NHL says it will skip Olympics, not players
Alex Ovechkin and other players aren’t so sure the NHL’s decision to skip the Winter Olympics in South Korea next year is final.
The Washington Capitals superstar on Tuesday reiterated his intention to represent Russia next February, calling the league’s decision a “bluff.” Montreal Canadiens goaltender Carey Price, who won gold with Canada in Sochi in 2014, wondered if the announcement was part of the league’s negotiating “tactics.” Matt Duchene of the Colorado Avalanche suggested it could simply be “posturing.”
The NHL insisted Monday that the matter is “officially closed” as it slammed the door on the Olympics for the first time since 1994. But a host of questions remain, from how national teams will fill their rosters to just how the league will deal with players like Ovechkin who plan to go anyway. Most players know nothing of the days when the NHL wasn’t part of the Games, so the news that they won’t get that chance in Pyeongchang didn’t sit well at rinks around North America.
Swedish forward Filip Forsberg of the Nashville Predators called it a “terrible decision” that he hopes changes. Pittsburgh star Sidney Crosby echoed Mike Babcock, his coach for consecutive Olympic gold medals with Team Canada, by calling it disappointing.
“When you begin negotiations and things like that, I really thought something was going to be able to get worked out and unfortunately that’s not the case,” Crosby said. “From what I heard it was kind (of) typical negotiations, then it kind of came out of nowhere (Monday) with the announcement.”
Crosby said there’s “always that possibility” that the door remains open for a deal to get worked out. Statements by the NHL Players’ Association, International Ice Hockey Federation and International Olympic Committee made no references to continued negotiations, however, and the NHL said previous talks had gone nowhere on issues believed to include better marketing tied to the Olympics — something the IOC allows only for top top-tier sponsors.