Do you care that the NHL isn't going to the olympics

[blood gin]

6 times in 25 years. that's how often. for all that investement, the return has been nada

and right now I suspect that a very very small minority of non hockey fans could pick TJ oshie out of a lineup or even guess what team he plays for in the NHL. The fact that the NHL is contractually prevented from showing TJ oshie scoring those goals as a tie in to help promote the game might have something to do with it.

in the plan is to get the country all lathered up about hockey players 14 days every 4 years and not a day in between, that's a pretty crappy way to run a league.

I bet right now more people remember that bob costas got pink eye than TJ oshies shootout.

I don't. I totally forgot Costas was there

I remember the Oshie goals. And Crosby in 2010, and Haseks mastery in 1998 (Gretz on the bench) the epic 2002 games. Lots of great olympic memories that result in lifelong hockey fans being minted around the globe.

 

[blood gin]

Fwiw I do like the nationalistic aspect of it. Love how everyone unites under their native flags and plays with this ferocious passion.

 

[sandysan]

I don't. I totally forgot Costas was there

I remember the Oshie goals. And Crosby in 2010, and Haseks mastery in 1998 (Gretz on the bench) the epic 2002 games. Lots of great olympic memories that result in lifelong hockey fans being minted around the globe.

and by the fact that you post here, you are a hockey fan. the idea is to get people who didnt previously watch hockey to do so. that's hard for the nhl to do when they can't use a second of the televised footage.

 

[Analyst365]

People would rather react to their emotions that actually think.

Imagine, I want to build an office tower. I will provide the land a building materials.
You: will build the building which included supplying all the labour and insurance costs. For that you get to say you built it.
I: will reap all the financial rewards.

How dare you say "No."

Why don't you think a bit about the lost opportunity to market your entertainment entity to an audience of 1.8 billion people.

It's not the same as building an outhouse.

 

[sandysan]

Why don't you think a bit about the lost opportunity to market your entertainment entity to an audience of 1.8 billion people.

It's not the same as building an outhouse.

because they are contractually prevented from using that footage to market the league ? How about that ? and they have done if for more than two decades and it hasn't helped at all. there is that as well.

 

[Pierce Hawthorne]

Yes, it's absolutely fantastic that they aren't going.


Easily prefer to watch the best players in the world playing NHL hockey instead of watching Olympic hockey for 2 weeks.


I just wish the NHL would stop going all together.

 

[Raymoondo]

LMAO. But it's all so LAME. It's embarrassing to have to watch opening & closing ceremonies. It sucks to watch steroid-loaded "amateur" athletes collecting medals and standing on podiums and listening to idiotic national anthems for no good reason. I'm not into the fakeness of it all......sorry. You might enjoy obvious propaganda, but some of us can see through it all, for the farce that it is. It's a complete & utter waste of money and resources. It's mindless.

And then to have millionaire, professional hockey players, playing a watered down version of a good game..........um, no thanks.

Let's stop all this crap and have our governments pump that money back into their own countries and build shelters and fight cancer and feed their citizens instead.

Wow please enlighten me on this level of knowledge that you hold superior to every other fool that dares to enjoy watching sports once every four years.

You know what else the Olympics does? The Olympics draws tourism to the country, interest in various sports, and recognition/pride for the winners and the country hosting it. You continue judging something that the vast majority of the world enjoys though.

 

[LightningStorm]

Disappointed, but in the end I like the World Cup of Hockey better, since it's in the offseason. Just get rid of those stupid gimmick teams in 2020, otherwise McDavid and Matthews will have to play with NA U23 again.

 

[sandysan]

Wow please enlighten me on this level of knowledge that you hold superior to every other fool that dares to enjoy watching sports once every four years.

You know what else the Olympics does? The Olympics draws tourism to the country, interest in various sports, and recognition/pride for the winners and the country hosting it. You continue judging something that the vast majority of the world enjoys though.

You forgot nearly bankrupt countries. Athens was in 2004 look for pictures of the abandoned venues. it's heart breaking. bejing ( 2008) isn't much better.

and outside of atlanta, I think every single olympics has lost money for the host country. I. sure that there are a lot of spectacles that the vast majority of the world would enjoy so long as someone else picks up the bill.

 

[westc2]

Disappointed, but in the end I like the World Cup of Hockey better, since it's in the offseason. Just get rid of those stupid gimmick teams in 2020, otherwise McDavid and Matthews will have to play with NA U23 again.

Keep team Europe. Change team North America to a snub team that gets to select its players from USA and Canada after team USA and Canada have selected their initial rosters. Add a rule that says USA and Canada must have at least 7 players represented in their lineup(to keep it from being like 18 Canadians and 2 Americans). Allow team USA and Canada to select players of any age.

National Pride doesn't really matter as much in the world cup of hockey...(that WAS the Olympic's job)....so a team Europe and a team North America (snub version) would be fine.

 

[David Bruce Banner]

Couldn't care less.

I'm not a fan of the Olympics and I'd rather watch the NHL without interruption.

 

[MattMartin]

Possible the worst idea ever. Shutting down your regular season for 3 weeks is always smart. Oh, and then you need to play a bunch of 4 in 7 and back - back games to make up for the lost time. Sounds just grand. I understand Canadian fans loving it because they win it a majority of times. I love watching it as well BUT you just can't and shouldn't do it for reasons I stated above.

 

[Ace Card Bedard]

No, I don't care anymore especially with Russia being out.

 

[sandysan]

No, I don't care anymore especially with Russia being out.

no love for the OAR's ? even if they win ?

 

[GodEmperor]

2014 Olympics Injuries:

Tavares - knee, done for year
Zetterberg - back, done for year
Barkov - knee, 4-6 weeks
Zuccarello - broken hand, 3-4 weeks
Kopecky - concussion
Paul Martin - broken hand, 4-6 weeks

Non impact injuries, the Isles were still fairly trash and wouldn't have done anything with Tavares regardless. As other people have noted Zetterberg had issues before that and the rest aren't big names (Barkov wasn't as good as he is today and Panthers were hardly a force).

People do realize that nothing stops a star from being injured in regular games right?

 

[GodEmperor]

so a big fan of the world cup of hockey I presume ?

It's not the same thing and especially with that gimmick team they had last year.

Also EVERYONE KNOWS it's not the same thing, including the players.

 

[LightningStorm]

Keep team Europe. Change team North America to a snub team that gets to select its players from USA and Canada after team USA and Canada have selected their initial rosters. Add a rule that says USA and Canada must have at least 7 players represented in their lineup(to keep it from being like 18 Canadians and 2 Americans). Allow team USA and Canada to select players of any age.

National Pride doesn't really matter as much in the world cup of hockey...(that WAS the Olympic's job)....so a team Europe and a team North America (snub version) would be fine.

While I could live with this and would certainly like this better than what we had at the 2016 WCH, I could see players not being interested in playing for the snub team. Also, I do think the WCH would have National Pride. After all, before the NHL participated in the Olympics, it was the premier International tournament, along with it's predecessors (Summit Series and Canada Cup). Plus I think the quality of play would be better with it being in the offseason than the middle of the season.

 

[sandysan]

It's not the same thing and especially with that gimmick team they had last year.

Also EVERYONE KNOWS it's not the same thing, including the players.

you are 100% right. if the appeal is that its a best on best tournament, then tournament A with the best players is held up as the gold standard and tournament B with the same players is a gimmick.

just wondering, you think that players in the canada cup/world cup were half assing it because it wasn't the olympics ?

and the gimmick teams were likely a one off, and coincidentally one of the better surprises of the tourney. and if you want to see best on best going forward, you better start warming up to the world cup becuase its going to be your only choice going forward.

 

[GodEmperor]

you are 100% right. if the appeal is that its a best on best tournament, then tournament A with the best players is held up as the gold standard and tournament B with the same players is a gimmick.

just wondering, you think that players in the canada cup/world cup were half assing it because it wasn't the olympics ?

and the gimmick teams were likely a one off, and coincidentally one of the better surprises of the tourney. and if you want to see best on best going forward, you better start warming up to the world cup becuase its going to be your only choice going forward.

I liked the gimmick team, but it's just not conducive to the spirit of a nationalist rivalry is all.

I don't think they're half assing it, I just think in the back of their minds, it's just like "whatever, cool" whereas the Olympics are really a potentially once in a lifetime opportunity to do something special not just for yourself, but for your country.

Hockey is God in Canada and taking away the Olympics is like destroying the Vatican City, sure you still have the scripture (regular games and playoffs), but you're definitely missing something that plays a huge role.

 

[CornKicker]

coles notes

NHL players should be there 100% it sucks they aren't - Canadians
Id rather watch the nhl than the stupid Olympics - Americans

 

[Canadian Finn]

nah, we have a few junior business execs here in Canada that share the above "merican" view.

but what real business people learn (you know, who actually work in business), is that without your product/brand, you have no business.

In this case, the product is the sport of "hockey". Growing the sport of hockey is in every owners interest.

but if "pure numbers" defining profit are not clearly evident - and immediately, some junior execs feel there is no value.

 

[HowDareYou]

I'm American and I care . . .

 

[Canadian Finn]

Many of my American friends also care. Especially those I work with from Western New York.

 

[KingsFan7824]

People do realize that nothing stops a star from being injured in regular games right?

It's a regular game though. People also just want the pre-season to be over, with no injuries, because the games don't count.

An American Islanders fan gets nothing out of the Olympics if Canada wins gold, and Tavares gets hurt. More likely than not even more importantly, the Islanders owner gets nothing if Canada wins the gold and Tavares gets hurt. He does still have pay Tavares, even though he got hurt playing in a jersey that doesn't have the Islanders logo on it. It is true that the Islanders owner agreed to let Tavares go play, so he took the risk of his employee getting hurt outside of the job he's paid to do, but this time the collective ownership of the NHL said no.

 

[Canadian Finn]

what about the entertainment and growth of the sport by having Tavares play on a world stage ?

I get it. That entertainment doesn't provide an immediate, black and white, dollar return. Therefore, it has no value, correct?