This is sort of how feel.
The problem for me, is its hard to measure what Nagano did internationally for the game. I was 13 years old at the time, and carry the perspective of a Canadian. It would take some international/European insight from an older generation to better measure how much it truly did.
The biggest problem from the leagues/NHLs perspective will always be shutting down for 2.5 weeks or whatever it is, followed by the risk to players (and the teams paying them millions) of injury.
An off season (summer) tournament would make more sense from an injury/risk perspective, as long as the majority of the top players would participate. However I have my doubts as a standalone tournament jusy doesnt have the same "feeling" as being part of the Olympics, and some guys will choose rest or downtime over playing
I haven't been following the politics of the Olympics, the quarantine conditions, etc... so I can't comment on that, or if that really played into the NHL decision.
I sort of take the NHL at face value - the last 2 years have been massively disrupted, and playing a full 82 game schedule with fans in arenas (for the most part) should be priority.
2 years ago the season finished with teams playing unequal amounts of games, and to hockey purists that's just not right. Last year the whole league was realigned for one year with a 56 game schedule.
