Players hurt by another missed Games
The inevitability sunk in for Steven Stamkos a full day before the NHL made it official that players would not be allowed to participate in the Beijing Olympics.
Left off Canada’s Olympic roster in 2010, injured after being named to the team in 2014 and unable to go in 2018 because the NHL opted out, the Lightning captain crystallized what it meant that the pandemic was wiping out participation at the 2022 Beijing Games, too.
“That was my third legitimate chance of playing in the Olympics, and here I am sitting [here] probably not even going to get to play a game,” Stamkos said. “It’s disappointing, but at the same time there’s not much that we can do.”
Commissioner Gary Bettman made the announcement Wednesday, making official what seemed inevitable in recent days when a rash of positive COVID-19 test results caused several teams to shut down and the list of postponed games ballooned to 50. The league will use the previously scheduled Feb. 6-22 Olympic break to make up those games and others that need to be rescheduled.
“Given the profound disruption to the NHL’s regular-season schedule caused by recent COVID-related events ... Olympic participation is no longer feasible,” Bettman said. “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.”
In a separate statement, National Hockey League Players’ Association executive director Don Fehr said that while there was a clear path to Beijing before COVID-19 intervened, the Olympic break is now needed to make up games.
Stamkos, Swedish teammate Victor Hedman and many of the NHL’s best players may have missed their Olympic window entirely after growing up hoping to one day represent their country on sports’ biggest international stage. Hedman said Tuesday, “Us to not be able to go, it’s going to hurt for a while.”
The International Olympic Committee said it is disappointed for players who pushed for the agreement to go to Beijing. The extension of the collective bargaining agreement between the NHL and NHLPA included Olympic participation, though that was contingent on pandemic conditions that ultimately proved too daunting to overcome.
“We made this a big part of our collective bargaining agreement as the players to try to bring the Olympics back,” U.S.-born Winnipeg Jets forward Kyle Connor said. “Whether there’s circumstances around going to China and with COVID and everything, whether there was going to be fans, I think it still would have been a great tournament, great hockey.”
International officials and national federations must now pivot to Plan B for a second consecutive Olympic men’s hockey tournament without NHL players. USA Hockey said it will soon announce new management and coaching staffs, and Hockey Canada is expected to draw from the executives, coaches and players who took part in an international tournament in Moscow this month. —