CRANBERRY, Pa. -- It's official: The NHL's players and staff will not be participating in the Olympics this season.
The NHL and NHL Players Association cam to an agreement Tuesday to withdraw from the Beijing Olympics, and the NHL made the official announcement on Wednesday after formally notifying the International Olympic Committee.
The NHL and NHLPA had until Jan. 10 to opt out of participating without facing any kind of financial penalty.
The decision is due to multiple factors. There are concerns over the COVID-19 protocols surrounding Olympic participation, notably what protocol would be if a player tests positive, with a fear being that a player may have to quarantine in China for several weeks, and then potentially again upon returning to North America. Another concern is its effect on the NHL schedule. While the NHL schedule originally had a built-in break to accommodate Olympic participation in February, the NHL has now had 50 games be postponed due to rising numbers of players entering COVID protocol, with 18 percent of the league now actively in protocol. Those games will need to be made up, and the NHL needs to use those weeks in February for those postponed games in order to finish the season on time.
The Penguins had three players who were all but locks to make their countries' Olympic rosters if the NHL participated in Sidney Crosby (Canada), Evgeni Malkin (Russia) and Teddy Blueger (Latvia), with Jake Guentzel (U.S.), Bryan Rust (U.S.), and Kasperi Kapanen (Finland) also being possible selections. Mike Sullivan was named head coach of the U.S. team, and selected Todd Reirden as one of his assistants.
After the NHL opted to not participate in the Pyeongchang Olympics in 2018, this is the second consecutive Winter Olympics without NHL participation.
"It doesn't look good right now," Crosby said of potential NHL participation following Tuesday's practice. "So that would obviously be be disappointing, to have it happen a second time and not be able to be a part of it. ... It's difficult to wrap your head around, given the fact that we thought we would have the opportunity this time."
Crosby said that he believes there's a "slight possibility" that the Olympics as a whole could be postponed due to COVID-19, possibly holding it in the summer instead, which might open the door for NHL participation.
Crosby, who played (and won gold) with Canada in both the 2010 and 2014 Olympics, said that he feels for the players who have missed numerous opportunities to play themselves.
"It's not something where the next year, you push it a couple months," he said. These are opportunities and experiences of a lifetime that you don't get very many of as an athlete. You might only get one."
Blueger is one of those players who might not get many more chances. Latvia didn't qualify for the Olympics in 2018, and had to fight to narrowly secure a spot in the 2022 games. Latvia and France played each other in a winner-take-all game in the Olympic qualifiers in August, and earned a spot with a 2-1 win. Blueger captained Latvia in that tournament, and assisted on the game-winner to secure Latvia's bid for Beijing. When Blueger was asked about his potential participation last week, he expressed concern over potential protocols surrounding the games.
"I'd love to go," he said. "Obviously, I think we're all hoping to go. It's just depends on what the circumstances are for quarantining if you do test positive. There's some weird rumors going around about the possible consequences that I think could influence the decision."
Sullivan was set to be behind the U.S. team's bench as head coach for the first time in his career, though he's experienced the Olympics before as an assistant coach in 2006 in Torino. He said Tuesday that he remains "hopeful" the NHL will find a way to participate this time.
"It's the honor of a lifetime, quite honestly," he said. "I know I don't feel differently than a lot of people that pull their nation's sweater over their heads."
Brian Boyle has never played in the Olympics, though he has experienced getting to play for his country when he captained Team USA to a bronze medal at last year's IIHF World Championship. Though he said he's sure it's a "great thrill" to play in the Olympics, he understands the NHL's reasoning for pulling out.
"We get paid really well to do what we do," he said. "And there's a fan base in each city that is loyal and diehard, and does a lot of things to buy those tickets and come out to games. A lot is vested into these players from their professional teams, you have a responsibility to do what's best for that club."
What's best for the clubs is likely to sit out of these Olympics.