The decision is in, and it’s one that has been expected for a while. The NHL will not participate in the 2018 Pyeongchang Winter Olympics. In a press release, the league explains:
…the NHLPA has now publicly confirmed that it has no interest or intention of engaging in any discussion that might make Olympic participation more attractive to the [NHL] Clubs. As a result, and in an effort to create clarity among conflicting reports and erroneous speculation, this will confirm our intention to proceed with finalizing our 2017-18 Regular Season schedule without any break to accommodate the Olympic Winter Games. We now consider the matter officially closed.
In negotiations between the NHL and NHLPA on the matter, the league tried to trade participation in the Games for a CBA extension, an offer that was almost immediately turned down. Players around the league did not think they should have to make any concessions to go, which effectively shut down the dialogue between the two sides. Recently the IOC had publicly said that the league may not be welcomed at the 2022 Games should they skip South Korea, a tactic that clearly has not worked to persuade owners around the league.
In the statement the league mentions those comments, implying that they were part of the final decision to announce that they wouldn’t go. As they’ve shown time and time again throughout the past few decades, the league will not be threatened or pushed around publicly. 
All of this comes as players around the league speak out about going to the tournament, with some—including Washington Capitals superstar Alex Ovechkin—saying they would go anyway. While Ovechkin’s owner Ted Leonis has said that he will support his star winger’s decision to play, Ottawa Senators owner Eugene Melnyk has stated the opposite in regards to Erik Karlsson.
There is also the issue of what the league will now do for television coverage during the Games. NBC has recently agreed to air the entirety of the Games live, starting their coverage each day at 7pm EST. That means they won’t be able to air any NHL games during the February 9th-25th period, usually one of the most important times of the year. One would expect the league uses this time to install their new bye week system, but it will still pose a problem to coverage in the US.
In all, this has been the stance of the NHL for some time now and shouldn’t be taken as much of a surprise. The next year will be filled with controversy over players leaving their teams to participate anyway, and if they’re even allowed to do so. Losing players like Ovechkin for a few weeks right before the trade deadline is something no team will want to do, especially those in the thick of a playoff race. In fact, according to Chris Johnston of Sportsnet the league has told teams to not discuss individual players participating until a later time, when they have ruled on whether it will be allowed.
Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet broke the story just before the league released the statement.
Don’t really care for the olympics anyways
Agreed, let the kids represent.
It will be interesting to see if Russia uses its KHL players to compensate. Essentially be going back to the Cold War era of Olympic hockey
Plus Ovechkin.
My biggest issue with this decision in the NHL is once again forcing its will on the players. Again, they make a decision with no regard to what the players desire. That is not a good way to create good relations between the players, the league & the owners. Bettman & the owners will wonder why there is so much animosity when the CBA negotiations come around. This will only create more distrust between the NHLPA & the NHL and that is not a good thing for the game of hockey
Letting the players help decide if the league decides to suspend play is like Walmart or MacDonalds letting employees decide for the company to close on weekends. Nope, doesn’t matter what they think. That’s the whole boss/employee dynamic. If they don’t like it…to bad. The Olympics is not their job…a job the NHL provides and they get paid quite well for I might add. If the Olympics was more important to them they should have been figure skaters.
Who cares. While I enjoy the hockey I never liked the pros being there anyway. It was nice to even the playing field after years of the Soviet Union circumventing the amateur rule but I’d rather see it be college kids/amateurs again. Even if Russia lets pros from the KHL go. Pros have the World Cup now as well which is the same thing but without the fanfare or prestige of an Olympic medal and it doesn’t stop the regular season for it.