IOC SHOULD AIM FOR THE STARS
NHL elite can pressure to participate
There were two ways to view the non-update commissioner Gary Bettman gave on the final day of the GM meetings in regards to the NHL’s participation in the 2018 Olympics in PyeongChang, South Korea.
One: no news is bad news. The league is not any closer to sending players than it was about a month ago when Bettman said the subject came up “for about 10 seconds” during the board of governors meetings at the all-star game. If anything, the two sides might be moving farther apart. “Unless something changes, we’re not going,” deputy commissioner Bill Daly said on Wednesday. “We’ve said that consistently for three months, so there’s nothing new about that.”
Two: no news is good news. While Bettman and Daly appear to have made peace with the fact the NHL might not go to the Olympics, the league has not completely closed the door on the matter. We’re not yet at the 11th hour in these discussions. There isn’t even a deadline set, although the clock does seem to be ticking a little more loudly with each passing day.
And so, we’re back to the waiting game. But what exactly are we waiting for?
Well, if the NHL and the International Olympic Committee cannot agree on anything, maybe it’s time for the players to get involved.
If the best players in the world want to participate in the Olympics — as Sidney Crosby, Connor McDavid and others have already stated — they need to exercise their star power and force the league into making it happen. That’s the only voice owners will listen to, the only voice that really matters in this discussion.
When Alex Ovechkin said he was going to the Olympics with or without the NHL’s blessing, it didn’t take long for Washington Capitals owner Ted Leonsis to stand behind his star. And why wouldn’t he? Ovechkin is the face of the team. He not only helps the team win games, he puts fans in seats.
If Leonsis won’t stand in Ovechkin’s way, what are the chances that Pittsburgh Penguins owner Ron Burkle or Edmonton Oilers owner Daryl Katz will stand in the way of Crosby or McDavid? If Jonathan Toews, Patrick Kane and Duncan Keith all decided they were going to play in the Olympics, do you honestly believe Chicago Blackhawks owner Rocky Wirtz would trade them or fine them for not fulfilling their contracts?
Of course he wouldn’t. The only question is whether the players are serious enough about going that they would be willing to abandon their team midseason if it came to it. McDavid said “100 per cent NHL players should be there,” but he also said he wasn’t willing to pull an Ovechkin. “Ultimately it isn’t up to me,” he said at the all-star game. “There’s a lot of people higher (up) than me who will make that decision.” The same was true of Toews, who said he would comply with whatever decision the owners made.
And while Leonsis gave his blessing to Ovechkin and other Washington players to go to the Olympics, Capitals goalie Braden Holtby told reporters he would never leave the team if there wasn’t an Olympic break built into the schedule.
Maybe that was why Daly brushed off the notion that the NHL Players’ Association could pressure the NHL into going to the Olympics. “I don’t think we’re banking on that,” he said. “I haven’t had that discussion with the PA. As a contractual matter, they can’t (go).”
Even if the players don’t take a unified stand, there is a chance things could change. After all, it wasn’t until mid-July in 2013 that the NHL decided to go to the 2014 Olympics in Sochi. That could happen again, even if the prospect looks particularly bleak today.
South Korea is a tougher sell than Russia, because it’s not a hockey market. And unlike the 2022 Olympics in Beijing, which the league sees as a growth market, there doesn’t appear to be the same potential in PyeongChang.
“We’ve said this before, too, it’s not the exact same equation in 2022,” Daly said. “Certainly, there’s a little more business opportunity in the Chinese games, but it causes the same disruptions. It might be a different evaluation and formula, so they’re different.”
Beyond that, the same old problems exist when it comes to the logistics of sending NHL players to the Olympics.
The International Ice Hockey Federation has already said it would raise the $10 million-plus needed to cover the travel and insurance costs the IOC decided it would no longer pay for. But that was just one issue, said Bettman, who added that shutting down the league for a three-week tournament doesn’t put any money into the owners’ pockets — and once again, that’s a major concern.
“I think the overwhelming sentiment of the teams is that it’s very disruptive on the season,” Bettman said, “and there is somewhere between fatigue and negativity on the subject. As it stands right now, we don’t have an agreement to go and … we’re focused on a schedule that doesn’t include the Olympics. It doesn’t mean that if something dramatic happened at some point in time — obviously that could get too late, but there’s nothing for us to do right now because there is nothing happening.”
In other words, if Crosby and others are serious about participating in the Olympics, it’s time we heard from them.