Seravalli: NHL players waiting for quarantine clarity from Beijing

The 2022 Olympics in Beijing are only a few months away and we still don’t know if NHL players will be participating.

On Wednesday’s edition of The Daily Faceoff Show, Frank Seravalli provided an update in regards to the NHL and the Olympics. The Players’ Association is waiting for clarity from Beijing on what the measures will be for positive COVID-19 tests before they decide if they’re going to participate.

Seravalli: “I wanted to give everyone a quick Olympic update. Lots of questions as we enter what will be the final month before the NHL can opt-out of sending its players to Beijing. January 10 is the day to do so without financial penalty.

What’s happening behind the scenes at the moment is that the NHLPA is really waiting to canvas players in terms of their interest and willingness to go to the Olympics. They’ve been pretty steadfast to this point, but we’ve seen Robin Lehner speak out earlier in the week with a tweet saying he doesn’t believe it would be good for his mental health.

I think there are other players who have similar reservations, not necessarily about mental health, but just about everything going on right now related to the pandemic. They’re waiting for clarity.

Took long time to make decision with my psychiatrist and family. My well being have too come first and being locked down and not knowing what happens if you test positive is to much of a risk for me. Sweden will have a great team and Markström is a beast.Hope people understand ❤️

— Robin Lehner (@RobinLehner) December 6, 2021

What’s going to happen in the next few days is that the Beijing 2022 updated Olympic playbook is going to come out and it should detail some further quarantine restrictions and requirements should you test positive for COVID-19 while in China.

At the moment, the understanding is that players and/or staff would need to quarantine in China and in isolation for three weeks with a positive test. The question that NHL players have asked and the NHLPA is hoping to get an answer for, is can you be medically evacuated? Can you leave the country on a charter if you test positive? Or do you have to stay in China for that isolation?

The playbook is expected to update that in the coming days and once that information comes back to the PA, then they’re going to canvas the players on the long-list who could be selected and say ‘hey this is where things stand, do you still want to go?’

They’re going to take the temperature of the group and then make a decision moving forward.”

You can watch the full episode here…