OpinionBeijing 2022: Covid-19, China politics among issues presenting a challenge for NHL players heading to the Games

National Hockey League players taking part in the 2022 Winter Olympics in China would be a cherry on top for a nation eager to impress on an international stage

Issues including marketing rights, politics and Covid-19 protocols are making negotiations as complicated as they have ever been

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NHL players at Beijing 2022 would make for a great showpiece event, much like the NBA stars in Tokyo 2020. But will it happen? Photo: Reuters

Published: 10:00pm, 15 Aug 2021Updated: 10:27pm, 15 Aug 2021

One of the National Hockey League’s most connected members of the media is ESPN’s Greg Wyshynski. Along with Canadian Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet, if you want insider information on anything related to ice hockey, go to one or the other and you can quickly find out what’s up.

Which is why the decision around sending players to the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing in so perplexing as the two have been reporting competing information for months. On July 20, Wyshynski indicated the NHL was going to schedule in a break for the Olympics in February, but that player participation was “not yet guaranteed”. The latest collective bargaining agreement between the NHL and the NHL Players’ Association extends through to the 2025-26 season and tentatively pencils in the players heading to Beijing, and Milano Cortina in 2026.

NHL players love going to the Olympics, but team owners and the league would rather not take the risk as the Games bring a number of challenges, which includes everything from lost revenue and injuries to insurance and the logistical nightmare of letting well over 150 employees take a month long break to become unpaid freelancers.

Hence the NHL relaunching the World Cup of Hockey in 2016 after a 12-year hiatus, which took place before the regular season started in October, and held its last two editions in Toronto. And while every hockey fan watched every minute of that tournament, having teams like “North America” and “Europe” gave the whole thing a homogenised feel while the Olympics still brings a serious kick of prestige and historical significance.

Wyshynski’s comment, which came on the heels of the biggest news on the Olympics front in close to a year, was about 10 days after Friedman reported on his regular blog that NHL commissioner Gary Bettman had “real concerns” about whether they were going to allow the players to go.

Alexander Ovechkin has long wanted to win gold for Russia. Will he get that chance in China? Photo: AFP