NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman spoke to media today following a Board of Governor’s meeting in Palm Beach, Florida. The Commissioner touched on Olympic participation, escrow payments, and the salary cap, but emphasized that no vote on Olympic participation was taken.
Concerning NHL participation at the 2018 Winter Olympics in South Korea, Bettman stated that the sentiment was increasing negative. Ever the lawyer, Bettman does not indicate whether the increasingly negative feelings towards participating represents a majority of owners, or only a (growing) minority. Olympic participation is a complex issue for NHL owners as they have to weigh increasing exposure to the sport at the expense of potentially losing one of their star players for the year.
Bettman also indicated that it is “ambiguous” whether skipping 2018 forecloses NHL participation in 2022. The 2022 Winter Games are in China, and the NHL would love to gain a foothold in the Chinese sports market. Participation in 2022 may tip the scales and give NHL owners a reason to send players to the 2018 Olympics if owners are sufficiently worried that they would not otherwise be able to do so.
Turning to the CBA and the salary cap, Bettman clarified that the NHL did not offer to send players to the 2018 Winter Olympics in exchange for the NHLPA to agree to a three-year CBA extension. Rather, CBA extension talk was tethered to a larger conversation about international play and included a potential 2020 World Cup. Bettman did address the NHLPA’s concern over high escrow payments, stating simply that lowering the cap would lower escrow payments. Relatedly, he also announced that while there is no official decision on any salary cap movement, he expects that it may rise by “a couple of million.“
The owners are in a bit of a predicament here. There have been a lot of players who have said that they are going to play in the Olympics no matter what. When these players go, it would put teams in a tough situation roster wise if the league continues to play. The Blackhawks for example would be without Toews, Keith, Kane, Hossa, Panarin, possibly Crawford & others. The Capitals would lose a lot of players as well. Other teams would be facing similar problems. Then there would be the salary cap issue. How does a team replace the five players that leave for the Olympics when they don’t have the cap space? I understand the concerns the league has about shutting the league down, the costs of sending players & the potential for injuries. However, if the players are going to go anyway, it would be better to have them participate under the NHL’s terms than just having the players play on their own.
I seriously doubt many players would risk going if the league chooses to not participate. Some may go like Ovechkin but most wouldn’t risk the unpaid suspension, the fines as well as risking having their contracts voided(as guaranteed as they are, the players would be the ones breaching their contracts). Admittedly, the last one is incredibly unlikely to happen but I for sure could see someone or some players being given a harsh suspension(20 games).
This entire situation was caused by the Olympic Committee. They’ve essentially pitted the owners against the players and the NHL against the IIHF. Unfortunately both sides are in the right but the owners and the league are the ones who lose out greatly as they shutdown for 2-3 weeks, losing out not on on that revenue but they also drop the all star game which as bad as it usually is, generates a ton of revenue as well. The players don’t lose out on much of anything and gain everything.
An easy solution for everyone involved would be for the players to compensate the owners during Olympic years only(ie reducing revenue sharing for a single season every 4 years. But alas, the players and owners and everyone involved are greedy and want everything without compromising. It’s like a bunch of 4 year olds fighting over toys.
The players won’t give the owners money during the Olympic years because of the escrow issue. I don’t think the teams can give the players a number of games suspension if they go to the Olympics. They could suspend them indefinitely & just keep it to the number of games they want. I do think that a lot of players will go even if the NHL says no. The Russians will all go. That will hurt a team like Washington. I think a lot of the European players will go & that will hurt a lot of teams. The NHL should just find a way to make it happen
I don’t know if many North American players end up going if the NHL declines to participate. Hockey Canada and USA Hockey would have to build its staff from non-NHL coaches and GMs, and you have to wonder if a team coached by Dallas Eakins or Guy Boucher loses a bit of its lustre. Plus, most players who would play for their country would be NHL team captains, and they’d have to weigh playing in the Olympics versus leaving their team in the midst of the playoff drive. As a team leader, do you see someone like Toews or Crosby leaving his team to pursue non-NHL opportunities?
Screw Bettmen and screw the owners, I know for a fact the players ALL want to go to represent their respective countries for a chance to win a GOLD MEDAL!!! You can’t pick and chose when you want to participate in the Olympics… What’s the NHL league and the owners really gonna do??? Suspend their top players for going, the fans like me want to see the players go and participate and we won’t stand for any nonsense Bettmen says with his verbal diarrhea that he’s always spewing