“I think it remains to be seen what type of players still go. There's still the international leagues, which have a lot of former NHL players. There’s certainly quality players from around the world. I believe whatever happens it will be a quality hockey tournament.

“We would like the NHL to be there. We’ve made that clear to them. Hockey for the most part won’t be on NBC (but rather on cable channels), and hockey for the most part, given the time difference, will be late at night and early morning. So it’s not going to affect the peak periods.

“But we think it’s better for the Olympics and we think it’s important for the growth of hockey around the world for the best in the world to be playing.”

-Mark Lazarus, NBC Sports chairman. Neil Best of Newsday has more.