BEIJING, China — Players in the National Hockey League (NHL) are some of the best players in the world, but as the world gathers for the Winter Olympics this week in Beijing, folks can't expect to see any NHL players grace the ice.
So, why aren't NHL players at the Olympics? Well, they aren't allowed to. According to a statement from the league, it's due to the COVID pandemic.
The NHL's Public Relations team announced the news by releasing the statement on social media in Dec. 2021.
"The National Hockey League respects and admires the desire of NHL Players to represent their countries and participate in a ‘best on best’ tournament. Accordingly, we have waited as long as possible to make this decision while exploring every available option to enable our Players to participate in the 2022 Winter Olympic Games,” NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman wrote in the release.
The statement asserts the league's regular-season schedule was "materially disrupted as a result of increasing COVID cases," leading to a number of postponed games - the issue ultimately fueling the NHL's decision to prohibit players from participating in the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing.
"Unfortunately, given the profound disruption to the NHL’s regular-season schedule caused by recent COVID-related events -- 50 games already have been postponed through Dec. 23 -- Olympic participation is no longer feasible," Bettman said.
This comes after the NHL withheld players from the 2018 Winter Olympics in South Korea, as well - though that obviously didn't have anything to do with COVID. That decision was largely the result of financial disputes between the NHL and International Olympic Committee.
That was after NHL players had participated in the five previous Winter Olympics.
Bettman said the NHL does, however, look forward to Olympic participation in 2026.
"We certainly acknowledge and appreciate the efforts made by the International Olympic Committee, the International Ice Hockey Federation and the Beijing Organizing Committee to host NHL Players but current circumstances have made it impossible for us to proceed despite everyone’s best efforts," he wrote.