SERAVALLI: NHL says participation in 2022 Beijing Olympics is on thin ice

TAMPA, Fla. — NHL commissioner Gary Bettman said Monday the league plans to reveal the 2021-22 regular season schedule some time between the end of the Stanley Cup Final and the Draft on July 23.

He just doesn’t know whether it will include a three-week break next February for NHL players to skate in the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing. In fact, drafts with each scenario are being prepped right now by scheduler matrix wunderkind Steve Hatze Petros.

“That’s causing us, in addition to consternation, a fair number of issues relative to getting next season up and running,” Bettman said at his annual State of the League press conference at the Stanley Cup Final prior to Game 1. “It’s reaching the point that we’re getting concerned about the impact on the season because of the uncertainty.”

The NHL originally set a deadline of “late May” to reach a resolution on the outstanding issues.

And in mid-May, that all seemed to be a formality. There was progress made by the stakeholders involved, including the International Olympic Committee (IOC), the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF), the NHL, and the NHL Players’ Association.

The two sides had not yet then begun to draft a formal agreement, but the IOC verbally committed to providing funding for previous sticking points that caused the NHL to sit out of the 2018 Olympics in Pyeongchang, such as charter travel and costs for insuring player contracts against injury.

Six weeks later, there is still much work to be done. The opening ceremonies in Beijing are just 221 days away – a little more than seven months.

Deputy commissioner Bill Daly said “all parties are engaged” in discussions. But sources close to the situation suggested the IOC’s more formal funding offer fell short of expectations. Other important ‘material’ issues such as, COVID-19 related protocols and restrictions, marketing, plus the use of logos and branding and rights to footage still remain outstanding. The fact that NBC, the flagship home of the Olympics in the United States, is no longer the NHL’s U.S. television rightsholder has complicated some of those discussions.

Maybe the biggest hang-up is that with the delayed Tokyo Olympics set to get underway next month, the Winter Olympics are on the back burner for the IOC.

“With the future Games in Beijing and continued uncertainty with the virus and the Games being halfway around the world, it’s not necessarily an ideal Games to elect to go to,” Daly said.

”Having said that, we negotiated in good faith with the Players’ Association last summer. We agreed that if the conditions were right and we could reach an agreement on all the material issues, that we would commit and support going to the Olympics. That remains our position. But as Gary alluded to, time is running very short. So hopefully we’ll have some resolution soon.”

If NHL players are heading to Beijing, many will leave directly from Las Vegas, where the NHL announced it will host the 2022 All-Star Game at T-Mobile Arena, the home of the Golden Knights. The All-Star Game will be part of the schedule no matter whether there is Olympic participation or not.

Bettman also announced the 2022 Winter Classic will be hosted by the Minnesota Wild at Target Field, the Nashville Predators will host the Tampa Bay Lightning in a Stadium Series game at the home of the Tennessee Titans, and there will be a reprisal of the Heritage Classic at a to-be-determined outdoor Canadian venue. The Montreal Canadiens will also host the 2022 NHL Draft at the Bell Centre after COVID-19 caused its cancellation in 2020, and the 2021 version next month will be conducted virtually.

The 2021-22 NHL season is tentatively scheduled to get underway on Oct. 12-13, with training camps likely to open in late September.