Players of the NHL, the prestigious North American ice hockey championship, will not go to the Beijing Winter Olympics (February 4 to 20) after the cascading postponements caused by the Covid-19.
According to several American media, the NHL and the players' union have reached an agreement so that the franchises do not send the players to Beijing.
The NHL had until January 10 to withdraw from the Olympics without paying a fine.
Without the NHL superstars, the posters for the Olympic tournament would lose a lot of their tinsel, as was already the case for the last edition, in 2018 in Pyeongchang (South Korea), won by the Russians.
The NHL and the players' union had previously reached an agreement to release the players for the next two Olympics, in 2022 in Beijing and 2026 in Milan-Cortina d'Ampezzo, if the pandemic did not upset the calendar of the championship.
50 games postponed this season
What happened.
With the postponement of Philadelphia-Washington scheduled for Tuesday due to an outbreak of contamination in the Capitals' workforce, the NHL has reached the figure of 50 staggered games this season.
To ignore the Olympics would add two weeks to the NHL calendar, enough to reschedule the games postponed so that each franchise plays its 82 regular season games.
The serial postponements have already led the NHL to advance the Christmas truce by two days.
And Tuesday, the last day of the championship before this break, only one match (Las Vegas-Tampa Bay) could take place.
The Tampa Bay coach was also absent because he was placed in Covid protocol just before kick-off.
“It sucks.
I will surely not have another chance to do them ”
Asked about the impossibility for them to go to the Olympics, several internationals regretted this missed opportunity.
“For some reason, the Olympic card was not in my favor.
It sucks.
I will surely not have another chance to do them, ”regretted the emblematic Canadian captain of Tampa Bay, Steven Stamkos, who had missed the 2014 Olympics in Sochi due to injury.
" It's sad.
It's something we've been hoping for for a very long time, ”added Swedish teammate Victor Hedman.
"Not being able to go, it will hurt for a while."
NHL players have participated in the Winter Olympics since 1998.
In 2018, the NHL refused to release its players on the pretext that the South Korean market was not strategic for its development.