from Ryan Kennedy of The Hockey News,

I respect that hockey players want to win Olympic gold, but considering the first time that NHLers were allowed to compete for a medal was 1998, most of them grew up in an era where it wasn’t even an option anyway. And as I said before, the World Cup is just as good, but comes without the baggage.

Hockey is an international game and the moves the NHL has made recently, such as hosting games in Europe and translating its website into different languages, are great. Many in the league have come down pretty definitively on the side of gay rights through the You Can Play Project and while I don’t expect Zdeno Chara to bust out a rainbow flag in defiance when he leaves the ice in Sochi, it is awkward to see the Games in Russia so soon after the flood of support for YCP in the NHL.

I don’t think the IOC has ever had the best interests of hockey in mind and if Sochi is the last time the NHL participates, it’s cool with me.

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