On February 8, 2020, Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman tweeted that “the [International Olympic Committee] and [International Ice Hockey Federation] indicated a willingness . . . to deal with NHL points to get gamers to go to 2022 Olympics.” It is a important change within the NHL’s earlier anti-Olympic stance.
The 2018 Winter Olympics in PyeongChang, South Korea marked the primary time in 20 years that NHL gamers had been absent. The gamers had been overwhelmingly in favor of taking part in within the 2018 video games; nonetheless, the NHL balked on the thought, citing the danger of participant accidents, the dearth of enterprise profit, and disruption of the NHL’s common season. NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman has even gone so far as to refer to the Olympics as “extremely disruptive.” Additional, NHL Deputy Commissioner Invoice Daly had just lately said that Olympic participation was tied to negotiations concerning the league’s subsequent collective bargaining settlement, indicating that NHL participation within the 2020 video games was out of the query. The NHL Gamers Affiliation vehemently disagreed and argued that the present CBA coated play via the 2022 Video games.
The elements weighing in favor of NHL participation within the 2022 video games haven’t modified. NHL gamers are passionate about collaborating within the Olympics. With simply over 30 % of league gamers coming from outdoors of North America, these worldwide gamers grew up idolizing gamers collaborating in worldwide competitions just like the Olympics, World Cup, and different Worldwide Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) competitions. Thus, for a lot of worldwide gamers – and a few North American gamers – the best honor for an athlete is to signify their nation on the Olympics. In reality, some imagine representing their nation and profitable a medal is extra vital than profitable a Stanley Cup.
Nonetheless, some current developments might weigh in favor of NHL participant participation on the 2022 video games. First, the 2022 Winter Olympics are in Beijing, China, an space that the NHL has made a push to increase viewership – most just lately sending Alex Ovechkin to Beijing because the NHL’s Worldwide Ambassador to conduct youth hockey clinics, a media tour, and several other enterprise growth conferences. Second, based on Friedman’s stories, the Worldwide Olympic Committee and IIHF are open to creating concessions to the NHL concerning insurance coverage prices, journey prices, and giving the NHL the power to advertise the Olympics on their very own platforms.
Nonetheless, elements weighing towards participation haven’t modified and are possible unsolvable. First, the Winter Olympics disrupts the NHL’s common season for not less than two weeks, on the season’s midpoint, whereas many groups are both battling for a playoff place or resting their star gamers for a protracted playoff run. Second, there’s at all times the danger of harm to lots of the NHL’s marquee gamers. Essentially the most notable instance occurred on the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia, when then-captain of the New York Islanders, John Tavares, suffered a grotesque season-ending harm. On the time, the Islanders had been 12 factors out of a playoff spot and, with out Tavares, confronted an uphill battle to make the NHL playoffs. Moreover, Florida Panthers forwards Aleksander Barkov and Tomas Kopecky, New York Rangers ahead Mats Zuccarello, and Detroit Pink Wings captain Henrik Zetterberg had been additionally injured on the 2014 video games.
Whatever the NHL’s determination to take part within the 2022 video games, it’s clear that with out NHL gamers, the Males’s Ice Hockey Competitors suffers. On the 2018 video games, the Males’s Ice Hockey remaining was down 76 % in scores and 71 % in viewership from 2014 and down a staggering 96 % in each measures from 2010. The 2018 video games had been, as an alternative, dominated by the Girls’s Ice Hockey Competitors.
