OlymPicks: The Clock Is Ticking for the NHL to Skate Into Beijing 2022

In OlymPicks, we highlight news, gossip, and developments regarding the buildup to Beijing's 2022 Winter Olympics.

Don't give up yet, Beijing stick-and-puck fanatics! Despite the fact that National Hockey League president Gary Bettman has effectively been holding some of the sport's biggest stars (such as Sidney Crosby, pictured above) ransom, and will not allow them to participate in the Beijing 2022 Winter Games until certain deal conditions are approved (read more on that here), change may be in the air. 

International Ice Hockey Federation president Rene Fasel is holding out hope that a last-minute deal can be reached with the ever reticent NHL in time for the games. “I had a short discussion with [NHL players' association Executive Director] Don Fehr yesterday,” Fasel told winter sports news outlet Around the Rings last week, a positive sign that both sides are at least still talking, rather than letting relations freeze entirely.

“I know that Gary Bettman hates deadlines, but on the other side, we have to prepare the Games." Fasel continued. "We thought about putting a deadline, maybe September 2020... So I would say that in September we will know more about the participation of NHL players in Beijing.”

While that leaves some room for cautious optimism, hockey fans shouldn’t hold their breath. After all, Bettman is a public supporter of holding NHL preseason games in Beijing and Shanghai. While these games have become a boon for China’s nascent hockey set, experts say that their true purpose is to help the NHL sidestep the Olympics in order to tap into the vast, fresh Chinese market.

Only time will tell if this strategy will pay off, and in the meantime, the Games will be able to carry on without the league. As Inside the Games reported in late May the International Ice Hockey Federation listed the top top-eight nations that have already qualified for the 2022 Olympics: Canada, Russia, Finland, Sweden, Czech Republic, the United States, Germany, and Switzerland.

With only twelve spots available in total, that means that a record 37 countries "will battle it out for the three remaining spots at Beijing 2022.” The battling begins Nov 2019, with qualification tournaments kicking off first in Luxembourg and then Hong Kong, with more to come in other cities around the world well into the new year. While the NHL players will be sorely missed, maybe the eager newbies will win over viewers vexed by the major league's lack of participation, which might finally be enough to get Bettman and co. onboard. 

READ: Why NHL's 2022 Snub Could Rub Hockey's Biggest Player the Wrong Way

Photo: Sports Net