NHL working schedule around 2018 Olympics
TORONTO(CP) — The NHL is working on a plan to move forward with or without the 2018 Olympics.
NHL deputy commissioner Bill Daly said Friday afternoon that the league has begun working with teams on two different scheduling scenarios, one that would see NHL players attend the Games in South Korea almost 14 months from now and one that would see them sit out for the first time since 1994.
NHL commissioner Gary Bettman had previously indicated the need for an Olympic decision by January, though no firm deadline was ever given. An alternative schedule accommodating the Olympics would seem to suggest a softening toward that time frame.
“We’re not the ones imposing any kind of deadline,” Daly said. “We’ll see what the IOC and the IIHF’s timetable is; obviously I think the players have flexibility. We won’t be setting the deadline.”
The IOC has ruffled feathers in the league by resisting payment of out-of-pocket expenses for NHL players in 2018 — upwards of US$10 million according to Bettman — which have been covered for the past five Olympic Games. Owners remain reluctant to shut down the season again for two-plus weeks in February for the Games, unable to see any clear tangible benefit to the league from an experience in Pyeongchang.
The NHL’s board of governors met earlier this month in Palm Beach, Fla., and voiced “strong negative sentiment” according to Bettman.
Daly said the league is waiting on a formal response from the IIHF with respect to the IOC’s position on expenses.
“Do the dynamics change in such a way that we’re in a position to go back to the board and say ‘We understand that a number of you, a good number of you, don’t see the benefit for participation in the Olympics. This is the reason you should reconsider that and decide as to whether it’s a good thing or not for your club and for the league as a whole and the game as a whole.”’ Daly said.
“But at least at this point nothing has happened that would change where we were three weeks ago in Palm Beach.”