Fresh off the field for next year’s Olympic tournament being set, ESPN’s Emily Kaplan reports (Twitter link) that an official decision on NHL participation is expected at some point this week. Octagon Hockey player agent Allan Walsh adds (Twitter link) that the decision will be that the league does allow their players to participate with an announcement being imminent.
While an allowance was made in the CBA for Olympic participation, it wasn’t set in stone that NHL players would be permitted to play but rather that an attempt would be made. Talks have gone well beyond the original window but it appears that barring a last-minute change of direction, the league will indeed shut down for the bulk of February.
Elsewhere around the hockey world:
- The Maple Leafs and Sabres are expected to play in an outdoor game in Hamilton, Ontario in March, reports Mike Harrington of The Buffalo News. The two teams were supposed to be playing an game in Buffalo in mid–March but that contest was absent from the season ticket packages from last week. Instead, the Sabres would be the home team in what technically would be a neutral site game but with Hamilton close to Toronto geographically, the ‘visitors’ for the Heritage Classic event would likely receive the majority of the fan support.
- Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman reports in the latest 31 Thoughts podcast (audio link) that representatives from the Sabres, the NHL, the NHLPA, plus Jack Eichel and his now-former agents had a meeting around the middle of this month to try and come to an understanding on Eichel’s pending neck surgery. The team wants a more traditional fusion surgery which carries a longer recovery time and a fairly high chance of another procedure being needed down the road while Eichel prefers artificial disc replacement which hasn’t been done on an NHL player before. There was clearly no resolution on the matter and the wait for a trade continues.
Staging the outdoor game north of the border was done on purpose. It’s Leafs fans who fill the seats in Buffalo and with border restrictions that wasn’t going to happen if the game was south of the border.
Shhh, quiet that was supposed to be a secret.
Maybe now with Buffalo going through a rebuild/retooling of their roster.
South Korea must be thinking that had they only repressed their own citizens and spread a virus around the world that the NHL would’ve sent their players over to the Olympics played there 4 years ago.
Money talks, all else walks.
Wtf are you talking about you loon
If you can’t figure it out, then the loon is the person staring back at you in the mirror.
I’m not a Grammarly super-star but the way you worded the comment left me scratching me head until I re-read it a few times. Me am think when one write does, sense easy make it should.
KAR 120C – I can break it down in street level talk……or even rap it if you prefer! ;)