Let them play!

According to Sportsnet.ca, NHLPA's executive director, Donald Fehr, NHL hockey players would like to compete in the 2018 olympics in Pyeongchang.

Rumours have swirled that the NHL tried to outplay the importance and the attraction of the Olympics by reinstating the Hockey World championships in 2016, but Fehr has declared that NHLers don't mind and still want to compete at the Olympics.

There is still no agreement between the NHL and the IIHF for NHL players to compete in 2018.

Although the NHLPA executive director believes that the players would like to play at the Olympics, we have to remember that they are usually an event for amateur to compete against each other at the highest level. If we compare with the FIFA, no professional soccer players play at the Olympics. At the same time, being part of the organizing committee, wouldn't you want the best athletes from each sport competing against each other, regardless of their status, amateur or pro?

This exact question might be what is taking so long for South Korea Olympic Organizing Committee to decide if they want NHLers to compete at the 2018 Olympics. Another hindrance to the NHLPA and NHL discussion process is the recent election of a new president of the International Olympic Committee.

Once the IOC and Organizing committee decide where they stand regarding NHL players and Men's ice hockey, Bill Daly admits that talks with the NHLPA will begin, according to nhl.com.

"So as an initial matter I think both us and the Players' Association want to hear where the IOC and the South Korea organizing committee are with respect to having NHL players at the Olympics. A lot of accommodations were made to pick up expenses to make sure they had the best players in Sochi; I'm not sure the same commitment is going to be there from the international community on this one. We're going to try to gauge we are on that, and at least to this point the IOC is not ready to have that discussion. That's down the road a little bit."