Winter Olympics: NHL will now not send gamers to Beijing

The National Hockey League (NHL) has demonstrated it will now not ship its gamers to the men’s ice hockey event at the Beijing Winter Olympics.
It follows disruption to the normal NHL season due to the fact of a surge in Covid-19 cases.
NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman stated “Olympic participation is no longer feasible” with 50 league video games postponed up to 23 December.
The Games are scheduled to commence in China on four February, 2022.
Without the NHL’s stars, country wide groups at the Olympics will resemble these that featured at the Pyeongchang Winter Games 4 years ago.
With the time distinction between South Korea and North America, many of the suits at the 2018 Games have been performed in the center of the night time for US audiences, and the NHL felt it was once now not proper to put its league on maintain for three weeks and permit its gamers to go to Pyeongchang.
“It’s disappointing,” stated Tampa Bay captain Steven Stamkos, a Canada international.
“For something reason, the Olympic card simply hasn’t labored out in my favour. It sucks. That’s some thing I probable might not have a risk to do now.”
The NHL and gamers union had agreed to ship athletes to the 2022 and 2026 Winter Olympics until league seasons have been impacted via Covid.