NHL and NHLPA Officially Say No To 2022 Olympics

Seeing is believing. But we will not be seeing NHL players at the 2022 Winter Olympic Games.

The NHL and NHLPA have agreed not to participate in the upcoming Winter Olympic Games in Beijing due to COVID-19 concerns and increasing cases forcing 50 games to be postponed and rescheduled.

“The National Hockey League respects and admires the desire of NHL Players to represent their countries and participate in a ‘best on best’ tournament. Accordingly, we have waited as long as possible to make this decision while exploring every available option to enable our Players to participate in the 2022 Winter Olympic Games,” NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman said in a statement released Wednesday morning. “Unfortunately, given the profound disruption to the NHL’s regular-season schedule caused by recent COVID-related events — 50 games already have been postponed through Dec. 23 — Olympic participation is no longer feasible. We certainly acknowledge and appreciate the efforts made by the International Olympic Committee, the International Ice Hockey Federation and the Beijing Organizing Committee to host NHL Players but current circumstances have made it impossible for us to proceed despite everyone’s best efforts. We look forward to Olympic participation in 2026.”

Recall the NHL and NHLPA officially announced their plans to go back to the Olympics back in September. This was after coming to terms with the players in the new collective bargaining agreement in August 2020 to once participate in the Olympics for 2022 and 2026. The only caveat was the NHL had the right to back of the 2022 Olympics if the NHL regular season schedule was “materially impacted” by COVID-19 postponements. And the NHL has reached that point where they did not need the players to agree to back out of the Olympics.

The writing was on the wall when 38 games were postponed in a seven-day period. Not to mention when the NHL agreed to stop cross-border games and then pause the season, you knew then that Olympic participation was not going to happen. From the start going to the Olympics was a bad idea and that is a topic for a whole other day or episode in itself.

But the NHL found a way to get out of the Olympics, which the league and its owners were not in favour of going to the Olympics anyway. And they made their feelings known in public they did not want to go to the Olympics during the Board of Governors meetings this month.

The NHL had until January 10th, 2022  to back out of the games without financial penalty.

There is clear disappointment on the player’s end of things in regards to not participating in the Olympics.

“Since the CBA extension was reached 17 months ago, NHL players have looked forward with great anticipation to once again participating in the Winter Olympics,” NHLPA Executive Director Donald Fehr said in a statement Wednesday morning. “Until very recently, we seemed to be on a clear path to go to Beijing. COVID-19 has unfortunately intervened, forcing dozens of games to be postponed this month alone. No matter how much we wish it were not the case, we need to utilize the Olympic period to reschedule these games. Certainly, the players and hockey fans are quite disappointed. But playing a full 82-game season this year, something the pandemic has prevented us from doing since the 2018-19 season, is very important. We expect that NHL players will return to the Olympics in 2026.​”

Those sentiments can be echoed across the league from players including Connor Hellebuyck and Kyle Connor of the Winnipeg Jets to Sidney Crosby of the Pittsburgh Penguins. You have to feel for the older players like Steven Stamkos, who never got to play in the Olympics due to injuries, in the league who may not get another chance, but these are the circumstances the world is in right now and they all knew this was a reality.

The focus now will be to reschedule the postponed games during the February window the players were originally going to the Olympics in.

“Our focus and goal have been and must remain to responsibly and safely complete the entirety of the NHL regular season and Stanley Cup Playoffs in a timely manner. Therefore, with stringent health protocols once again in place, we will begin utilizing available dates during the Feb. 6-22 window (originally contemplated to accommodate Olympic participation) to reschedule games that have been, or may yet be, postponed.”

The NHL went to five straight Olympics from 1998 through 2014 before skipping the 2018 tournament in South Korea. Now the teams will be comprised of amateurs and professionals playing outside NHL.