Quote:
Originally Posted by iggy_oi
I don't think that is the biggest reason. My reasoning being that had it actually been that big of an issue I don't believe the league would never have offered to let the players go under any circumstances. IMO the league making the offer to allow Olympic participation in exchange for an extension of the CBA with no changes to anything else like escrow really speaks volumes to how indifferent the NHL is to the "hardship" that the Olympics has on the season.
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I dont think thats true at all.
When the IOC/IIHF covered Lodging, Travel and Insurance it was a crappy deal for the NHL, when they abandoned that and told the NHL to pay for it themselves its easy to see why the League told them to pound sand.
They thought they could away with raking the NHL over the coals, when the League called their bluff they reverted back to the original terrible deal and by then it was too late.
It has little to do with 'hardship' its just not enough payoff in regards to the risk.
Go and look at those Olympic teams and add up the NHL Salaries, they're enormous.
I think it was really easy for the NHL to walk away from these Olympics.