Bettman: "assume" the NHL is not going to the Olympics

Cobra....
Wait long enough and the window will close and the owners will get what they want.....sole participation of the NHL`s star players in the World Cup of Hockey and no where else to draw on their revenues. Delay is simply another tactic in what will be a long list of excuses from the NHL. Players need to step to the plate...players like Crosby, McDavid and such if they want to go to the Olympics.

TSN
National Hockey League commissioner Gary Bettman is advising fans to brace for the 2018 Winter Olympics to take place without NHL players in Pyeongchang.

Speaking to Reuters in New York on Tuesday at the Sports Business Summit, Bettman said “people should assume” the NHL is not going to play in the Games for the first time since 1998.
"There are no negotiations ongoing," Bettman said. "We were open to having discussions on a variety of things that might mitigate the damage to our season but that had no resonance. As things stand now people should assume we are not going."
International Olympic Committee president Thomas Bach met with NHL and NHLPA officials in New York on Feb. 3 for what he called a “courtesy meeting.” Bach said he would leave the negotiations in the hands of the International Ice Hockey Federation, the NHL and the NHLPA. There have been no reported meetings since.
Negotiation Window Still Open
Puck drop in Pyeongchang is set for Feb. 9, 2018. TSN Hockey Insider Bob McKenzie said Monday the sides likely have two to three weeks left to negotiate before the final deadline is met.
Multiple NHL players have expressed their interest in playing at the Games.

Here`s a little update from the Olympic committee:

"If the NHL doesn't come to Korea, they can't just go to China," Fasel told Russian journalist Igor Eronko. "Negotiations will be much different."
Fasel's remark comes on the heels of comments from NHL commissioner Gary Bettman on Tuesday, saying that "people should assume" the league and its players would not be participating in the Olympics.
"There are no negotiations ongoing," Bettman said. "We were open to having discussions on a variety of things that might mitigate the damage to our season but that had no resonance. As things stand now people should assume we are not going."
The IIHF and the NHL are two of the four parties that will determine whether or not NHL players will go to Korea. The International Olympic Committee and the National Hockey League Players Association are also involved in the matter.
Thomas Bach, the IOC president, met with the NHL in New York in February and said he would defer to the other three parties on the matter.
TSN Hockey Insider Bob McKenzie said on Monday the sides likely have two to three weeks left to negotiate before the final deadline is met with the first game scheduled for February 9.
There has been a vocal contingent of NHL player expressing their interest in going to the Games with Washington Capitals captain Alex Ovechkin, Jakub Voracek of the Philadelphia Flyers and Toronto Maple Leafs rookie Auston Matthews among them.

The way i'm understanding it, both sides are flexing, like peacocks ,, who pays the
travel costs, players insurance, meals and accommodations .. each side is expressing
the other should pay

cheap bastards !! LOL

Quote:

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Originally Posted by TLG

The way i'm understanding it, both sides are flexing, like peacocks ,, who pays the
travel costs, players insurance, meals and accommodations .. each side is expressing
the other should pay

cheap bastards !! LOL

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"cheap bastards" is right.....the NHLPA demanded 1st class accomodations for the players,their families and their friends to which the IIOC reluctantly agreed. To the players credit they agreed to pay some of the costs re travel, meals etc however the NHL owners offered to pay that in trade for a bigger slice of the overall pie.
This is about the the NHL owners wanting to control the Olympics for their own fun and profit....nothing else. EG....buy a Crosby Olympic sweater and who gets the money.........buy a Crosby Word Cup sweater and who gets the money...here`s a hint, the NHL and their owners are only mentioned on one of them. Biggest issue is......if you want to watch Crosby and McDavid possibly play together.....the owners want that to happen on their ice, at their time and no place else.

Good point on the Jersey sales ..... it's not gonna be easy given those big egos

I hope to see it happen but if not I'll be just as happy with junior player replacements

The big money owners of the NHL know how to play hardball.........and the bad point in all of this is they don`t care in the least about what the players want, what the fans want or what`s the right thing to do. Their sole function is to make money and have no regard of who they have to step on to do it. They want control, total control of every penny that each and every NHL player is associated with........they get that by eliminating the participation in the Olympics and promoting the World Cup as the only place to see the stars play together.

TLG ....... here is what Melnyk has to say about the Olympics .... which is just one more example of the NHL and NHLPA is thinking




Ottawa owner Eugene Melnyk on whether or not he will allow Karlsson to go the way Ted Leonsis would allow Alex Ovechkin to go: “I’m going to give Sweden my best player at the risk of him being injured, beating our Canadian team? That doesn’t make sense. Maybe if it was a Canadian going to play for Canada... maybe. But right now, it doesn’t make any sense for our franchise, it’s not fair to our fans if we were to lose him, God forbid, into a year like this to an injury in the Olympics.”

There’s a lot to digest here. Melnyk’s attitude stems from 2006, when Dominik Hasek was injured playing for the Czech Republic. One year later, Ray Emery led the Senators to the Stanley Cup Final, but the organization felt very strongly that Hasek’s absence cost them a shot at the championship.

I worked those Olympics and we interviewed the goalie after he got hurt. You could tell right away he knew it was bad, and after the interview aired, then-Ottawa GM John Muckler tracked me down in a panic to gather as much information as possible.

Melnyk is the ultimate old-school, shoot-from-the-hip, oh-my-God-what-did-he-say owner, but he’s not backing down on this issue.

The obvious follow-up is, what does Karlsson think about this? Melnyk said he plans to meet face-to-face with his captain to explain his position. Hours before the Senators started a critical back-to-back with Montreal, Karlsson provided a quote: “I really want to go and feel all of the players do, too.”

Melnyk has to handle this situation carefully, making sure he’s not upsetting his most important player — who is an unrestricted free agent in 2019.

There’s a lot going on in here about Olympic participation. On the one hand, I kind of get what Melnyk’s saying. He doesn’t want to lose a player for nothing again. But on the other hand, I don’t think you can question Karlsson’s commitment to Ottawa. He is a star, and part of that stems from him being able to take tropical vacations to take a break from hockey. And as Friedman keeps pointing out, annoying your best player isn’t a good idea. He wouldn’t be the first Swedish captain of the Sens that was rubbed the wrong way by the owner.

There`s a lot to be said re the chance of injury playing in the Olympics...............HOWEVER....I wonder openly if Melnyk and the boys club have the same feelings about NHL star players playing in the World Cup of Hockey that funnel money directly to the NHL. I`m guessing not a peep would be heard if these owners were making the same money off the Olympics that they do off the WCOH. To say it best....."Rich man speak with forked tongue". Every excuse/reason not to play in the Olympics should hold true for the WCOH but we never hear squat from the owners when they are the ones reaping rewards from the stars of the NHL and their fans. Why is that I wonder????

All these owners getting up talking is like rubbing salt in the wound....we would all do well to remember the lockout cries and moans of "we`re broke, the players make too much and they want too much term" which was their main reason for locking out players and fans alike. One by one these owners took the podium and cried poverty.........and within 3 hrs of an agreement being made at the table the New Jersey Devils signed Kovalchuck(I think it was) for something like $54 mill over 8 yrs.....and the rest of them followed suit.
The WCOH will not father a dime in the owners pockets if the NHL stars don`t go.....anyone want to bet the NHL allows the stars to go? anyone want to bet the owners will overly care of injuries as long as their the ones making the box office cash?...Like I said Melnyk speaketh with forked tongue.

They will go and the owners will have their palms greased. Myself would like to see undrafted kids get a chance on the big stage. In the past there was some good players that came out of the Olympic program that had great NHL careers. Creates a whole new draft.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Mr Hanky

They will go and the owners will have their palms greased. Myself would like to see undrafted kids get a chance on the big stage. In the past there was some good players that came out of the Olympic program that had great NHL careers. Creates a whole new draft.

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I`m not so sure they are going..............however "greasing the pig" is something the IIOC is quite familiar with LOL

Related as of today......

Cobra......
So Bettman and the owners are interested in promoting hockey business in Asia with the Chinese......yet they don`t want to promote the sport right next door in Korea during the Olympics???? Am I the only one that finds this questionable?? Wonder how much Yen Gary is stuffing in his oversized pockets on this one....probably enough to make the Vegas deal lame in comparison.





Chinese companies and entrepreneurs have poured billions of dollars into buying soccer clubs across Europe. Now, those companies are turning to the sport that is sometimes referred to in China as “soccer on ice,” at a moment the NHL is readying a major new push into the world’s most populous country.
Groups of Chinese buyers have begun talks with advisers in Beijing and elsewhere, discussing NHL clubs that might accept an initial investment. Though such investments can take time to assemble, at least one buying group has got close enough to discuss financial terms for a potential purchase.
“They’re very much in the market, and trying to complete a transaction,” said Alexander Jarvis, chief executive of Blackbridge Cross Borders, a company known for its deal-making expertise, and which has connected Chinese money with European soccer clubs. In recent months, he has also spoken with several groups about investing in the NHL.
There is interest on both sides of the Pacific to create closer ties as the NHL tries to expand its footprint beyond North America and Chinese authorities look to the NHL for its expertise in helping them develop a hockey culture and trying to popularize the sport in China ahead of the 2022 Beijing Winter Games.
Chinese president Xi Jinping is widely believed to be a hockey fan, his ardour for the sport second only to soccer. Another Asian Olympics next year, the Pyeongchang Games in South Korea, has further fuelled a desire in China to achieve winter sports glory. The Chinese are hoping a trickle-down affect will help create a stronger national hockey team that won’t be embarrassed during the Olympics.
As a result, hockey has vaulted into a new position of national prominence in China, a country that does not have the equivalent of a Yao Ming to spread the sport’s gospel. Yao, a former Chinese and NBA star, is often credited for the boom in basketball’s growth in China.
NHL officials are finalizing details for a pair of September exhibition games between the Vancouver Canucks and Los Angeles Kings in Beijing and Shanghai. Commissioner Gary Bettman is planning a trip to Beijing later this month to announce the games, which will fit with a broader effort to increase both Chinese corporate sponsorship and interest in hockey, and may one day even result in the NHL helping the Chinese set up its own league.
“Our understanding is, they’re looking at building hundreds of rinks and arenas and looking for ways to introduce the game to people throughout the country – and that’s something we’ve been interested in exploring at all levels in the game,” Bettman said.
“The more interesting play, which they’re not ready for yet, is the creation of an indigenous Chinese league that we could use our resources to set up and launch. It’s an exciting, interesting opportunity that, based on the sheer magnitude of the market, can’t be and shouldn’t be ignored.”
In China, local government functionaries and corporate titans alike believe they can help hockey grow in part by acquiring ownership in a North American team whose skill, savvy and branding can be used to improve hockey back home.
Chinese buyers are looking for high-performing teams that can provide a return on investment, while knowing that the Original Six are likely too sacred to touch. Instead, they have trained their sights on clubs such as the Dallas Stars, San Jose Sharks and Carolina Hurricanes.
“The stars are in line,” said Peter Schloss, managing partner at CastleHill Partners Ltd., a Beijing-based merchant bank that specializes in media, sports and entertainment.
“We’ve been approached frequently by potential Chinese buyers of all or parts of NHL franchises,” he said. “If there’s a willing seller on the NHL side, there are willing buyers in China. That’s a certainty.”

Bettman in China..........good spot for him.......keep him.