The sport of hockey is thirsting for a best-on-best International Hockey Tournament featuring NHL players. There was an announcement that a Four-Nations Cup is coming in February of 2025 to set up a potential return of NHL players to the Olympics.
The NHL and NHLPA agreed that as part of the Memorandum of Understanding included in the CBA that started the 2019-20 season back up after COVID shut the season down, there would be Olympic participation.
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However, the NHLPA left the NHL an out clause as Greg Wyshynski of ESPN stated on the Full Press NHL Podcast.
“Yeah. Well, the problem is that the NHLPA because even when they win CBA negotiations, they never really win them. They put wiggle room into the deal. If you look at the Memorandum of Understanding, it’s, we’re gonna go to Beijing, we’re going to go to 2026 but it’s going to be contingent on the terms that we get from the IOC and the NHLPA and the IIHF.
If we get all those terms, we like them, then we’ll go. So the NHLPA built in this wiggle room. And then the NHL took advantage of it when the COVID thing happened and they had the material change the regular season schedule. They’re like we got the COVID thing. We can’t go to Beijing.
And now the arena thing all of a sudden pops up with Italy. So the NHLPA gave them the out. They gave them the chance to say the terms aren’t right. We’re not going to go even though they committed to working with the Players to go to both the Beijing Games and these 2026 games.”
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And as Greg Wyshynski noted the elephant in the room that came out of nowhere all of sudden is the arena in Milan, Italy, where the games are taking place will not be ready on time. As a matter of fact, it will only be ready six to eight weeks prior to the games being started.
So the NHL is already putting doubt in the minds of the fans and Players they may not go. Again, it is December 2023, the games are not until February 2026. So there is time. However, the NHL has found its out clause or its excuse for when they say the Players are not going.
However, as we have seen NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman is very good at negotiations. And sending NHL Players to the Olympics is a constant negotiation.
The NHL receives nothing from the IOC when NHLers play in the Olympics. The season has to be stopped and the owners do not receive much compensation and there is a risk star players can be injured. A perfect example is John Tavares for Team Canada, when he was a member of the New York Islanders.
Not to mention the IOC does not want to cover the insurance of the NHL Players or else they would have to do it for the NBA or MLB when those top players are in the Olympics.
The IOC gets everything and the NHL gets nothing from it. No media rights. No NHL exposure. The fans know who the players are, but the NHL logo is not on the ice. So the NHL is trying to get the best deal possible so they can say yes to sending NHLers to the Olympics.
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It was reported on TSN’s Insider Trading by Darren Dreger, the NHL offered up a North American city to host the hockey portion of the games. It is highly doubtful, the IOC says yes to that. The NHL has done this in the past and it was met with a NO. Potentially the organization look at Torino as another option as well.
And you know the Players want to go. Especially the International Players, who value a Gold Medal over a Stanley Cup. But it is on the NHL to get this sorted out with the IOC and IIHF.
As Wyshynski notes, the NHL built an arena in Rod Laver Arena, a tennis facility in Australia to host a preseason game. So getting an arena ready for the Olympics should not be too hard.
But again, it comes down to how much the NHL and its Owners want to send the Players over to the Olympics.
While it benefits the sport and those watching the games, it does not help the NHL’s bottom line.
So it all comes down to what the NHL thinks is best for business.
