The National Hockey League (NHL) in the coming days will announce the final decision on the performance of the players at the 2022 Olympics, which will be held in February in Beijing. But it is already clear that the world's leading players are unlikely to go to China.

The league must decide on the issue of participation before January 10, otherwise it will have to pay a serious penalty. The podcast Twitter account of former league players Ryan Whitney and Paul Bissonnett says that the decision has already been taken. At the same time, ESPN notes that there is no final decision yet, but the arrival of hockey stars in Beijing is unlikely. In turn, insiders from the Canadian sports TV channel TSN reported that the chances of a trip to China are zero.

And the President of the International Ice Hockey Federation Luc Tardiff at the International Ice Hockey Forum held last week in Moscow did not hide the fact that everything is going to the Olympic tournament without NHL players. According to him, the international federation "needs to work out a plan B". “The coronavirus is likely to affect the NHL's decision to participate in the Olympics. But I am still an optimist, ”said the head of the IIHF.

Against the background of these reports, the NHL issued a press release stating that the clubs and the union are still discussing the issue and will announce a decision soon.

Without Ronaldo on New Years. How the sport was on the verge of a new lockdown Football

NHL suffers the most

The NHL is currently in the worst position of any major sports league in the world. To date, due to the coronavirus, 27 matches have been postponed, and 114 players, 41 club employees, 13 referees / officials are in quarantine. And if a large number of unvaccinated players is indicated as one of the reasons for the outbreak in the English Premier League (19% refused, 13% received only one vaccination), then such conclusions are inappropriate in relation to what is happening in the NHL. A month before the start of the season, the number of vaccinated people reached 99% of those vaccinated with two-component drugs.

Due to the current situation, the number of clubs that have suspended the season has reached seven. The Detroit Red Wings and Toronto Maple Leafs have joined the Boston Bruins, Nashville Predators, Calgary Flames, Colorado Avalanches and Florida Panthers. The record holder for the number of players who passed positive tests is Calgary - 19.

In Canada, unlike the United States, they returned to the practice of spectator quotas (no more than 50%), and the stands of the Montreal home arena were completely closed. Due to the current situation in the NHL, all games between teams from the USA and Canada were postponed indefinitely.

The Ice Hockey Federation assessed the likelihood of NHL players participating in the Hockey Olympics

Why NHL stars don't want to go to the Olympics

The coronavirus has seriously affected the regular season schedule. And the participation of players in the Olympics will create even more problems when drawing up the calendar for the rest of the season, because in this case the league will have to take a three-week break. However, according to NHL commissioner Gary Bettman, the league will not have the final say, but the players.

But hockey players also doubt the expediency of the trip, since in the case of a positive test for COVID, you can be in a five-week quarantine in Beijing and skip about a month after the season resumes. In accordance with Chinese law, only two subsequent negative COVID tests at intervals of no more than 24 hours will be exempted from mandatory quarantine.

"Obviously, this is alarming," CBC quotes the league's top scorer in recent years, Conor McDavid. “At first, no one talked about it, and then there is information about three to five weeks of quarantine.”

"I'm still the guy who wants to play in the Olympics," added the Edmonton forward. "But we also want to make sure it's safe for everyone."

NHL players will miss the Olympics due to coronavirus. Online Football

Toronto captain John Tavares is also concerned about the risk of being quarantined for five weeks. “This is a very long time,” Yahoo is quoted as saying of the 2014 Olympic champion in the Canadian national team.

Tavares admitted that the threat of three to five weeks of quarantine discouraged many players from participating in the Olympics. “We want to go to the Olympics in a good mood,” Tavares said. "You should feel comfortable, not think about the threat hanging over you all the time."

Vegas Golden Knights defender Alex Pietrangelo is one of Canada's top three untouchables for the Games. According to him, the threat of a five-week quarantine made people think about the expediency of the trip. “It's a very long time away from family,” he said. “I'm not going to make a decision until we get all the answers. We will make a collegial decision when we have all the information. "

bbabo.Net