Photo: SI
Boston Bruins left-wing Brad Marchand had some choice words after the NHL pulled out of the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing, China due to COVID-19, suggesting that the players should have the choice on whether or not to participate.
Photo: @Bmarch63
The NHL officially pulled out of the games on Wednesday after 57 games were postponed before the holiday break, which began two days early and extended by one day due to COVID-19.
The two sides agreed to participation in February and 2026 during the last CBA negotiation in July 2020 but also said that they could withdraw if too many games got postponed.
The league plans to use the time carved out for the tournament to make up regular-season games.
Had the NHL agreed to let players go to the Olympics, a player who tested positive could have been required to quarantine there for five weeks.
Marchand, 33, was expected to be one of the top players for Team Canada at the Olympics.
By Harrison Brown
He made a few decent points, but he left out the 5-week quarantine component should a player test positive in China.
first of all fuck brad marchand.
on the one hand i understand why players want to go and want to at least have the option of going. on the other hand i understand why the nhl has made their decision – if a bunch of key players suddenly couldnt play for 5 weeks then that would mean a big drop in revenue and ciewership and sponsors would not be happy. because of their responsibility to spknsors they kinda have to do this. adding an extra taxi squad would just turn the nhl into the ahl.