It is time the National Hockey League ends the charade and agrees to go to the Olympics.
After months of debate that ended with the NHL announcing they were not going to PyeongChang, South Korea in 2018 for the Winter Olympics the NHL needs to come to their senses.
Insurance, cost, and interrupting the season are all things that the NHL cites as reasons for not wanting to attend the real issue at play is twofold; they cannot make any money directly from the Olympics themselves and they do not believe South Korea is a viable market, seemingly wanting to pull out of South Korea and return in 2022 for Beijing, China.
This is ridiculous on a number of fronts.
First off, sure the NHL does not have much opportunity to profit directly off of the Olympics as the International Olympic Committee is extremely protective of their games but the opportunity to profit indirectly is still there.
Is South Korea a large hockey market right now?
Well no, but they did just qualify for the 2018 World Championships for the first time in the nations history.
Hosting the Olympics has also provided some incentive for them to build a decent hockey program to at least be semi-competitive at the Olympics, as we saw by their recent World Championships qualification.
And how do we know that it cannot be a larger hockey market if we do not try?
As Wayne Gretzky famously said “you miss 100% of the shots you never take.”
This feels like a missed shot for the NHL.
The second reason apart from growing the game in new countries in growing it in traditional hockey countries as well.
Look at the United States.
They are considered a top six hockey nation yet a portion of the US do not care about hockey much at all.
How are we going to get those people interested in hockey if we are sending less than the very best to the Olympics?
The Olympics is the one true time every four years where we actually get the best players in the world playing against one another.
Not the World Cup of Hockey, which featured six nations and a team made up of European players from countries not named Sweden, Finland, Czech Republic, and Russia, and a North American team made up of players from Canada and the US under the age of 24.
Hardly a true best on best when we have a pair of all star teams made up of the leftover players.
And not the World Championship either because we are looking at a tournament where some of the best players in the world are forced to sit out because they are busy playing in the Stanley Cup Playoffs.
How can it be a best on best when Sweden is without Erik Karlsson, Canada is missing Sidney Crosby, Russia does not have Evgeni Malkin, or the US is without Phil Kessel?
Hard to have a best on best competition when a number of the best players in the world are not there.
This is the NHL’s chance to show that they have the best players and hockey in the world and they are not taking the chance.
It is time they find their way and take the shot.
You never know, it might turn out to be a really nice goal.
