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Report: More Olympics meetings Friday

Team Russia

Friday in New York, members of the International Olympic Committee, International Ice Hockey Federation, NHL, and NHL Players’ Association will meet to discuss participation in the 2014 Sochi Winter Games, according to an ESPN report.

There remains no agreement to send NHL players to Russia next February, and the report doesn’t suggest one will be reached Friday.

A month ago, IIHF president Rene Fasel said he remained “optimistic about the NHL’s participation in Sochi” and hoped an agreement between all the parties could be reached by “latest beginning of May.”

Travel, insurance and hospitality for players’ and owners’ families reportedly remain issues.

The CBC’s Elliotte Friedman had more on the insurance issue today.

For Team Canada alone, Friedman estimates it could cost in the neighborhood of $2.1 million to insure all the big NHL contracts.

Who’s going to pay for that?

Chances are, this all gets worked out. The thought of forcing players, especially Russian ones, to decide between going to Sochi and breaching their NHL contracts isn’t one that anyone wants to seriously entertain.

The 2018 Olympics in Pyeongchang may be another story, however.

Unless South Korea all of a sudden gets really good at hockey.