NHL will meet with 2018 Olympic organizers to see 'where hockey fits in the pecking order'
The NHL is set to sit down with Olympic organizers shortly and begin talks about whether NHL players will be made available to compete at the 2018 Winter Olympic games in Pyeonchang, South Korea.
On Monday, at the 7th Annual PrimeTime Sports Management Conference and Trade Show in Toronto, On., NHL Deputy Commissioner Bill Daly admitted as much, though he didn't tip his hand one way or the other.
"I think a decision should be made quickly," Daly told attendees at the conference, according to Sean Fitz-Gerald of the National Post. "Certainly on a much faster timeline than (for Sochi)."
The league and the International Olympic Committee only agreed that NHL players would participate in the Sochi Olympics eight months prior to the tournament, so Daly isn't exactly setting a high bar here.
Daly also expressed concern regarding hockey's marquee place in the tournament:
NHL is set to meet with South Korean 2018 organizers to see "where hockey fits in the pecking order." no time line
— Stephen Whyno (@SWhyno) November 17, 2014
Since the 1997-98 campaign, the NHL has broken up it's season every four years to allow NHL players to participate in a high-profile hockey tournament that the league doesn't control.
Though the Olympic men's hockey event generates enormous worldwide interest in the sport, the league and team owners don't share in the profits - whether from broadcast rights, sponsorship, gate receipts, or jersey sales.
So it's no surprise that some team owners have been openly critical of NHL participation in the Olympics games over the years. The NHL's head office has voiced similar concerns.
"There are a lot of negatives that come along with the Olympics," Daly told the Globe and Mail in February. "The fact is, we’re guests here. It’s not our tournament. In terms of making it as good as it can be, we really don’t have control over that. There are positives and negatives, with everything."
The players though have been consistent and unequivocal: they want to participate.
"In the long run, it’s good for the game, it’s good for hockey," Chicago Blackahwks superstar Patrick Kane told the Chicago Sun-Times last winter. "And anyone that doesn't see it that way is crazy."