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After momentum began building over the last few weeks with an increasing number of players testing positive for COVID and games getting postponed, the NHL and NHLPA announced jointly on Wednesday that players would not be going to the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing.
“Unfortunately, given the profound disruption to the NHL’s regular-season schedule caused by recent COVID-related events -- 50 games already have been postponed through Dec. 23 -- Olympic participation is no longer feasible.… NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman said in a press release. “We certainly acknowledge and appreciate the efforts made by the International Olympic Committee, the International Ice Hockey Federation, and the Beijing Organizing Committee to host NHL Players but current circumstances have made it impossible for us to proceed despite everyone’s best efforts.…
With a number of games needing to be re-scheduled, the NHL will use some of the three-week window reserved for an Olympic break to play or shift scheduled games. The Toronto Maple Leafs have four games to make up (Calgary, Vancouver, and Seattle on the road, St. Louis at home) and that number may increase based on the large number of positive COVID cases they currently have.
In spite of the disappointment of not seeing the world’s top talent playing in a best-on-best tournament, Toronto may be a team that benefits significantly from NHL players not going to the Olympics.
The Leafs could have had as many as eight players (Auston Matthews, Jack Campbell - USA, Mitch Marner, John Tavares, Morgan Rielly -CAN, William Nylander - SWE, Ondrej Kase, Petr Mrazek – CZE) potentially going, which would have meant the core of their club traveling halfway across the world to play in a fast-paced, high-energy tournament with national pride on the line.
After returning from China, Toronto would have been scheduled to play 32 games in the final 66 days of the regular season before the start of the Stanley Cup Playoffs. Had they played in Beijing, the Leafs important core players would have been exposed to injury or possibly quarantine at the hands of the Chinese government for up to five weeks. They would have not been rested and ready for the important stretch run and postseason that may have the future of Brendan Shanahan, Kyle Dubas, and a number of players in their hands.
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