Crosby on potential threats to NHL participation in the Beijing Olympics

 It seemed like any dispute surrounding participating in the 2022 Winter Olympic Games in Beijing had been resolved.

In the summer of 2020, as the National Hockey League season was shutdown and both players and executives in the league scrambled to find a way to resume the season, the NHL and the Players Association came to terms on a new collective bargaining agreement that included Olympic participation in both 2022 and 2026. That should have been the end of it, but instead we are now starting to hear rumblings that the NHL may not be so keen on participating in the Olympics after all.

It would appear as though some of those rumors have already reached the ears of the players in the league as well. On Saturday NHL superstar Sidney Crosby commented on the situation and if his stance is any indication of where the players stand as a whole, they probably aren't all that worried about it.

"I'm preparing like we're going and I think that's the best way to kind of look at it," said Crosby of the rumors.

We have already seen Covid wreaking havoc throughout the NHL this season with the Ottawa Senators being the hardest hit team in the league. At one point the Senators had 10 players and a coach on the league's Covid protocol list and, as a result,  it isn't too hard to figure out why the NHL may be wary of participating. International travel alone would be a cause for concern but when you add to that the fact that their players would be surrounded by a large group of people from a variety of countries around the world, there is suddenly considerably more risk involved.

I would wager that the league was hopeful that the pandemic would have calmed down considerably by the time the Olympics rolled around, and the fact that things have remained relatively status quo may now prove to be a big problem for the top brass at the NHL head offices.

The Penguins captain does not appear to be concerned however, so perhaps we shouldn't be either.