When the 2018 Olympic Winter Olympics in PyeongChang, South Korea, start on Friday, there will be no National Hockey League players participating.
And the Dallas Stars' John Klingberg, who leads all league defensemen with 50 points, doesn’t like it.
The NHL decided last April against its players participating, ending a streak of five consecutive Winter Olympic Games with NHL players, dating back to the 1998 Winter Olympics in Nagano, Japan. The main reason for skipping the Games is the 17-day break in the schedule required to participate.
Klingberg has fond memories of watching Sweden in the Winter Games, especially when they won the gold medal in Turin, Italy, in 2006, and is itching to realize his own Olympic dream.