Breaking: Gary Bettman makes a shocking announcement regarding the 2018 Olympic Games.

For months it has looked like the National Hockey League has had the intention of skipping the 2018 Winter Olympics in South Korea, but many held out hope that this was merely a negotiation ploy from the league.

That hope may have been misplaced however and on Tuesday Bettman made his strongest statement yet on the issue. 

"Assume we're not going," said Bettman as per Tom Harrington of CBC radio.

With more and more rumors surfacing regarding unproductive meetings between the NHL and representatives of the Olympic Committee, these latest comments only seem to cement what fan feared the most, a lack of NHL participation at the Winter Olympics.

Some NHL owners have already stated they would let their superstars participate regardless, but other's like Ottawa Senators owner Eugene Melnyk, have stated quite clearly that players like Erik Karlsson would not be given leave to participate. 

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