NHL announces players won’t compete at 2022 Winter Olympic Games

National Hockey League Commissioner Gary Bettman announced Wednesday NHL players will not compete in the 2022 Winter Olympic Games in Beijing. The move, which had been rumored to happen for days, is in response to a rash of COVID-19 cases among players. These cases have caused several teams to shut down and postponed dozens of games. The NHL will use the previously scheduled Olympic break from Feb. 6-22 to make up those games.

“Olympic participation is no longer feasible,” Bettman said in a statement. “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.” The last two NHL seasons have been abbreviated due to the pandemic.

“Playing a full 82-game season this year, something the pandemic has prevented us from doing since the 2018-19 season, is very important,” National Hockey League Players’ Association Executive Director Don Fehr said in his own statement. “No matter how much we wish it were not the case, we need to utilize the Olympic period to reschedule these games.”

Fehr went on to acknowledge “the players and hockey fans are quite disappointed” with the NHL’s decision to skip the 2022 Winter Olympic Games. It comes long before the NHL faced a Jan. 10 deadline to pull out without financial penalty. Part of the disappointment comes from the fact that this is the second straight Winter Olympic Games that will not feature NHL players. The 12-year gap between the 2014 and 2026 Winter Olympic Games could mean some worthy NHL players will never get to compete on the world’s largest stage. Vegas Golden Knights Head Coach Pete DeBoer, who was named as an assistant coach for Team Canada back in the summer, discussed this possibility Tuesday.

“There’s a group of players that this is a once-in-a-lifetime-type thing. That window between your age and where you are in your career and opportunity for some guys only comes along once,” DeBoer said. “The [Connor] McDavids of the world are probably going to get multiple opportunities to play but there are a lot of guys that aren’t in that group and you feel for them.”