Earlier today the NHL announced that it would not allow its players to participate in the 2018 Winter Olympics. This announcement came after months of public negotiations involving the IOC, IIHF, NHLPA and the NHL.
The NHLPA released a response to the NHL’s announcement, and we’ve reproduced it in full below:
The players are extraordinarily disappointed and adamantly disagree with the NHL’s shortsighted decision to not continue our participation in the Olympics.
Any sort of inconvenience the Olympics may cause to next season’s schedule is a small price to pay compared to the opportunity to showcase our game and our greatest players on this enormous international stage.
A unique opportunity lies ahead with the 2018 and 2022 Olympics in Asia. The NHL may believe it is penalizing the IOC or the players, or both, for not giving the owners some meaningful concessions in order to induce them to agree to go to PyeongChang. Instead this impedes the growth of our great game by walking away from an opportunity to reach sports fans worldwide.
Moreover, it is doing so after the financial issues relating to insurance and transportation have been resolved with the IOC and IIHF. The League’s efforts to blame others for its decision is as unfortunate as the decision itself. NHL players are patriotic and they do not take this lightly. A decent respect for the opinions of the players matters. This is the NHL’s decision, and its alone. It is very unfortunate for the game, the players and millions of loyal hockey fans.”
The NHLPA clearly disagrees with the NHL’s position, and lays the non-participation solely at the feet of the NHL.
Hockey Canada delivered muted disappointment, stating that:
Today’s statement by the NHL is not what we were hoping for because, ultimately, we want best-on-best at the 2018 Olympic Winter Games which, for us at Hockey Canada, includes the participation of NHL players. This does not change our preparation for the Games – we have developed both a Plan A and a Plan B, and will be ready to move forward. However, for the next month, our priority is the 2017 IIHF World Championship, and we will be ready to advance the required plan following that event.” (via TSN)
USA Hockey issued two statements, reported by NBC Sports. The first, from Executive Director Dave Ogrean:
We knew it was a very real possibility for many months and certainly respect the decision of the NHL. The good news is that because of our grassroots efforts over the course of many years, our player pool is as deep as it has ever been and we fully expect to field a team that will play for a medal.”
And the second, from Assistant Executive Director of Hockey Operations Jim Johannson:
We respect the NHL’s decision and will examine our player pool options and plan accordingly. In the end, we’ll have 25 great stories on the ice in South Korea and will go to the Olympics with medal expectations.”
The NHL’s decision to forgo the 2018 Olympic Winter Games expects to be one of the League’s least-popular decisions. It pits the NHLPA against the NHL on the horizon of a potential collective bargaining deadline, and already the league is facing vitriol. Henrik Lundqvist and Carey Price are “disappointed,” while prominent player agent Allan Walsh tweeted sarcastically that the NHL is always looking out for the good of the game. The NHL is expected to get some backlash, but it remains to be seen how this affects player and fan relations going forward.
Bettman makes Goeddel look like a good guy.
The molehill has officially become the mountain. The NHL and NHLPA are like eight year olds mimicking their parents fighting. I don’t feel like either of them handle their decision making and PR in a particularly impressive way, but this is definitely on the league this time around.
Bettman and Daly have overstayed their welcome in NHL by at least a decade. They need to go before they get a chance to force yet another lockout.
Also, I feel like if Crosby, Price, Kane and other star players issued similar statements as Ovechkin did (we’re playing whether bettman says we can or not) then the league would have no choice. Maybe the players should go to the owners and say ‘sure, we’ll give you the 3 year extention on the CBA on the condition that Bettman and Daly are replaced’.