NHL asked for decision on Olympics by end of April

Awful arrogant to say "the world's best players" ! Kinda like MLB calling their championship the "World Series". Be careful of NHL players. Remember how they trashed their living quarters when they lost in Nagano in '98 !

Awful arrogant to say "the world's best players" !

Awful arrogant, yes, but just as with the MLB, not inaccurate.

I hope they can come to an agreement. Although it's a non-event in terms of Japanese attention, I think that hockey is the best team sport in the Olympics - winter or summer.

NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman has made it clear league owners don’t want to stop their season for three weeks again and put their stars at risk of injury without what they would consider a tangible return.

The players want to go, but for the owners, they haven't seen any notable uptick in attendance or viewership riding on the coattails of the Olympics - that's why they're reluctant taking a break off for the Olympics when they're not getting tangible return.

I love hockey, but I say leave the pros out of the Olympics, they are SUPPOSED to be for amateurs & also make the outcome less predictable, more exciting

Ditto for other sports in BOTH winter & summer games NO PROS

Let the amateurs enjoy

And screw the NHL higher up for only thinking about $$$$ & exposure!

GW - so should the NHL just shut down their season for 3 weeks, not ask for insurance, and allow the extremely corrupt IOC to pocket the windfall of money generated by the crown jewel of winter olympic sports?

Clamenza

As I said above I don't think pro's need to be in the Olympics & honestly I could care less & less about the Olympics in general, if it disappeared I would be perfectly fine!

GW - So be it, but clearly millions of people DO care to see the pros in the Olympics to see who the best country truly is.

I am with GW. The old Olympics(before they allowed Pro Atletes) were great and gave Amateurs a chance to turn pro.

A lot of Europeans turn pro when they turn 18 in European pro leagues, so one would be left mainly with amateur teenagers

pacint - You two would be in the minority for sure. Who wants to watch a bunch of lower-level scrubs compete for gold medals? Nobody would watch.

Clamenza.

I can watch the Pro's all year round, every year.

They don't need 2 weeks every 4 years. ;)

pacint - so why would you want a bunch of no-name scrubs being awarded the most prestigious medals in international competition?

Lets face it, you'd be screaming for the pros when your country loses at whatever sport u like the best.

smiley face! :)

I grew up with the Amateur Olympics and cheered my country men and ladies for winning.

Actually I prefer the paralympics as the Olympics is now all about money and sport being secondary.

Actually I prefer the paralympics as the Olympics is now all about money and sport being secondary.

you'll excuse me if I find that very hard to believe.

the NHL does feature the world's best players, there is no doubt about that. Players from Russia, Sweden, Czech Republic, Finland, Denmark, Austria, all go to the NHL to play alongside the best players from Canada and the US. Its just a fact. Also, it was the US players who trashed their dorms in Nagano. Don't blame that on NHL players.

stickman - Even though the Nagano hotel damage was blown out of proportion, The US players were also NHLers

yeah, but you can't say the damage was caused by NHL players, it was caused by US players who happen to play in the NHL. and it wasn't a hotel, it was a dormitory and how do you know the damage was 'blown out of proportion"?

stickman - they damaged a handful of chairs and let off a fire extinguisher. Not a proud moment I'm sure, but if you believe people who have nothing better to do, you'd think they razed the building to the ground.

fair enough, anyway its all water under the bridge, forgot what the original discussion was about.

Ah. The crooks in the IOC are trying to scam the NHL into footing all the costs associated with shutting down their season, and insurance.