from Adrian Dater of the Denver Post,

Snider is right, though. It's a raw deal for the NHL, the league that pays all of these players to go off for nearly a three-week joy ride.

"Joy ride," you say? Pretty much, I say.

Some players strenuously object to the characterization that they look at the Olympic break as mostly a paid vacation, a "Great if we win," "Oh, well, we tried" exercise.

But that's what I believe. Players are getting paid by their NHL teams to go over to Sochi and compete for a medal in the Olympics. If they get it, great! If not? They come back to their teams with their money still guaranteed, while NHL owners take zero from the profits of the Games, and take all the risk if one of their top players gets hurt.

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