Gary Bettman and the NHL are wrong for skipping the 2018 Olympics

With no end in sight on the controversy between the NHL and the IOC, it is looking set in stone that Gary Bettman won’t allow the NHL to attend the 2018 Olympics.

The 2018 Olympics is going to be an interesting one for the United States and Canada. With Gary Bettman and the NHL ruling that NHL players cannot attend, the rosters are going to have a very different look to them than in years past.

Canadians will be among some of the most displeased out there, having to hold off on seeing young star Connor McDavid light up Olympic ice. They will now have to rely on AHL players and collegiate-level players abroad.

The U.S. will have to do much of the same. USA Hockey announced that they would be going into the tournament with Tony Granato as the head coach, which might be a smart decision due to his knowledge and experience at the collegiate level.

Still, the 2018 Olympics just won’t be the same without the big names of the NHL. Canada and the USA won’t be the only countries affected either, as multiple different European countries rely heavily on their NHL talent to compete.

These implications on the respective countries rosters is only one negative impact of the decision that Gary Bettman made to forgo the Olympics. A decision that was made partially due to the fact that it would “hurt the NHL monetarily and in viewership,” which was presented with no verifiable statistics to back the claim up.

So why does Gary Bettman continue to stick to his guns on this issue?

The issue is unlikely to have anything to do with NHL viewership or monetary consequences, but rather that Bettman and the NHL want compensation from the IOC for allowing their players to compete. While this may come off as greedy stance to a casual hockey fan, it is an understandable one to take for Bettman.

Allowing your league to stop play for roughly three weeks to have your players risk their well-being in a competitive atmosphere, with no compensation in return, is a difficult pill to swallow for the people at the top of the NHL.

Going in line with the three weeks off, Bettman tried to use that as another point of argument as to why the NHL shouldn’t go, stating the compression of the schedule would be an issue,

"“Not just for the risk of injury, because I see it discussed and reported during the Olympics, but the compression to the regular season is something that concerns us,” Commissioner Bettman said. “We’re hearing complaints now about the five-day break [built into the schedule this season]. While players say they like the five-day break they’re also saying they don’t like the compression that goes along with it, and that’s something that is of great concern to us as well.”"

What Bettman and the league aren’t seeing is the bigger picture. Bettman always talks about the growth of the game, which is obviously a very important thing for the future of the league. So why won’t he swallow his pride, take a hit in the pocketbook for two weeks and just let the league attend the 2018 Olympics?

Allowing the best players in the world to compete in one of the biggest sporting events on earth goes directly in line with growing the game. While you can’t see any immediate benefits, or even quantify them anytime in the next year, growing interest in hockey worldwide is the key to the league continuing its upward trend of growth.

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With the obvious benefits participating brings, it is plain as day why Bettman and the NHL aren’t going. And it goes without saying, Gary Bettman is wrong for barring the NHL players from participating in the 2018 Olympics.