from Emily Kaplan at ESPN,

In September, the Los Angeles Kings and Vancouver Canucks will each travel 6,000-plus miles across the Pacific to play two preseason games. The exhibitions in Beijing and Shanghai -- the NHL's first venture into China -- signal that the league might emulate a strategy the NBA initiated more than a decade ago. Growth opportunities in Asia, as the NBA has learned, are significant.

That's why it's perplexing -- and, to many, disappointing -- that the NHL is skipping the 2018 Winter Olympics in PyeongChang, South Korea.

But the NHL isn't just whiffing on a chance to expand its global footprint. The Olympic boycott is a momentum killer when it comes to promoting the league's young talent, especially in the United States.

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