After negotiating an agreement with international officials, the NHL is expected to return to the Olympics in Beijing this winter, while the league and its players have the option to quit if pandemic conditions warrant.
After skipping the 2018 Pyeongchang Games, the NHL, its players’ union, the International Olympic Committee, and the International Ice Hockey Federation reached an agreement on Friday that will bring the finest players in the world back to sports’ grandest stage in February.
“It wasn’t easy, but we did it,” IIHF president Rene Fasel said over the phone to The Associated Press. “I’m ecstatic. I’m overjoyed. When you consider that the previous one was in 2014, and they say they’ll wait until 2026, there’s a 12-year gap — that means we’ll have a generation of hockey players who won’t be able to compete in the Olympics.”
Even though the NHL and its players agreed to participate in the Olympics as part of a long-term renewal of their collective bargaining agreement last summer, the coronavirus outbreak and its associated costs threatened to put that option on hold. Instead, the teams were able to sort it out, allowing the league or players to pull out if the virus situation worsened or an outbreak occurred during the season.
NHL players will compete in the Olympic men’s hockey competition for the sixth time in seven chances dating back to 1998 if that does not materialize.
Deputy Commissioner Bill Daly remarked, “We realize how passionately NHL players feel about representing and competing for their countries.” “We are delighted to have reached an agreement that will allow them to resume best-on-best competition on the Olympic stage.”
The arrangement does not include COVID-19 insurance, but Fasel announced that the IIHF will offer a $5 million fund to cover any missed wages due to the condition. Vaccinations are expected to be necessary, and players’ contracts will be covered by injury insurance.
Returning to the Olympics, according to US coach Mike Sullivan, is “such an exciting time for hockey.”
He isn’t the only one who thinks this way.
Connor McDavid, the reigning NHL MVP, represented an under-23 “Team North America” at the 2016 World Cup of Hockey, but has yet to represent Canada in a competition featuring the world’s greatest men’s hockey players.
“Just to be able to compete for a gold medal at the Olympics and represent Canada would be an incredible dream come true,” McDavid told the Associated Press last week. “It’s been a long time since we’ve been allowed to play international best-on-best. It’s been a long time coming for me and I believe for a lot of the men on that team. We’re all excited to travel to the Olympics if we’re all fortunate enough to qualify.”
For McDavid, American star Auston Matthews, 2020 playoff MVP, two-time Stanley Cup champion Victor Hedman, and many more, it might be their first Olympics. They didn’t have the chance three years ago, when national teams were primarily made up of collegiate and European professional players, with the exception of the Russian Olympic athletes who won gold in Pyeongchang.
Hedman, who was left off Sweden’s 2014 Olympic team, stated, “The Olympics is one of my biggest aspirations and I haven’t been able to play in one – this might be the only chance I get.” “When you get the chance to represent your nation on the largest platform, it’s one of those experiences you’ll definitely never forget, so it’s clearly something I’ve dreamed about my whole life and something I want to do before I hang up my skates,” she says.
The NHL’s All-Star Weekend will take held in Las Vegas on February 4-5, before players fly to China on February 6 for the Olympics, which begin on February 9. It’s akin to the 1998 Nagano Games, when the NHL All-Star Game in Vancouver preceded the first Olympic Games featuring NHL players.
“It leveled the playing field,” said Chris Pronger, a Hall of Fame defenseman who made his Olympic debut in 1998 and won gold with Canada in 2010. “It enables a greater number of countries to compete at a higher level. It puts the sport on display.”
In the years that followed, NHL players at the Olympics became routine, with the IOC agreeing to cover travel and insurance costs and owners ready to stop the season for players to compete. The Olympics served as a showcase for NHL talents for a whole generation of players.
The Lightning’s Ryan McDonagh, a U.S. defenseman, said, “You have a dream of representing your nation.” “The Olympic Games are such a unique event, and I believe they benefit hockey tremendously.”
The IOC, led by President Thomas Bach, refused to pay certain expenditures in 2018, prompting the NHL to withdraw from the Olympics and league officials to express their concerns about the season being disrupted. Officials, according to Fasel, worked off the 2014 agreement and then tweaked it in light of the pandemic.
The players finally concluded it was worth it to deal with any virus restrictions in Beijing, which might extend beyond the 2020 playoffs’ confined bubbles.
Canada coach Jon Cooper remarked, “I don’t think there’ll be anything there that we haven’t seen before.” “The fact that we’ve gone through all of these different scenarios gives me some comfort.”
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