NHL and NHLPA agree not to attend Beijing Olympics

NHL insider Frank Seravalli has confirmed the worst kept secret in the hockey world, that NHL players will NOT be attending the upcoming 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing, China scheduled for February, 2022.

I get it. 

There are simply too many risks on both sides of the ledger for the NHL and its players to attend, but I'd be lying if I didn't admit that I'm disappointed. To me, there's nothing quite like "best on best" international hockey. I love the Stanley Cup Playoffs, of course, but to me there's no greater drama than Canada vs USA or Russia on the Olympic stage. 

It seems that the enhanced COVID-19 restrictions, including the possibility of a five week quarantine in a Beijing "isolation facility" was too much for NHL players and I can't say I blame them. To be frank, I'd be wary of traveling to China these days period, never mind putting myself in a situation where I'm quarantined and under observation for five weeks. Without getting into international politics too much either, I'm not sure it's wise to be celebrating China at this point in history, either. Many countries, including Canada and the United States, were already planning to implement a "diplomatic boycott" of the Beijing Olympics due to China's human rights violations. 

Whatever your reasons, and there are a LOT of reasons, it just makes sense for the NHL to stay away from China right now.

Now the question is, will the Olympics be postponed until 2023? 

The 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo were postponed a year until July/August, 2021... could we see the same thing happen with the 2022 Winter Olympics? While I hate to get my hopes up for anything these days, if the International Olympic Committee (IOC) were to push the games forward 12 whole months, we could be living in a very different world and one in which the NHL is now ready, willing and able to attend the games once again. Of course, there's a good chance that we're no further ahead in our struggles with COVID-19 12 months down the road, so let's not get too far ahead of ourselves.