Another issue is that the professional players who compete throughout the year don’t have much time to play with each other on an international level. Even the teams that have competed in the 2018 Winter Olympics haven’t played with each other much. Ultimately, it’s not as high-class ice hockey you would normally see being played in the NHL. There was a recent report that was released by the United States team that showed their current Olympics side only managed to play with each other for 6 hours prior to the tournament taking place. So, if the Olympics side hasn’t even managed to log too much time together, the NHL players wouldn’t stand a chance. In fact, they would likely have absolutely no time to train together at all.

Who Would Pay the Insurance?

It’s all to do with money these days when it comes to competing in the winter Olympics. Many of the sports aren’t played worldwide like football, so there aren’t many institutes that are willing to cover the costs. It’s not just the travel and accommodation that needs to be covered, it’s also insurance for the players to compete. The IOC (International Olympic Committee) used to help cover the costs, but with insurance costs set at a whopping $7 million this year, the NHL and IOC couldn’t come to an arrangement.

It Could Have Had a Negative Impact on the Current NHL Season

NHL club owners had concerns in terms of the negative impact it could have on the last/current NHL season. They didn’t want a break midway through the season and they certainly didn’t want to lose out on stadium tickets. It could have been a huge loss to club owners and it just didn’t have any appeal to them whatsoever. A lot of chicken was played between clubs and the IOC and eventually they decided it wouldn’t be a viable option, so they all voted against it.

Risk of Player Injuries

Money wasn’t the only concern with the 2018 Winter Olympics, it was also the players’ safety. NHL is a huge league and any player that succumbs to an injury when out on international duty could have a severe impact on the club’s future. With clubs battling for the league and others battling to stay competitive, it just wouldn’t have been a good move.

The 2018 winter Olympics will be exciting enough. However, for those that have paid a lot of money to go and watch their favourite international players do battle on the ice, it probably won’t be as great of as an experience as they would like. Is this wrong for the NHL to do?

Whose fault is it in terms of not covering the costs for international sides to have more firepower at their disposal? Of course, the countries who really miss out on a chance of competing for the gold medals are Canada and the United States, as that’s where most of the professionals come from.