NHL Announces It Will Not Go To 2018 PyeongChang Olympics

The NHL "is not going" to the 2018 PyeongChang Winter Olympics, according to Stephen Whyno of the AP. The league announced its decision Monday afternoon, saying that the matter was "officially closed." The league said that "no meaningful dialogue had materialized" in talks with the NHL Players' Association, IOC and Int'l Ice Hockey Federation. The league "wanted to close the matter before the playoffs, which begin April 13." Team owners have complained that stopping the NHL season for three weeks every four years was not "worth it." NHL players "had participated in the previous five Olympics" dating to '98. Many players "expressed a strong desire to go" and the Washington Capitals' Alex Ovechkin has said that he "plans to go regardless of NHL participation" (AP, 4/3).