NHL Announces that its players will NOT participate in the 2018 Winter Olympics

fife said:

Indifference71 said:

MayDay10 said:

Indifference71 said:

MayDay10 said:

rival. said:

i'm torn, but leaning towards this being good news. the league shutting down for weeks upon end is ridiculous. not a fan of sending your team's very best to a tourney as competitive as the Olympics where the risk of injury is highly probable.

how do you justify your best going down with a season ending injury in a tournament they didn't have to participate in? tough pill to swallow for the teams making a run for the playoffs.

If it makes you feel better.... think of the games in Turin, Sochi, or even Nagano. Even Salt Lake wasnt that good other than Canada and US ended up in the GMG. Only the Vancouver tournament was good.

I would much rather see the World Cup grow

The World Cup of hockey is a joke. I completely get why owners don't want the players in the Olympics and shutting down the league for 2-3 weeks sucks, but let's not act like this world cup nonsense is going to be a similar competition to the Olympics.

This past world cup wasnt good. Some growing pains. Lots of room for improvement.

However... the 1987 and 1996 world cups were better than any of the 5 NHL- stocked olympics.

I don't remember those world cups, but it's hard for me to see the players or fans (besides Canada) really caring about a preseason tournament. I mean, this past tournament had a North America 23 and under team...what the hell was that??? It's just silly.

to be honest, having a team under 23 was amazing. its get to show the future of the nhl and it amazing players. I didn't think I was going to be a fan of the world cup but after watching 1 game I was hooked but I am aso from Canada so maybe its just in my genes.

Oh yeah, it was cool to see all those young kids playing together. But it's just hard to take an international tournament seriously when one of the teams has guys from US and Canada.

Indifference71 said:

fife said:

Indifference71 said:

MayDay10 said:

Indifference71 said:

MayDay10 said:

rival. said:

i'm torn, but leaning towards this being good news. the league shutting down for weeks upon end is ridiculous. not a fan of sending your team's very best to a tourney as competitive as the Olympics where the risk of injury is highly probable.

how do you justify your best going down with a season ending injury in a tournament they didn't have to participate in? tough pill to swallow for the teams making a run for the playoffs.

If it makes you feel better.... think of the games in Turin, Sochi, or even Nagano. Even Salt Lake wasnt that good other than Canada and US ended up in the GMG. Only the Vancouver tournament was good.

I would much rather see the World Cup grow

The World Cup of hockey is a joke. I completely get why owners don't want the players in the Olympics and shutting down the league for 2-3 weeks sucks, but let's not act like this world cup nonsense is going to be a similar competition to the Olympics.

This past world cup wasnt good. Some growing pains. Lots of room for improvement.

However... the 1987 and 1996 world cups were better than any of the 5 NHL- stocked olympics.

I don't remember those world cups, but it's hard for me to see the players or fans (besides Canada) really caring about a preseason tournament. I mean, this past tournament had a North America 23 and under team...what the hell was that??? It's just silly.

to be honest, having a team under 23 was amazing. its get to show the future of the nhl and it amazing players. I didn't think I was going to be a fan of the world cup but after watching 1 game I was hooked but I am aso from Canada so maybe its just in my genes.

Oh yeah, it was cool to see all those young kids playing together. But it's just hard to take an international tournament seriously when one of the teams has guys from US and Canada.

ok i get it and I agree. i just don't know how you showcase your players if some of your young stars are not playing and the world cup at the end of the day is about selling your players and game. lets be honest, only Canada can have a great under 23 team.

fife said:

HesCalledDyer said:

I like it. The Olympics are supposed to be about amateur athletes. Get the pros out of there!

I agree but the major issue is what do you consider amatuer. in the past especially with hockey, they only considered the NHL professional but now you have so many leagues around the world that the word amatuer has kindof lost in meaning

Yeah, therein lies the issue. What's pro and what's amateur? Compare it with tennis, for example. Tennis players often turn pro at 15 or 16, which I'd consider to be less than amateur for hockey.