Yeah, the writing is on the wall. There seems to be no way the NHL is sending their players to the Beijing Winter Olympics in February.
According to Daily Faceoff’s Frank Seravalli, the league sent a memo to all 32 teams cancelling team holiday parties and other public events due to the recent outbreaks of COVID throughout the league.
https://twitter.com/frank_seravalli/status/1465736392902856709?s=21
Already, the Ottawa Senators and New York Islanders have had games postponed this season due to outbreaks within each club. There was already growing concern around the league that league participation in the 2022 Winter Olympics could be pulled by the NHL by the January 10 deadline.
With concerns growing over the NHL All-Star break in Las Vegas, which leads into the Olympic break, it seems like we are heading to a point where the NHL will pull their players out of the Winter Games and reconfigure the schedule following the All-Star break at the beginning of February.
Nothing is set in stone, of course, but league participation in the Olympics was never backed by the NHL or team owners and was instead pushed heavily by the players themselves. You can bet that the league and team owners care more about their own league and the money that can be generated domestically than they do about an international tournament, that potentially puts their stars at risk, for no monetary gain.
We shall see what develops over the next month or so, but I wouldn’t keep my hopes up.
