Why are there no NHL players in Olympics? Can US league’s ice hockey stars play at Beijing 2022 Winter Games

While the 2022 Winter Olympics opening ceremony took place last Friday (February 4), many preliminary events kicked off in the days prior - including ice hockey.

From last Thursday, Ice Hockey has taken place every day until the tournament concludes on February 20.

The winter sport has become one of the most entertaining in the Olympics and often allows you do watch some of the world’s most talented hockey players, with. many of them coming from the US.

However, those competing in the National Hockey League (NHL) - based in the US - have been forced to sit out of this year’s Olympics.

Why are there no NHL players in Olympics?

The NHL announced that they wouldn’t be allowing their players to compete in the Olympics back in December.

On Wednesday 22 December, the NHL put out a statement saying: “The National Hockey League respects and admires the desire of NHL players to represent their countries and participate in a ‘best on best’ tournament.

“Accordingly, we have waited as long as possible to make this decision while exploring every available option to enable our players to participate in the 2022 Winter Olympic Games.

“Unfortunately, given the profound disruption to the NHL’s regular-season schedule caused by recent COVID-related events — 50 games already have been postponed through Dec. 23 — Olympic participation is no longer feasible.”

The league paused games for an extended holiday break over the Christmas period, citing a number of positive Covid-19 cases due to the omicron variant.

The International Olympic Committee (IOC) responded with the following: “The IOC regrets that the NHL’s schedule has been so heavily impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic that they will no longer be able to release their players to attend the Olympic Winter Games Beijing 2022.

“We know that the players were desperately keen to participate in the Beijing Games, having missed out on PyeongChang 2018, as they were the driving force behind the participation agreement that was reached in September between the league and the NHL Players’ Association.

“We are naturally disappointed for them that they will miss another opportunity to become Olympians.

“Nevertheless, we continue to look forward to the participation of the world’s best hockey players from the other elite ice hockey leagues around the world in Beijing.

“Their performances in PyeongChang achieved a large international broadcast audience and demonstrated the exciting, passionate ice hockey that we can expect, which, as in 2018, will be followed by fans from all around the world.”

A message from the editor:

Thank you for reading. NationalWorld is a new national news brand, produced by a team of journalists, editors, video producers and designers who live and work across the UK. Find out more about who’s who in the team, and our editorial values. We want to start a community among our readers, so please follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, and keep the conversation going. You can also sign up to our email newsletters and get a curated selection of our best reads to your inbox every day.