Using his "most emphatic language to date," NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman on Monday said that the league "will not take a break next season to allow players to participate" in the 2018 PyeongChang Games, according to Helene Elliott of the L.A. TIMES. Bettman added that the 2018 All-Star Game has been "awarded to Tampa, which reinforces his resolve because the league has not held its All-Star festivities during recent Olympic seasons." Bettman "often indicated that owners' appetite for interrupting the season had waned" and that the NHL did not "gain sufficient benefits from temporarily shutting its doors." However, Int'l Ice Hockey Federation execs said that they would be "willing to pay insurance and transportation costs," believing the matter was "still negotiable." Bettman: "Six weeks ago we were very clear and definitive that the teams had no interest in going to the Olympics in PyeongChang. ... We're not anti-Olympics. We're anti-disruption to the season." Bettman also said that the NHL will "focus on growing its business in China" and will send the L.A. Kings and Vancouver Canucks to play exhibition games in Shanghai and Beijing in September. However, the NHL has not "committed to allowing players to compete" in the 2022 Beijing Games (L.A. TIMES, 5/30).
PROBLEMS DOWN THE LINE: The AP's Will Graves reported some players, such as Washington Capitals left wing Alex Ovechkin, "indicated they will play for their home countries regardless of whether the league takes a break or not." Bettman said, "We have an expectation that none of our players are going. But I don't want to get into the gymnastics involved in what that means. There's no reason to pick that fight right now" (AP, 5/29). In D.C., Isabelle Khurshudyan reported Ovechkin's Olympic participation "would mean missing NHL regular season games," and Bettman's comments "indicated there could be repercussions for players who insist on going" to PyeongChang (WASHINGTON POST, 5/30).
NOW THIS?: THE HOCKEY NEWS' Ken Campbell reported Bettman also "essentially made it clear that, as of this moment, there will not be a World Cup of Hockey" in '20 because the NHL was "unable to secure labor peace at that crucial time" (THE HOCKEY NEWS, 5/29). In Toronto, Kevin McGran reported a source within the players' union "suggested the matter would likely end up in arbitration" (THE STAR, 5/29).
