With the NHL publicly saying it will not send players to the '18 PyeongChang Games, NHLPA Exec Dir Donald Fehr yesterday said that his constituency has "long memories," and the Olympic dispute "could colour negotiations" when the league and his union revisit the CBA as early as '19, according to Eric Duhatschek of the GLOBE & MAIL. Appearing on Toronto-based CJCL-AM, Fehr said, "If the notion is that players will just say, ‘oh well, the CBA didn’t provide for it’ or ‘we wish it were different’ -- and we could just go on with life as usual or as if this hadn’t happened, I think that’s a very, very, very unlikely possibility" (GLOBE & MAIL, 4/6). YAHOO SPORTS' Greg Wyshynski asked, "Why wasn’t Olympic player participation mandated in the Collective Bargaining Agreement? ... Was it something the NHL players didn’t want to concede in negotiating bigger issues?" Fehr said, "We had an understanding on Sochi, which held. There was always a generalized understanding that we’d look at the situation and if we didn’t have costs, we’d figure out a way to do it. ... No one envisioned that the owners would take this kind of view." Fehr said in terms of a global audience, "you can’t do much better than the Olympics." Fehr: "For whatever series of reasons, the NHL’s position this time was, ‘Well, gee, somebody pay me. Gee, you guys don’t want to pay me? Okay, I’m going home. That’s about it.” Asked if he regretted not having mandatory player participation in the Olympics written into the CBA, Fehr said, “In retrospect, you know, had anyone been able to anticipate this kind of an approach? Perhaps. ... Is there any evidence at all that NHL revenues fall because of participation in the Olympics? No one has even hinted at that" (SPORTS.YAHOO.com, 4/5).
TALE OF TWO COUNTRIES: In Toronto, Mike Zeisberger cites a poll conducted by Mainstreet Research and Postmedia Network in which a "whopping 62%" of Canadians said they disagreed with the NHL's decision to skip the '18 Games. Meanwhile, only 20% of American respondents "said they 'disagreed' with the NHL’s decision." Mainstreet Research President Quito Maggi said, "Canadians are up in arms but many Americans don’t seem to have an opinion on this. That may be the reason the NHL felt it could make this move in the first place. The American market is much larger than the Canadian one." Mainstreet "surveyed a random sample of 1,500 Canadian and 1,022 American adults" from April 3-4 through telephone interviews (TORONTO SUN, 4/6). The CBC said that ad sales for PyeongChang programming "haven’t yet begun, but is confident the NHL’s absence won’t stop the network from cashing in on its Olympic rights deal." CBC Head of Public Affairs Chuck Thompson said, "We anticipated both scenarios" (TORONTO STAR, 4/6).
THE RUSSIA HOUSE: KHL reporter Aivis Kalniņš cited an IIHF source who said that Capitals LW Alex Ovechkin "won't be allowed to participate in Olympics" unless the NHL "allows him to" (TWITTER.com, 4/5). In DC, Dan Steinberg notes while some have called Ovechkin "selfish" this week for saying he will still go to the Olympics without NHL approval, it is actually "the opposite of that." Steinberg: "There’s a consistency here. The guy has spent his career refusing to differentiate between a Stanley Cup and a gold medal, calling them equally important goals. ... You won’t find many unselfish actors in this drama. A player following through on a commitment to his country would seem to be one of the few" (WASHINGTON POST, 4/6). The Russian Hockey Federation yesterday said that it will "try to keep KHL players from leaving for North America and attempt to bring NHL free agents back this summer." The AP's Stephen Whyno noted that "could include pending free agents." Still, it is "unlikely that the Olympics alone would be enough to make top Russian players leave the NHL." NHL agent Jay Grossman said, "I don't think it changes the dynamic of who wants to play in the KHL and who wants to play in the NHL" (AP, 4/5).
SPLITTING THE DIFFERENCE? In San Jose, Mark Purdy wrote under the header, "My Simple NHL Olympic Solution." The "answer to hockey’s Winter Games dilemma is to split up" and "streamline the tournament" (SAN JOSE MERCURY NEWS, 4/5).
