NHL in the Olympics

[chippa13 1844]

Well, today's announcement made it official that NHL players will be at the Olympics in 2014. I've personally been against it, especially when it takes place halfway around the world. Sure, it makes for good hockey but it also is a detriment to the NHL season. Issues like another compressed schedule, players "resting" for the Olympics, and lesser nations not having their NHLers in time for qualifying games are just a few of the negatives that I've seen.

[215BroadStBullies610 435]

I think this may be the LAST time the NHL participates in the Olympics based on your (legitimate) drawbacks. I've always enjoyed having NHL players represent their country but there seems to be more and more hurdles every 4 years. We shall see. I know I will be adjusting my sleeping schedule haha.

[wrangler 157]

Well, today's announcement made it official that NHL players will be at the Olympics in 2014. I've personally been against it, especially when it takes place halfway around the world. Sure, it makes for good hockey but it also is a detriment to the NHL season. Issues like another compressed schedule, players "resting" for the Olympics, and lesser nations not having their NHLers in time for qualifying games are just a few of the negatives that I've seen.

I agree. I also liked the way the Olympics used to be, with no American pros. New amateurs got a chance every 4 years, as the best of the old group turned pro. I guess I'm still stuck with the concept I got used to, growing up -- amateur competition.

[Quintin 16]

Awkward moment if Russia reaches the gold medal game and Kovalchuk scores the game winner.

[Chadd 916]

As long as the Olympics are in a country with any serious number of NHL players, there will be NHL players in the Olympics. The league can't afford to have all of those players pull out to play at home. Even worse, they run the risk of having players play in the KHL in an Olympic year in order to have the time off.

[zachary 2]

I'm excited, I think USA has a legit shot to make it back to the Gold game again. Although I will say I'm also interested in watching the rest of the Pens players who make it for the respective country play as well.

[hunterphfr 12]

I completely disagree. I graduated high school in '86. I remember growing up in Canada when in the First Nation of Hockey international play got less press coverage than the USFL. I used to TRY and follow international hockey, at the time it was no easy task. The time predated the Information Age and easy access to world events. The only information you got concerning world hockey would be a couple of paragraphs on page 7 or 8 of the sports section. Even the punch up in Piestany which was the most memorable event of my youth in international hockey took a back seat to the NHL. The punch up and Harold Ballard's message to Russia are pretty much all I remember of international play from those days. I was 4 in '72. We were Canadian and we owned 75-80% of the talent in the NHL and fancy Nancy hockey just didn't count. Recently a player that I can't recall spoke about how international hockey just doesn't matter, he reminisced about growing up in Canada and nobody cared or cares what happened/happens in international play.

That was then and the situation has changed completely. The NHL is now a league filled with multinational talent and with teams in non-traditional markets in the US. Gary Bettman would never admit it, but he needs international play as much as international play needs the NHL. Canada a country that never cared about international play, literally ground to a halt as people poured onto the streets after the Salt Lake and Vancouver Olympics. The nation gathers around TVs and rinks to watch World Championships and World Junior play. In the US both hockey fan and patriot alike have grown to expect excellence and aren't satisfied with less. Canada and Russia struggle to retain their image as the 800lb gorillas of international play. Other nations struggle to knock off Goliath in what has become a rather level playing field. Olympic gold has somewhat satiated a long drought of Stanley Cup wins for Canada. Styles of play in Europe have become more physical and in North America they have become more skill oriented as players adapt new skills and jockey for a seat at the top levels of play. I now live in the US and had a family member express sympathy for me, feeling that I had been forced to watch biased American coverage and games during the Salt Lake Olympic hockey. I responded that not only was the coverage not biased, but that through the coverage of NBC and its affiliates I had had the opportunity to watch almost every men's and women's hockey game of the Olympics. Hockey is quickly becoming one of the Marquee sports of the Winter Olympics and thrusts what is a sport with a niche American audience onto the US domestic and world stage. A couple of weeks every four years is a very small price for the NHL to pay for the national pride, international audience, increased domestic viewership and free publicity for the sport provided by the Olympics.

[flip12 714]

Well, today's announcement made it official that NHL players will be at the Olympics in 2014. I've personally been against it, especially when it takes place halfway around the world. Sure, it makes for good hockey but it also is a detriment to the NHL season. Issues like another compressed schedule, players "resting" for the Olympics, and lesser nations not having their NHLers in time for qualifying games are just a few of the negatives that I've seen.

It's a shame for Denmark--they would have qualified had they been able to dress their NHLers against Slovenia (though of course, Anze Kopitar would beg to differ), and then all of Scandinavia would have made it in, "And then maybe I would have cared!" the words of my wife.

I don't mind the NHL season getting interrupted. I like the interlude. It's a fun change in style to see the best players on a bigger rink.

I agree. I also liked the way the Olympics used to be, with no American pros. New amateurs got a chance every 4 years, as the best of the old group turned pro. I guess I'm still stuck with the concept I got used to, growing up -- amateur competition.

The only problem is how unlikely it was that those North American amateurs would fare well against the European pros. I enjoy the World Cup in soccer and enjoy Olympic hockey when all the world's pros are playing. I find the Olympics as a whole incredibly annoying, but for the chance to watch the best players in the world play on national all-star teams, I'm able to overlook that annoyance. The amateurs still have the World Juniors, which makes their participation in the Olympics redundant to me anyway.

[chippa13 1844]

I disagree that the NHL needs international play. The only time the NHL benefits from any kind of international play is when it takes place in a North American time zone. Outside of that, international play is barely a blip in the lower 48. The casual fan isn't getting up at 4:30 am to watch Olympic hockey. If you want to see national all star teams duke it out, the better option for the NHL is the World Cup of Hockey which takes place outside of the NHL season and can be played in primetime in North America.

[flip12 714]

I don't think that the NHL needs international play. I just think it makes for good hockey, over and above the NHL.

Is the NHL in general more than barely a blip in the lower 48? Is the casual fan flipping the channel to catch the regular game at primetime?

[chippa13 1844]

At least if you've got a NHL game on at primetime then you've got a better chance of the casual fan flipping to the game and sticking with it. That can't happen if you've shut the league down for three weeks and they definitely won't be channel surfing into an Olympic game at 4.30 in the morning.

[flip12 714]

True.

[Meals 2]

Overall its good for hockey, and there will be some great games that we will debate for days. I'm sure 3/4 of the guys on this forum will be getting up early and getting "flat tires" on work days and getting in late bc they were watching games.

[215BroadStBullies610 435]

Given that this a quadrennial event, I don't think the NHL will be gaining much fanship from the Olympics.

[Souldriver 64]

I like that there in it for 2 reasons.

The Olympics are supposed to be the best of the best and this lets them do that. I'm sure players also want to represent their country and along with baseball now, hockey is a very diverse sport with players around globally.

It's fun and it's a highlighhighlight of the winter olympics. I could care less about the Olympics but for once almost everyone around me is watching good hockey. No unneccisary commercial breaks, no other season nonsense, just good hockey.

[XveritasX 13]

For myself, I think I can safely say that I will be adjusting my sleep schedule to catch the team Canada games.

[flip12 714]

Maybe the USA won't go? If Sen. Lindsey Graham gets his way. My mind is blown.

[psh 25]

Maybe the USA won't go? If Sen. Lindsey Graham gets his way. My mind is blown.

What needs to happen is that we compete and every gay medalist from the US (and from the rest of developed world, for that matter) wears a rainbow sash or glove or some other piece of apparel during the medal ceremony. It would make a good stick of the thumb into Putin's eye. Much like Jesse Owens flaunting his success, humiliating Hitler during the Berlin olympics.

It Putin really so dense that he doesn't know that a disproportionate number of his own olympians are gay? The more one learns about him, the more despicable and pathetic he is.

[flip12 714]

I think Putain knows. He's not stupid, just not a good guy, to put it mildly. It's just demagogy, just crowd control. I remember somewhere reading or hearing from my political scientist wife that Putin's using the Orthodox Church to consolidate his grip on power, which is something the Tsars long did as well. It is hard to let go of old tricks.

[DLK 0]

If you want to be considered the best league in the world and attract the world's best players, telling those players that they cannot represent their home countries on the world's biggest stage is just not a wise plan.

In my eyes, it's that simple. Yes, it breaks up the season. Yes, players might be injured. Those both seem like very minor concerns in the face of the increasing competition for the very limited pool of top talent.

[chippa13 1844]

It didn't seem to impact that first wave of great Russian players who showed up on the NHL's doorstep in the late 80's and early 90's. I think folks are overestimating the value of participation to individual players. Do they consider it an honor to represent their countries? Sure. Will they make life changing decisions because of it? Not so sure. Besides, NHL teams have already adapted drafting strategies with regards to Russian players and the KHL and nobody has even noticed. I don't see the threat of not going to the Olympics resulting in a mass exodus of top level NHL talent to other leagues.

[ktang 34]

I like that there in it for 2 reasons.

The Olympics are supposed to be the best of the best and this lets them do that. I'm sure players also want to represent their country and along with baseball now, hockey is a very diverse sport with players around globally.

It's fun and it's a highlighhighlight of the winter olympics. I could care less about the Olympics but for once almost everyone around me is watching good hockey. No unneccisary commercial breaks, no other season nonsense, just good hockey.

I want the NHL to go to the Olympics so that I can see higher-calibre hockey with single-elimination games after the round robin: a really condensed "season" with better coaching and more diverse systems using the best players on stacked teams.

Not that the NHL is bad, even with 30 teams, but it's nice to see even higher calibre hockey.

World Championships - not everybody goes, and many that do treat it like a vacation.

[flip12 714]

It didn't seem to impact that first wave of great Russian players who showed up on the NHL's doorstep in the late 80's and early 90's.

It's a very different political and economic situation to compare today's Russia and the latter stages of the Soviet Union and first years of post-Soviet Russia.

[17D1998 1]

Gold: Canada

Silver: Sweden

Bronze: Russia over Switzerland

Thoughts?