The National Hockey League says it will not allow its players to go to the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang because of scheduling concerns.
The best ice hockey players in the world will be missing from the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang after the National Hockey League said it will not allow players to go to the Games.
The owners of the league’s 30 clubs are unhappy at having to halt the season for three weeks for the Games.
The NHL is regarded as the world’s top ice hockey league, featuring players from every major hockey-playing nation.
« We now consider the matter officially closed, » an NHL statement said.
The NHL had been seeking concessions from the International Olympic Committee to compensate it for interrupting its season but will now not schedule a mid-season break for the Games.
It had been in long-running talks with the IOC and NHL Players’ Association as well as the International Ice Hockey Federation, which had offered to cover travel and insurance costs for NHL players as a concession to the league.
« A number of months have now passed and no meaningful dialogue has materialised, » the NHL statement read.
NHL players have appeared at every Winter Olympics from 1998, with an average of more than 140 players leaving for the Games during Olympic years.
Countries made up almost entirely of NHL players, such as Sweden, Finland, Russia, the United States and Canada, now face having to draw players from junior and minor leagues.
However, many players were reportedly still keen to play in South Korea. Russia’s Alex Ovechkin, a winger for the league-leading Washington Capitals, has previously said he will attend the Games regardless of the NHL’s decision.
The United States Olympic Committee’s chief external affairs officer, Patrick Sandusky, said he was « disappointed » by the decision.
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