No decision on if the NHL will send players to the 2018 Olympics is expected, but a Wednesday meeting between the NHL and the International Ice Hockey Federation in New York is the next step in talks.
“Certainly I think we’ll know more coming out of that meeting than I know standing here right now,” NHL deputy commissioner Bill Daly said Monday, according to the Canadian Press.
The meeting is also expected to include USA Hockey and Hockey Canada.
The NHL is unhappy that the International Olympic Committee is not willing to pay travel costs for NHL players to play at the Winter Games, as it has previously.
The NHL is expected to decide by early January if it will participate in a sixth straight Olympics in Pyeongchang. The league is formulating its 2017-18 season schedule.
In the past, the NHL has accommodated a two-week Olympic break into its schedule. For the 2014 Sochi Winter Games, NHL participation wasn’t decided until July 2013.
“I can’t imagine the NHL owners are willing to pay for the privilege of shutting down for 17 days,” NHL commissioner Gary Bettman said Monday, according to the report. “We’re not allowed to be associated with the Olympics. We’re not allowed to promote that we’re there. We’re not allowed to use the trademarks and logos. We’re not allowed to use the footage. The IOC says this is the way we’re going to do it. We’re not going to pay. You can’t do this. You can’t do that. It doesn’t give you the warm and fuzzies.”
In October, IIHF president Rene Fasel said the chances of NHL players going to the 2018 Olympics were 50-50, while Daly felt more negative.
MORE: 2018 Olympic men’s hockey groups set
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