It has already been suggested – now it is a sad certainty! The NHL pulled the ripcord after a plethora of corona cases and corresponding postponements of the game. The Winter Olympics will therefore take place without the stars from the National Hockey League. As early as 2018, the NHL players did not come to Pyeongchang (South Korea) for the winter games. At that time, the NHL waived the interruption of game operations. This time participation would be planned – but Corona thwarted the bill.
A total of 50 NHL games had to be postponed, February is now needed to make up for these games. The Olympic tournament begins on February 9th and ends with the final on February 20th. This means that all national teams have to rethink their strategy and primarily rely on players from the European leagues. Luc Tardif, President of the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF), said: “Although we are disappointed, we understand the decision and understand the circumstances under which it was made. It was a shock how Covid-19 impacted the NHL schedule practically overnight. ”
Since 1998 in Nagano, the NHL stars have always been at the Olympic tournament. Only for the 2018 games in the ice hockey developing country South Korea could no agreement be found between the commercially thinking organizations of North America and the IIHF.
