The NHL hasn’t decided whether its players will participate in the 2018 Winter Olympics in South Korea. Alex Ovechkin has decided that it doesn’t matter, he’s going. In an interview with Tass in Russia, Ovechkin said that he, and others, will head to Pyeongchang to play for their country:
“The same situation was with the [2014] Sochi Games, they said NHL could not be allowed to come,” Ovechkin told reporters. “I hope the sides will reach an agreement.
“Anyway, I and other players will definitely come [to the 2018 Winter Olympics],” Ovechkin added.
If the NHL had hoped that the re-emergence of the World Cup of Hockey would give these players their fix of international competition, they miscalculated. Let’s face it: There’s nothing like playing for a gold medal. You wonder if there is a resentment about playing in the World Cup, a tournament where the NHL retains 100% of the profits, if it winds up being the reason that the NHL pulls out of the Olympics.
And what repercussions will there be if a small to medium sized group of players go rogue and play in the Olympics while the NHL is still in business? There’s the obvious effect of the Capitals missing Ovechkin for three important weeks of the season while the team battles with the likes of the Rangers and Islanders for the division title and playoff seeding. But would that mean a breach of contract for Ovechkin? And would players like Ovechkin merely get fined while a lesser player with a bloated contract doing the same thing would simply get released for cause?
And what of fans who will cry foul over paying premium ticket prices for NHL games that stars don’t participate in? What of owners like Ted Leonsis who will deal with season ticket holders potentially eating their tickets for those games when they could be in the arena buying food, drink, and souvenirs?
Also, of these “other players”, are we talking about a cross section of players from all countries that are interested in doing this? Or will it be mainly European players interested, which would revive the stereotype talk of Europeans caring more about a gold medal than a day with the Stanley Cup (which is quite ridiculous)? And if it is just a small group of Europeans, how inclined would the NHL be to take this into account when deciding whether the Olympics is feasible or not? What if those other players included a guy who scored the golden goal in Vancouver? What if Sidney Crosby came out and said “I’m going regardless” like Ovechkin has? Assuming the NHL is leaning no on South Korea, would Ovechkin and Crosby taking this stance change their mind?
All worth keeping an eye on in the coming months.
