Morning Skate: Noncommittal

Happy Tuesday, folks. It’s supposed to be sunny(ish) in Boston today.

Do not adjust your monitors.

While the NHL world is abuzz with Seattle Kraken Fever, a little tidbit of news came out from ESPN yesterday too: the NHL is scheduling some time off for the 2022 Olympics.

You may remember that in his pre-Final “state of the league” comments, NHL commissioner Gary Bettman wouldn’t say with certainty whether or not the NHL would let its players go to the Olympics.

While this news report certainly isn’t confirmation, it’s a sign that the league might be planning on letting the players go.

Per that article, the break will be from Feb. 5 through 22, 2022.

It seems like this one boils down to a classic “owners vs. players” dispute: the owners don’t want to disrupt their season with a venture that won’t make them money, and the players want to go represent their countries.

The league already has an All-Star Game scheduled for Las Vegas in (presumably) late January/early February, so we’d have to see how they’d handle multiple disruptions.

If, for argument’s sake, the All-Star Game is around January 30, the league could be looking at more than three full weeks without real game action.

I’m of the opinion that hockey, as a sport, benefits from having its best players on display at the Olympics, but keep in mind I am but a lowly blogger, not a billionaire owner.

Today’s discussion topic

Plan on watching any of the upcoming Summer Olympics? If so, what’s your favorite event?