NHL, NHLPA 'in agreement' on players not playing in Olympics

ChinaImages

NHL, NHLPA 'in agreement' that no players will participate in 2022 Beijing Olympics

By Victor Barbosa | Last updated 12/21/21

If the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics go on as planned, there will almost certainly be no NHL players in attendance.

No surprise, but #NHL + #NHLPA are in agreement that NHL players will not participate in #Beijing2022 Olympics. Once they notify IOC, an official announcement will come - perhaps as soon as today, maybe later this week.

Now, question is: Will 2022 Olympics be postponed to 2023? https://t.co/8aR0aKmqNl
— Frank Seravalli (@frank_seravalli) December 21, 2021

The NHL announced Monday that there will be a league-wide shutdown due to COVID-19 beginning after the two scheduled games for Tuesday night and lasting past Christmas. Practices are slated to resume on Sunday with games restarting on Monday.

Last week, Toronto Maple Leafs captain John Tavares — a vocal supporter of NHLers being able to participate in the Olympics — changed his tune with COVID cases on the rise.

"I think we all hope to go, but clearly I think things are a little bit more uneasy than they were," Tavares said last week, via The Toronto Star. "There are definitely some questions that we want to look into and have answered. Obviously, there’s going to be some hurdles and some challenges with where things stand. I’m probably a little more uneasy than I was a number of weeks ago, or a few months ago."

Players have until Jan. 10 to decide whether or not they want to participate in the Olympics, and it sounds like the league will make that decision for them.

More must-reads: