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The NHL isn't going to the next Olympics.


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https://www.nhl.com/news/nhl-will-not-participate-in-2018-winter-olympics/c-288385598

 

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The NHL announced Monday that it will not participate in the 2018 PyeongChang Olympics, ending a run of five consecutive Winter Olympics with NHL players.

"We have previously made clear that while the overwhelming majority of our clubs are adamantly opposed to disrupting the 2017-18 NHL season for purposes of accommodating Olympic participation by some NHL players, we were open to hearing from any of the other parties who might have an interest in the issue (e.g., the IOC, the IIHF, the NHLPA, etc.) as to reasons the Board of Governors might be interested in re-evaluating their strongly held views on the subject," the NHL said in a statement. "A number of months have now passed and no meaningful dialogue has materialized. Instead, the IOC has now expressed the position that the NHL's participation in Beijing in 2022 is conditioned on our participation in South Korea in 2018. And the NHLPA has now publicly confirmed that it has no interest or intention of engaging in any discussion that might make Olympic participation more attractive to the clubs. As a result, and in an effort to create clarity among conflicting reports and erroneous speculation, this will confirm our intention to proceed with finalizing our 2017-18 regular season schedule without any break to accommodate the Olympic Winter Games. We now consider the matter officially closed."

 

I can't get all worked up over this. The IOC gave the next two winter Olympics to Asian countries. Partly because no one wants to host their corrupt sporting events anymore. 

They don't want to compensate the NHL for the 3 weeks they have to shut down the sport or even the insurance if a player gets injured (like John Tavarez in Sochi). Canada has won 3 of the last 4 Gold Medals and the Last two World Cups. We're Unquestionably the #1 Hockey nation in the world so winning in South Korea doesn't seem so urgent. Games will be played in the middle of the night, so it'll be a lot harder to generate viewership. 

This is not like Basketball where the season isn't affected and there are many more nations that play the sport. 

Now what do they do in replacement? The most obvious would be to make the World Juniors an Olympic tournament but then the Canadian Sports Network that make that tournament a Christmas tradition stand to lose money. 

Alexander Ovechkin has already said he'll go to the Olympics regardless. 

Edited by Boges
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What will Canada do? Any country can provide players who are able to go. In this case they won't be from the NHL, which I agree with. Olympics should be for non-professional athletes. Doesn't necessarily mean from the OHL or World Juniors, though that would make sense.

Maybe now I will get a chance :)

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12 minutes ago, OftenWrong said:

What will Canada do? Any country can provide players who are able to go. In this case they won't be from the NHL, which I agree with. Olympics should be for non-professional athletes. Doesn't necessarily mean from the OHL or World Juniors, though that would make sense.

Maybe now I will get a chance :)

But it's not. In almost every sport it's the best players in that sport professional or not. Soccer is the notable exception because they have a bigger tournament every four years. Baseball never had their best players because the MLB wouldn't stop the season to send players. The NBA can because Olympics happen when their season isn't happening. 

But Golf and Tennis send pros to the Olympics. 

Either Canada will send washed up pros, juniors or a hybrid of both to the Olympics. I can see NHL players from European countries breaking ranks and going to the Olympics though.  

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Both the Olympics and the NHL are big businesses.  The NHL suspends their business for 3 weeks to enable the other business to profit, with no attendant cost or risk.  I cannot get too worked about about their hijinks.  On the other hand, it is always enjoyable to see the IOC get a hard and well deserved  kick in the sack.

 

Bettman has been lambasted in the media, somehow they overlook the reality that Gary works for a Board of Directors, and they don't see the advantage to themselves or the league to go to Korea.

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If the players say, "we want to go, go ahead and keep your nhl games going while we're gone, best of luck" where would the nhl be?

Now remember, these are guys who don't care about the effects their business has upon the health and well-being of the players. Would any workers compensation group allow workers to take repeated hits to their heads as part of normal business operations?

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3 hours ago, Boges said:

But it's not. In almost every sport it's the best players in that sport professional or not.

I know. That has changed from the spirit of the Olympics as they were not too long ago. This rule used to be strictly enforced.

In the most famous example of the inflexibility of the Olympic organizers, Jim Thorpe, perhaps America's finest athlete of all time, had his gold medals in the decathlon and pentathlon in the 1912 Olympics stripped, and his achievements nullified, because he had once accepted small amounts of money for playing semi-pro baseball during his college summers. It broke his heart. The medals were reinstated in 1983 -- 30 years after his death, 30 years after the moment could have given him any comfort.
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4 hours ago, Boges said:

Either Canada will send washed up pros, juniors or a hybrid of both to the Olympics. I can see NHL players from European countries breaking ranks and going to the Olympics though.  

It's complicated when you have professional players on huge contracts. The NHL basically "owns" them. Even during the off-season the players are instructed not to play any competitive sports where there's some risk of being injured. Some of these guys are getting paid millions per year, the better ones of course who would more likely be sent.

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Before pro's were allowed, the Soviet Union dominated Olympic hockey. All their players were supposedly "in the army" so they qualified as amateurs. I can see the NHL's point, it takes all the risk and the IOC rakes in all the cash. Better to make it an age limited tournament like Olympic soccer and keep the NHL out of it.

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Now what do they do in replacement? 

The NHL?  They have already said they aren't going.  Junior teams are also in mid season, they won't be spending their players to both the Worlds and the Olympics.

 

Numerous players have complained about wanting to go to the Os.  How many are prepared to walk away from their teams, and potentially end their careers, to support the IOC?  It s like donating to a Mafia run charity.  

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2 hours ago, overthere said:

The NHL?  They have already said they aren't going.  Junior teams are also in mid season, they won't be spending their players to both the Worlds and the Olympics.

 

Numerous players have complained about wanting to go to the Os.  How many are prepared to walk away from their teams, and potentially end their careers, to support the IOC?  It s like donating to a Mafia run charity.  

Just replace the Junior Worlds with the Olympics during Olympic years. They play it in February instead of January. It would be no harder to schedule around than the Worlds.

 

On edit. There would still be financial issues to iron out but not on an NHL scale.

Edited by Wilber
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I would agree that making the World Juniors an Olympic tournament would be a decent alternative.

But as said earlier, I think TSN would fight having their Holiday Season cash cow taken away from them. And most World Juniors are already part of NHL organizations. 

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3 hours ago, Boges said:

I would agree that making the World Juniors an Olympic tournament would be a decent alternative.

But as said earlier, I think TSN would fight having their Holiday Season cash cow taken away from them. And most World Juniors are already part of NHL organizations. 

There would be financial considerations to be ironed out so I guess the question is, would they be easier to do with the juniors than the NHL

 

Many juniors may be drafted but they aren't playing for, or being paid by by the NHL. Even if they have signed a contract, they are no more at risk than if they were playing in their league games or the World Juniors. There would be no increase in the number of games they would play in a season.

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The IOC isn't going to compensate a network for basically stealing their tournament every four years. The reason we're in this mess is that the IOC refuses to compensate the NHL for insurance and travel costs. They also won't let the NHL cross promote the fact that their players are playing in the Olympics. 

The more you look into it, the more the IOC is the bad guy here and not the NHL. 

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I can see the NHL's point and have no sympathy for the IOC  but the Olympics do promote the NHL just by its players being there and the IOC certainly benefits. Personally, I think it might be a good thing if the NHL sits out an Olympics, it might make for a shakeup in how a lot of pro sports are treated by the IOC.

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They are trying to make that World Cup the most prestigious tournament in hockey. The problem has only been that people don't take that tournament very seriously. As long there are best players in the olympics the world cup has no chance of becoming the most prestigious tournament.

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On 4/6/2017 at 11:00 AM, Wilber said:

There would be financial considerations to be ironed out so I guess the question is, would they be easier to do with the juniors than the NHL

 

Many juniors may be drafted but they aren't playing for, or being paid by by the NHL. Even if they have signed a contract, they are no more at risk than if they were playing in their league games or the World Juniors. There would be no increase in the number of games they would play in a season.

No, the financial considerations are not much  different for the Juniors.  About 90 junior teams would shut down for the Olympic Games, and every one of those 90 teams would suffer financial loss.  Some junior teams make money, many more are very small market organizations that live on a financial knife edge.

 

Another factor is that the NHL and the CHL(which is the premier junior team league in the world) have a long and closely connected past and future.  That relationship is far, far more important to them than anything between the CHL and the IIHF or the IOC.

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11 minutes ago, overthere said:

No, the financial considerations are not much  different for the Juniors.  About 90 junior teams would shut down for the Olympic Games, and every one of those 90 teams would suffer financial loss.  Some junior teams make money, many more are very small market organizations that live on a financial knife edge.

 

Another factor is that the NHL and the CHL(which is the premier junior team league in the world) have a long and closely connected past and future.  That relationship is far, far more important to them than anything between the CHL and the IIHF or the IOC.

Shutting down for the Olympics would be no different than shutting down for the world tournament because the junior worlds are also held in the middle of he season. The junior teams would need some sort of compensation for the revenue they lose from the world tournament and that could be a sticking point. Other than money, the problem for the NHL is the number of games the Olympics adds to their season before the Stanley Cup playoffs. On top of that, the IIHF holds a world championship during Olympic years which adds even more games for a lot of pros.  If you just substitute the Olympics for the Junior worlds once every four years, no games are added to the junior season. It will all come down to money in the end.

Doesn't matter what the connection is between the CHL and NHL, those kids aren't playing in the NHL. What does it matter to the NHL whether the kid is playing the same number of games in an Olympic or a World tournament?

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There isn't really a good time to have a best-on-best hockey-tournament. September is not good because the season hasn't really started yet when as February is even worse as it messes up the NHL-season. The best time would be in the middle of May if only the Stanley Cup-finals were played six weeks earlier.

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Shutting down for the Olympics would be no different than shutting down for the world tournament because the junior worlds are also held in the middle of he season. 

Of course it is different- the current junior worlds are mostly held during a scheduled Xmas break, taken mainly because the players are kids who go home to their families.  The players in the WJC only miss a few games, not the three weeks just before league playoffs.

 

The IOC and IIHF would not compensate the CHL for lost revenue any more than they would compensate the NHL.

 

The NHL-CHL relationship is not a factor?  You cannot be serious:

Quote

In November of 2013, the CHL entered into a lucrative deal with the NHL that runs until June 30, 2020. The seven-season agreement pays the CHL as much as nearly $80-million over the entirety of the deal, labelled as a ‘grant’. This includes substantial benefits for individual teams that graduate players to the NHL.

The CHL is not going to jeopardize their relationship with the NHL by going to the Olympics.

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Point taken about the World tournament and Christmas break although some of it takes place after the break is over.

Yes, money will be a factor either way but much less to compensate the CHL.

I really don't see how the CHL would be jeopardizing their relationship with the NHL other that maybe weakening the NHL's bargaining position with the IOC. 

 

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It is rather embarassing for hockey as a sport not being able to decide over things like this as it is a relatively minor sport on a world scale and bigger sports such as soccer and basketball have managed to find a deal which satifies everyone.

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1 hour ago, -TSS- said:

It is rather embarassing for hockey as a sport not being able to decide over things like this as it is a relatively minor sport on a world scale and bigger sports such as soccer and basketball have managed to find a deal which satifies everyone.

Soccer doesn't have a best on best Olympic Tournament. 

Basketball has the benefit of having the Olympics they participate in happening during the NBA's offseason. 

Gary Bettman apparently asked the IOC if they could include Men's Ice Hockey in the summer games. 

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I know that soccer doesn't have a best on best in olympics. FIFA is very jealous of its own world cup that the in the olympics only under 23's are allowed to play.

My point was rather that if bigger sports have found a workable arrangement how to balance things as to which tournaments are important and who attend them then it is embarrassing for a minor sport like hockey not to be able to do the same.

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56 minutes ago, -TSS- said:

I know that soccer doesn't have a best on best in olympics. FIFA is very jealous of its own world cup that the in the olympics only under 23's are allowed to play.

My point was rather that if bigger sports have found a workable arrangement how to balance things as to which tournaments are important and who attend them then it is embarrassing for a minor sport like hockey not to be able to do the same.

Basketball is actually the only North American team sport that does Best on Best in the Olympics. 

Baseball obviously doesn't and Football is really only played by North Americans. 

Hockey is the only major team sport in the Winter Olympics. 

So this hurts the IOC more than it hurts the NHL. 

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The NHL sees no benefit in being in Korea. The last number of Olympic events (especially in Canada, Russia and the US) there were intrinsic benefits to having the NHL players there. There are no players from Korea and no real interest to marketing there either which is why the NHL is shying away. Now...fast forward to the next Winter Olympics in Beijing. The NHL will be playing a couple preseason games in China next season and is clearly trying to market to there. I think the NHL would be interested in rejoining for that event however the IOC certainly would not be interested in having a flip flop situation. You are either in or out. 

Now for a crazy idea, somewhat loonie in fact. Do you think there is any doubt in having the NHL go due to growing tensions with North Korea? I hate to think this way but if that "Crazy Fat Kid from Korea' (as John McCain put it) were to do something, don't you think it would be good timing on his part to do it with the whole world watching. Maybe I've seen too many movies but I certainly would have no interest in going to South Korea if tensions keep up with North Korea. 

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