Players continue to reaffirm desire to be at next year's Olympics

If it was up to the players, there'd be no doubt: They'd be playing in the 2018 Winter Games in Pyeongchang.

While the NHL's Gary Bettman and Bill Daly said Saturday that its status quo on NHL participation front - which means it's less and less likely the league will participate - players re-affirmed their desire to want to attend throughout All-Star weekend.

"Well, personally I would love to go again," Canadian forward John Tavares said, according to the Canadian Press' Jonas Siegel. "Certainly I think big-picture there's obviously a lot of challenges to it. But at the end of the day I think we as players love representing our countries and best-on-best hockey doesn't happen very often. Those are things I think you can really enjoy as a player and appreciate."

Ditto Russia goalie Sergei Bobrovsky.

"I would love to go there (again)," he said. "It's great to be part of it, too. To represent your country it's a huge honor."

Last year, Bobrovsky's countryman Alex Ovechkin said regardless of whether the NHL's going, he'll be in South Korea next year.

It comes down to money. The NHL wants the International Ice Hockey Federation to pick up the tab.

"We said from the outset that if (the IIHF is) not going to pay the expenses we don't even have to think about this," Bettman said Saturday.