The National Hockey League is in a state of flux regarding the participation of their players and coaches in the 2022 Olympic Games in Beijing. They currently have two schedules prepared depending on what they decide. At the top of their list of concerns is the uncompensated risk of their players with the John Tavares knee injury in Sochi lingering in the minds of every brain trust in the league. That injury took Tavares out for the rest of the season and playoffs. The Islanders chances of a Cup that year ended before the stretch drive.

On Monday August 9, Las Vegas Head Coach Peter DeBoer was chosen as an Assistant Coach for Team Canada’s Olympic team.

For Team Canada, Mark Stone and Shea Theodore have strong chances to make the squad. Stone would need to be injured to not play in Beijing. The same goes for Alex Pietrangelo.

William Karlsson has a decent shot at making the Swedish Olympic roster. Starting goalie, Robin Lehner, has very solid chance of backing up Jacob Markstrom in what would be a gargantuan goaltending tandem. He might even be starter with Markstrom’s tendency to get injured.

Patches and Tuch have good odds to suit up for the United States. Both need to be healthy though, which is something those two have been battling. Tuch is on LTIR until late January after getting shoulder surgery. Max Pacioretty missed time in the playoffs, but put up decent numbers despite playing through injury.

Mattias Janmark and Evgenii Dadonov also have a small chance of playing for their respective Olympic squads.

Taking a summary of the locks that is:

1st line RW
1st line LW
2nd line Center
#1 Defenseman
#2 Defenseman
#1 Goalie

Jonathan Marchessault aside, that is the entire core of the team.

The Vegas Golden Knights have made the playoffs for the last four years. Playing a total of 55 post-season games in that time.

Last playoffs we saw the Knights run out of gas after two gruelling matchups against the Wild and the Avalanche. By the time the series against the Canadiens began the entire roster (Nicolas Roy notwithstanding) was completely gassed.

What I am trying to say is that players on this team have to take a look in the mirror and make a decision.

Can they afford to fly to Beijing and play an extra tournament in the middle of the season? It’s one of those questions where your heart says “yes” and your brain screams “NO”.

If I’m Bill Foley, paying hundreds of millions in expansion fees, player salaries and operational costs, I’m making it very clear at owners meetings that I don’t want to see NHL players go to the Olympics. I’m making it very clear to Kelly McCrimmon that his opinion is the same as his. The leadership core of the Golden Knights should be thinking the same, but it’s their decision. Guys like Mark Stone and Max Pacioretty need to win their Stanley Cup when they’re still in their prime and their window is closing.

Now you have to look at the situation as a fan of the Golden Knights. You’ll get to watch some great hockey at the Olympics and chances are high you get to see a player from the roster win a Gold medal, but is it worth seeing your team miss out again on a Stanley Cup? No other team gets hit as hard as the Golden Knights by this tournament. Ask fans of any other team, some will tell you they haven’t seen their team in a competitive window for their entire lives. From Bill Foley down to the popcorn vendors, the Golden Knights organization should be against NHL players competing in Beijing.

Thanks for reading,

Trevor Neufeld

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