NHL is open to future participation in Olympics, key official says

SOCHI, Russia -- Although the NHL has not committed to sending its players to the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, South Korea, many players and Team Canada executive Steve Yzerman have strongly endorsed the idea of again allowing the league’s players to represent their homelands.

On Tuesday, NHL Deputy Commissioner Bill Daly said the way things go during the Sochi Olympics tournament will factor into any decision the league and the players association will make regarding NHL players’ return to the Olympics.

“We will see how the Sochi experience plays out and make a judgment at the appropriate time,” Daly told The Times in an email.

“We don’t have any preconceived notions at this point. Obviously, future Olympic participation is also part of a bigger conversation we are having with the PA on building out an international calendar.”

The Sochi Olympics tournament is the fifth to include NHL players. It might be the last, given the distance to Pyeongchang and a vast time difference that would lead to games starting outside prime-time viewing periods in North America.

Instead, the NHL and the players union are expected to consider staging a World Cup tournament before the start of the regular season, perhaps every other year.

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