, who I still have my doubts will go.

There will still be hockey yes? Not sure I understand the NHLPA's statement about hurting the games potential?

Two points:

If the games are good, and who knows, if a Cinderella team emerges due to more parity, that may 'grow the game' more than the usual final four of Sweden, USA, Russia, and Canada. Maybe an Asian team, an Eastern European team goes to the medal rounds this time..that'd be more awesome, IMHO.

also, NHL fans are hockey fans. Hockey Fans will watch the Olympics. So no 'loss' of fans will occur. Folks outside of NA will watch the Olympics for their nations players. To grow the game, we need more teams from outside NA, Scandinavia, and Russia to advance for more exposure.

LST: I think this will actually help grow the sports popularity.

Tarasenko's comments:

Jeremy Rutherford‏Verified account @jprutherford 1h1 hour ago
Tarasenko on NHL's Olympic decision: "We grow up like this to play in the Olympics, win a Stanley Cup and an Olympic gold medal ...

"I don't think you can take it away from players. I agree with other players who are disappointed but we have contracts over here.

"We have playoffs coming right now and just I think let it go for now and think about it during the summer."

More player reaction:

Iain MacIntyre‏Verified account @imacVanSun 25m25 minutes ago
Henrik Sedin's take on NHL players leaving teams for Olympics: he'll believe it when he sees it.

Dread_Pirate_Westley wrote:

Ozzies09tc wrote:You know ovy will go.

Russians have more patriotic pride than any other country

Wonder what the reaction will be if Tarasenko wants to go as well...from the organIzation and fans alike.

While i personally dont watch nor care for the olympics (or the world cup) if and when tarasenko goes and plays for the russian team (or bergy, steen, etc) i will have no problem with it.

Let the players go, keep the nhl schedule rolling, and have teams bring up some kids.

UMSLBlues12 wrote:Here is what the NHLPA said on their twitter account

Isn't that more than 42 characters?

Its interesting, although not shocking to me that the NHL is taking the brunt of the blame. It is so clear that the IOC is the bad guy here.