The National Hockey League (NHL) has confirmed the decision not to participate in the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing. The message was posted on the NHL website.
It is clarified that the NHL regular season schedule has been severely disrupted due to covid cases, a lot of postponed matches. Therefore, it was decided that NHL players would not participate in the 2022 Olympics. It is emphasized that the NHL delayed the adoption of such a decision as long as possible, exploring “all available options” that would allow the players to go to the Olympics. But due to covid, 50 matches have already been postponed and the participation of NHL players in the Olympics is simply impossible in the current conditions. “We look forward to participating in the Olympic Games in 2026,” it was reported.
We will remind, earlier the media already assumed that NHL players will not participate in the Olympics. NHL players did not take part in the last Olympic Games in Pyeongchang-2018.
The Beijing Olympics will be held from 4 to 20 February 2022.
Two-time Olympic champion Vyacheslav Fetisov admitted that he did not expect the NHL to abandon the Olympics. “Will the national team cope without the NHLs? We did it at the last Olympics. I think they can handle it. To be honest, I did not expect this to happen. For the guys this is the second pass of the Games, for them it is also a big loss. The Olympic Games are the Olympic Games, it is the popularization of hockey, the same NHL, and the most important thing is to see the level of hockey, “Fetisov told Sport-Express.
Source: Rosbalt
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