NHL Olympic participation remains unlikely

Eventually, the NHL and International Ice Hockey Federation are going to run out of time.

Commissioner Gary Bettman addressed the issue of NHL involvement at the 2018 Winter Games in Pyeongchang on Saturday at All-Star weekend in L.A., and his comments - along with his deputy Bill Daly's - didn't sound promising.

"I think there's concern from teams about the ongoing disruption in the season," Bettman said, writes Yahoo Sports' Greg Wyshynski. "The schedule. A whole host of other things. I've never said that just raising the money was the issue."

Daly's comments were even more pessimistic in tone.

"If the status quo remains, I don't expect us to be in the Olympics," he said. "As of right now, there's not a will (to go).

The issue was brought up very briefly with the Board of Governors, largely due to the fact nothing's changed.

"Quite frankly, we don't see what the benefit is from a league standpoint to Olympic participation," Daly added.

Should the league not attend next year's games, that means an All-Star Game will take place. The NHL will look at a destination if and when it's decided it won't be involved in South Korea.