from Pierre LeBrun of ESPN,

"Future Olympic participation is something we will need to focus on at an appropriate time, both with the IOC and with the Players' Association,” NHL deputy commissioner Bill Daly told ESPN.com Wednesday. "There continues to be a lot of moving pieces, including the recently announced World Cup of Hockey scheduled for September of 2016. That tournament and its success may not be determinative with respect to the decision we ultimately make on the Olympics, but it certainly will play a part in the overall discussion."

Maybe I’m reading too much into things, but it seems like all the comments that have been generated of late from the deputy commissioner and the big man himself, Gary Bettman, open the door just a crack to the possibility of no Olympic participation, that perhaps the World Cup is the replacement vehicle for best on best hockey.

Then again, it’s also wise for the NHL to send out that type of message to the IOC, so they understand they need to step up if they want to keep NHLers in the fold.

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Me, I want the players to go. I don't care about the time difference (+14 hours ET), the lack of hockey in South Korea or anything else.

If the players want to go, then all hands on deck.