Winners and Losers From No NHL Olympic Participation

What has been floating around the rumour mill for weeks seem to finally have been put to bed as the NHL and NHLPA have reportedly reached an agreement that will see  the Toronto Maple Leafs and other NHL players skip the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics.

The NHL Made it official yesterday.  While this is probably good news for the Toronto Maple Leafs, there are others who won’t be so happy.

In the past few days many of the game’s biggest stars publicly voiced an opinion on the Olympics – which, if you pay attention to enough hockey interviews, is a rarity in of itself.

Just last week Connor McDavid mentioned that the potential three to five week quarantine period in China was “unsettling” but still kept himself in the running for participation, if it were to happen.

Sean O’Leary of TheScore wrote about how Sidney Crosby was “bummed his chances of representing his country at the Olympics for a third time appear to be dwindling”.

This comes as the NHL has hit a mini pause on the season as Omicron has swept through the United States and Canada and a number of teams, the Toronto Maple Leafs included, have lengthy COVID absentee lists.

While it is hardly a surprise considering the rising COVID case numbers and the new Omicron variant, it is still a massive blow for a number of people and industries. However it is not all bad news for parties involved. Here are the Winners and Losers from the NHL deciding to not send players for the Winter Games.