OT: Questions about the NHL withdrawal from Olympics
I'll try to keep this quick:
Is there any record of how the individual team owners voted regarding the league's Olympic participation? I know most anger is directed at Bettman, but he's just the front man. How did the Illitch's vote?
Also, there doesn't seem to be much outrage here in the US since 1) we typically are competitive but not dominant in hockey even with the NHL players and 2) hockey is not a major driver of professional sports here as compared to FB and BB. I'm curious if there is more widespread outrage in Canada, where they nearly always compete for gold in hockey and win very often (and have no other professional sports seriously challenging for media dominance annually). Tried to find some of this online, but I know there are enough knowledgeable board members to get a decent answer here. Thanks!
Edited for clarity.
February 17th, 2018 at 1:20 PM ^
A quick glance at the medal count shows Canada with five each of gold, silver and bronze. The USA has only 9 medals overall. Canada must be competing well in some other events...
February 17th, 2018 at 1:24 PM ^
I did a search on Twitter to let my .02 be known to the NHL and the things I came across lead me to believe that the Canadians are less than impressed with Bettman than we, the USA, may even be.
February 17th, 2018 at 1:29 PM ^
February 17th, 2018 at 2:13 PM ^
I see your point a little more clearly now.
February 17th, 2018 at 1:37 PM ^
"have no other sports seriously challenging for dominance."
February 17th, 2018 at 3:26 PM ^
February 17th, 2018 at 7:37 PM ^
My sister lives in Calgary and when we vist with her husband's parents, they can break down all the professional curlers. It's defnitely a conversation where I won't have much to add!
That said, I don't think can really make a full-time living on it I don't think, based on the purse sizes of $5-125K (CDN) I see over at http://www.worldcurl.com/schedule.php?et=21
February 17th, 2018 at 1:38 PM ^
https://amp.usatoday.com/amp/344314002
https://www.thrillist.com/amphtml/news/nation/why-no-nhl-players-in-win…
The statement put out by the NHLPA should tell you exactly how the players felt
TL;DR. The NHL blames the IOC for not covering some costs and the players for not giving concessions. They are full of shit (the NHL)
February 17th, 2018 at 1:48 PM ^
February 17th, 2018 at 1:50 PM ^
There are no circumstances that would lead me to believe that a properly conducted survey would yield those results. 73% of Americans against NHL participation in the olympics? That dog don’t hunt.
February 17th, 2018 at 3:12 PM ^
Totally agree. Those polls are complete BS. The Olympic Hockey Tournament (with the NHL participating) is the greatest hockey tournament in the world on the biggest and brightest stage. NHL fans want to see their favorite players competing. Those bogus polls anger me.
February 17th, 2018 at 6:24 PM ^
February 17th, 2018 at 7:16 PM ^
February 17th, 2018 at 7:19 PM ^
He said "in the world." There's no way as many people in this world are more interested in the Stanley Cup playoffs than Olympic hockey games. I'd bet 75% of the people in the world couldn't tell you what sport the Stanley Cup was awarded in. I'd bet 95% could tell you what sport the Olympic gold in hocky is about (the other 5% being Buckeye fans and Bushmen).
February 17th, 2018 at 7:54 PM ^
The absolute greatest trophy tournament in ALL of major sports. Even as you say Clarence, "it's not debatable', agreed,, hands down nothing compares. I love the Olympics, summer and winter(moreso winter) but when it comes to hockey on any stage, give me the Stanely Cup all day long!!
February 17th, 2018 at 8:30 PM ^
February 17th, 2018 at 9:13 PM ^
They're both big, but I'm confident that if you give players the choice of one or the other, they pick the Stanley Cup every time. Perhaps it's different in Russia, where their hockey culture is intimately intertwined with Olympic tournaments, but not in North America.
It's definitely a big deal, and I'm not at all pleased that the NHL players aren't playing, but the Stanley Cup is the prize of the sport.
This is basically true of most sports that have a robust structure outside of the Olympics. Olympic gold is always great, but there are higher mountains to climb. In cycling, for example, any racer would choose to win a Tour de France over a gold medal in the road race, and there's little doubt that the reigning gold medalist Greg van Avermaet's greatest win is last year's prestigious monument win in Paris-Roubaix rather than his (great) win in Rio. Carmelo Anthony would trade all of his gold medals for a win in the NBA Finals.
There are other sports where there are real achievements to be had, but where Gold is still the ultimate prize. Swimming and Track are certainly two of those, and I suspect skiing is, as well, though the World Cup circuit is significant enough that a skier can have a great and significant career without medals. There are also sports that would be weak shadows of themselves without the Olympics to drive them (figure skating, gymnastics, ski jumping) and then sports that basically wouldn't exist if they weren't Olympic mainstays (luge/skeleton/bobsled, track cycling). But hockey is not one of those.
February 17th, 2018 at 9:09 PM ^
February 17th, 2018 at 9:33 PM ^
Growing up and playing, my dream was to represent my country and be an Olympian. I just missed the Miracle on Ice but must've seen clips, especially the end, a hundred times and each of them would give me goosebumps and give me tears in my eyes. As the years have grown, watching the full game more times that I can remember and seeing Miracle, that feeling never left me.
Watching the Rangers (grew up and still am a huge fan) win the Cup in '94, it was one of most thrilling moments in sports for me... but, that Gold Medal!
February 17th, 2018 at 1:53 PM ^
I guess that's what the (NHL-commissioned, that's worth pointing out) poll says.
But it doesn't fit what I intuitively expected. Hmmmm.
February 17th, 2018 at 4:47 PM ^
Wait.
So, you're asking me to believe there are NHL fans?
February 17th, 2018 at 2:08 PM ^
The surveys are irrelevant. I hate Bettman with a passion, but he made a very good point about a year ago on national TV when they officially announced the NHL wouldn't participate. He basically said most owners were indifferent on their players going or not. Then a couple players were injured at the Olympics and ended up tanking the playoff run for their NHL team.
On top of that, the IOC refused to pay the costs involved with the injury. Thus, the owners said "why are we doing this?" They basically woke up the indifferent owners to this fact. There was not enough reward from participating in the olympics. It's highly money driven, but I also think they are correct. The spotlight of NHL players in the olympics doesn't translate to gaining NHL fans unless you are a fan regardless.
February 17th, 2018 at 1:50 PM ^
A lot tougher for a team like Slovakia or Swiss to field a dangerous squad without their 8-10 NHL players.
February 17th, 2018 at 1:56 PM ^
Isn't that much tougher for the Slovaks and Swiss? Seems like their players would be at least on par with the NHL-less Americans and Canadiens. They have many players playing in the same leagues as the North American NHL rejects. The Swiss league is one of the best in the world and the Slovakia has a KHL team and easy access for their players to play in the other European leagues.
It seems like if you are losing 8-10 NHL guys while other countries are losing 100+ that tilts the competetive balance in your favor?
February 17th, 2018 at 2:02 PM ^
February 17th, 2018 at 2:09 PM ^
"Dominance" was in reference to what professional sports garner the largest audience in Canada, not how they perform in the Olympics. Basically, more people in Canada are likely to pay attention to hockey news and results than in the US.
February 17th, 2018 at 2:12 PM ^
February 17th, 2018 at 2:16 PM ^
February 17th, 2018 at 8:14 PM ^
In snowboarding and half pipe and did dominate the two sports for awhile. The US dominance in these two sports has diminished in recent years and no longer have a stranglehold on them. The gap has most definitely been narrowed.
February 17th, 2018 at 2:25 PM ^
What? You guys are upset the NHL didn't want to send players to the Olympics? You guys are crazy, who wouldn't rather want to watch a 2pm laugher between the Rangers and Ottawa instead of the best players in the world represent their countries?
/s
#FuckGary
February 17th, 2018 at 2:39 PM ^
February 17th, 2018 at 3:05 PM ^
I certainly would rather watch NHLers in the Olypmics myself, but I'm not sure your argument works. They've done exactly that in the past and it didn't result in significant growth of the sport.
February 17th, 2018 at 3:15 PM ^
February 17th, 2018 at 4:40 PM ^
That's a fair point.
February 17th, 2018 at 9:55 PM ^
February 17th, 2018 at 2:49 PM ^
February 17th, 2018 at 3:06 PM ^
February 17th, 2018 at 4:51 PM ^
interest in it now....Yes I want them to win the gold ...Yes I will watch team USA but thats about it...so for me its a bad idea...
February 17th, 2018 at 5:48 PM ^
February 17th, 2018 at 9:54 PM ^
February 17th, 2018 at 7:21 PM ^
February 17th, 2018 at 9:15 PM ^
Those damned Canadians...
February 17th, 2018 at 8:31 PM ^
February 17th, 2018 at 9:52 PM ^
February 17th, 2018 at 10:26 PM ^
February 18th, 2018 at 10:29 AM ^
Pavel Datsyuk, a long-time Detroit Red Wings mainstay, is a member of the Russian Olympic hockey team. As is Ilya Kovalchuk, a star on the now-defunct Atlanta Thrashers NHL team. Ilya made his presence known during the game against the US, scoring a couple breakaway goals.
It appears Olympic hockey has reverted to the same "men against boys" format that allowed the Ruskis largely to dominate the event until NHL players began to participate. Yes, I remember the 1980 "miracle." Several of the players on that US team went on to extended NHL careers, including Ken Morrow, a Michigan (Flint) native. And the Russian team of that day was considered the equivalent of most any NHL team. But it's been a a long time between "miracles" (1960 Squaw Valley, 1980 Lake Placid) and until more ex-NHLers join the US team that drought will probably continue.
February 18th, 2018 at 1:44 PM ^
I'm not sure why this is controversial. It was never in the NHLs interest to play in the olympics. It's odd to stop your season for two weeks to let a small number of players go play in what is essentially an exhibition tournament run by the IOC. Sure, it's "for your country", but that's really more propaganda than a real incentive when you think about how corrupt the IOC is. It's also not a wildly popular tournament like the world cup, which has been going on for years. This was something that was tried in a few olympics and while it was nice, it also was bad for the NHL teams and their season.
None of the other four sports stop their season for the olympics. If the olympics added football, would the NFL let their players go? Hell no, and that happens in the offseason. The MLB wouldn't stop the season so players could go. The NBA wouldn't do this either, but their olympics happens in the offseason, so they let players go. How many players would leave their team if the NHL was to say players could go, but they would miss two weeks? Probably would lead to a big drop in big names at the olympics.
February 18th, 2018 at 5:20 PM ^
You can't compare the NHL to the other three sports. It attracts a far smaller television audience than they do. I could certainly benefit from the publicity boost of Olympic hockey, and if it wants to market to the Far East, this would certainly be a golden opportunity. But Bettman barely understands the sport he presides over, so I'm not surprised he wouldn't grasp this.