The NHL BOG meets next week in Florida, and NHLPA Exec Dir Don Fehr's response to the league's offer of an extended CBA for future Olympic participation is "expected to be, 'Thanks, but no thanks,'" according to NBCSN's Darren Dreger. While NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman made a "verbal offer" to Fehr that included NHL participation in the '18 PyeongChang and '22 Beijing Games and other international events, there "wasn’t a formal offer made, there wasn’t a document that was exchanged." The players "aren’t interested in extending” the CBA an additional three years at this point. Whether or not the discussion "goes beyond that is going to be interesting," because Fehr historically has "countered with a proposal.” Players and some influential NHL agents are "perplexed, to be honest, as to why the owners aren’t buying into the idea of growing the game from a global perspective.” There are many in the league who agree North America is "saturated to a degree." Dreger: "Building hockey-related revenue is going to be a really tough task in the years to come, so why wouldn’t you go into South Korea, why wouldn’t you embrace the opportunities that present by going into China?” The NHL expanding its presence in Asia is “low-hanging fruit from the players’ perspective, just reach and grab it." However, the league "seems a little a little bit slow in this regard ... for whatever reason” (NBCSN, 11/30).
