Nhl and Covid: no players at the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics

The Olympic ice hockey tournament loses all its stars. No Ovechkin, no Crosby, no McDavid. According to reports from the Espn website, the National Hockey League has in fact reached an agreement with the players association to exempt them from taking part in the Beijing 2022 Winter Games. The current collective bargaining agreement provided for the participation of professionals in the next two Olympics , after the absence from those of 2018 in South Korea. The only note regarding the presence in China was linked to the situation of the pandemic.

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And in fact it is precisely the increase in Covid cases among players that led to the drastic decision. The league had also stopped the regular season in advance compared to the already planned Christmas break after 11 teams had been forced to stop having a very high number of positives in their respective rosters. Up to now 50 matches have already been postponed. The NHL had until January 10 to renounce participation in the Olympics without financial penalties. A formal announcement on the renunciation of the Beijing Games is expected within the next 24 hours. Rosters will now be filled with a combination of amateur and professional players playing in leagues outside the NHL. This could include North American minor leagues and overseas professional leagues such as Russia’s Khl.