Comments on: No Olympic decision this week, says NHL deputy commish Daly

By: stakex

stakex — Fri, 15 Feb 2013 01:16:33 +0000

You are making the same mistakes that people made during the lockout…. that Bettman is a dictator who calls all the shots. Thats so wrong its not even funny. Hes a puppet who does exactlly what the owners tell him. Its not Bettman who has an issue with the Olympics (or if he does, it has nothing to do with the delay), its some of the owners.

Now to be clear, I’m all for the NHL players going to the Olympics. I probably won’t watch them anyway, but I deffinatly won’t watch if the NHL players don’t go. I however, am not a team owner… and I can also understand why some of the owners, GMs, and coaches are against it.

I mean think about… I’ll use Crosby as an example: Pittsburgh has pretty much built their team around the guy, and they have commited to pay him a truck load of money over the next decade. He has also caused the value of the team to go up by tens of millions of dollars. Say he goes to the Olympics and gets a concussion that ends his career…. the damage that will do to the Pens is amazing. They lose their best player, the teams value drops, and they would have to completely redesign their team. Not to mention teams with star filled rosters will have a large part of their team playing a bunch of extra games that could matter come May/June.

So there is certainly an understandable reason why some owners/coaches/GMs might be against NHL players going to the Olympics.

By: ethanmacleod1685

ethanmacleod1685 — Fri, 15 Feb 2013 00:33:57 +0000

Hurry up and get the deal done so I can buy some tickets!

By: jasol20

jasol20 — Thu, 14 Feb 2013 22:14:45 +0000

It doesn’t help to generate interest on a grand scale if the best in the world won’t be playing. Even in terms of North America, the NHL should be trying to gain back some ground lost in the lockout. The olympics are a great way to do this, particularly when the whole country gets behind a team, and then realizes they can watch those same great players right at home. After a successful run by Team USA on the international stage, hockey always generates a little more fandom and buzz at home. It may not last long, but it would be a great way to re-generate some lost interest.

By: danaking

danaking — Thu, 14 Feb 2013 22:02:20 +0000

Bettman always claims to want to increase the NHL’s footprint as an international sport, going so far as to play regular-season games in Europe. The Olympics, for all their faults, are the ultimate international stage. Never mind the time zones don’t work well for North American television. the rest of the world might get jazzed.

It amazes me how such short-sighted men can rise to position of power.