NHL hockey players will not participate in the Winter Olympics

Players of the North American Ice Hockey League (NHL) will not participate in the Beijing-2022 Winter Olympics (from February 4 to 20) due to the postponements of matches caused by the Covid-19the NHL announced Wednesday.

“Unfortunately, due to the profound changes to the NHL championship regular season schedule due to recent Covid-19 related events with 50 games postponed, participation in Olympic Games it’s not possible, “NHL chief Gary Bettman said in a statement.

“Our priority is and must continue to be to carry out our regular season and play-offIt’s the NHL in the best way. For this reason, we will use the time window of February 6-22 to reschedule the games that have been postponed or are going to be postponed, “he continued.

For the second time in a row, Olympics will deprive themselves of the best hockey players on ice of the world.

In 2018, for Pyeongchang Olympic GamesIn South Korea, the NHL refused to release its players for the Olympic tournament, claiming, among other things, that the South Korean market was not big enough for its boom.

This time, the NHL was willing to release its players for the Beijing appointment, but the pandemic decided otherwise.

For several days, NHL franchises have faced numerous positive cases of covid among their players and coaches, forcing the league to postpone games. The NHL had to advance the traditional Christmas truce by two days.

NHL players have participated in the Winter Olympics since 1998. Consequently, his participation in the Olympic Games is expected in 2026 in Milan-Cortina d “Ampezzo (Italy).

“We are not rejoicing in our participation in 2026,” said Gary Bettman.