Flames eager to see NHL in the Olympics
A proud American with his own assortment of dangles, dekes and dipsy-doodles, it’s no shock that this Olympic moment stands out for Johnny Gaudreau, hockey fan.
“I remember I was in college, we were in Vermont and it was the USA vs. Russia game that went to a shootout and (TJ) Oshie scored, like, seven times,” Gaudreau recalled earlier this week, guilty of a bit of hyperbole as he reminisced about Oshie’s record-setting foursnipe showing in a shootout victory over the home-side during the preliminary-round stage of the 2014 Sochi Olympics.
“As a college player, as a younger kid, that’s something you look up to and you want to be a part of someday. It’s something in your goals to want to accomplish. So that’s something that would be really special is to be a part of the Olympics.”
Gaudreau’s fractured finger will be long since healed by then — the 23-year-old whiz had surgery Wednesday to repair the busted digit — but there’s no guarantee the NHL will send its stars to the 2018 Winter Olympics in South Korea.
Around the same time Wednesday that Calgary was going berserk about the way Gaudreau has been whacked and slashed this fall, hockey higher-ups were meeting in the Big Apple to continue the Pyeonchang-Or-Pass? debate.
Among those at the table were league commissioner Gary Bettman and IIHF president Rene Fasel.
The NHL has interrupted its schedule for the past five instalments of the Winter Games — Nagano, Salt Lake City, Torino, Vancouver and Sochi.
“Personally, I would love to go and even if I’m not going, I think it would be cool for NHL players to go, the guys who get picked to represent their countries,” said Flames centre Mikael Backlund, who skated for Sweden this fall at the World Cup of Hockey and would presumably be a roster possibility for Pyeongchang, too.
“It would be a dream for me to play in Olympics. Growing up, you always want that and I know a lot of guys feel the same way. Not putting any pressure on anybody that makes the decision, I’m just saying that’s how we feel.”
Since it’s well-known that the stars don’t want to miss out on this golden opportunity, it’s hardly a surprise Bettman & Co. will try to milk the returns.
Sportsnet’s ace insider, Elliotte Friedman, reported Wednesday the NHL is asking players to agree to an extension of the current collective bargaining agreement in exchange for a green-light on Olympic participation, a new wrinkle in a conversation that had previously focused on injury risks, travel and insurance costs and trying to determine the value of a best-on-best tournament in such a far-flung time-zone.