According to The Daily Faceoff’s Frank Seravalli, NHL players will not go to the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing.

No surprise, but #NHL + #NHLPA are in agreement that NHL players will not participate in #Beijing2022 Olympics. Once they notify IOC, an official announcement will come – perhaps as soon as today, maybe later this week.

Now, question is: Will 2022 Olympics be postponed to 2023? https://t.co/8aR0aKmqNl

— Frank Seravalli (@frank_seravalli) December 21, 2021

The players pushed hard to participate in the tournament during the last CBA negotiation after they did not in 2018. However, the two sides agreed that players would participate in 2026.

37 NHL games got postponed before the league ultimately decided to pause play for five days after Tuesday night’s Washington Capitals-Philadelphia Flyers and Tampa Bay Lightning-Vegas Golden Knights games due to COVID-19. More than 100 players are currently in COVID-19 protocol.

Teams will be allowed to reopen facilities on Sunday and games will resume on Monday.

The 2022 NHL All-Star Game, which is scheduled for Saturday, February 4 at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, in still on as of Tuesday. The league plans to use the time frame that was carved out of the schedule for the Olympics to make up postponed games.

The Colorado Avalanche, Columbus Blue Jackets, Montreal Canadiens, Toronto Maple Leafs, Boston Bruins, Nashville Predators, Calgary Flames, Colorado Avalanche, and Florida Panthers all shut down this month through December 26 due to COVID-19.

If the NHL opted to send their players to China, a player who tested positive would have been required to quarantine there for five weeks.

By Harrison Brown