Whatever lingering questions remained about the NHL’s participation in the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics have been answered. The Olympic break that had been factored into the 2021-2022 NHL schedule was a hint that the league was making a good-faith effort to allow for player participation. Now, we have confirmation that break wasn’t scheduled for naught. The NHL announced today that there will be player participation in the 2022 games.
This is the first Olympics for NHL players since the 2014 games in Sochi, as the NHL skipped the 2018 games in PyeongChang, South Korea. The league decided to skip those games because of the interruption to the schedule, but as part of the last CBA talks, the NHL stated that they would work toward participation in the 2022 games if a deal could be reached with the IIHF.