The Hockey world was running as normal, at least, it seemed to be. NHL athletes were returning to the Olympic men’s hockey tournament. This was good, especially after missing the last Winter Games. Now, because of escalating Covid-19 cases across the league, there is more instability. There is still a lot of uncertainty if we will see our favorite hockey players in the NHL play in the Olympics. For bookies with a sportsbook pay per head to manage, we know that so far, they are good to go.
Many in SportsbookPayPerHead.com offer Olympic wagering, and hockey is a popular option for many bettors. So far, the last announcement we have, is that the league and its Players’ Association struck a deal in September. This deal allows the stars to head to Beijing for the Games in February. This is while the league is shut down for three weeks.
Are there going to be N.H.L. players at the Winter Olympics?
The NHL started participating in the Games in 1998. But they missed the 2018 Pyeongchang Olympics when an agreement could not be reached. The Oilers’ Connor McDavid, one of the league’s biggest stars, told reporters this week: “I’m still a guy that’s wanting to go play in the Olympics. But we also want to make sure it’s safe for everybody and all the athletes, not just for hockey players.”
If we comb through sports and gambling news, we will see NHL stars express their support for joining the Olympics. “I’d love to go and I’d love to compete, but there’s definitely a lot of things that I think a lot of us would like to see worked out and just some questions we’d like to see answered,” Auston Matthews of the Maple Leafs said.
“There are a number of open issues, and I know the Players’ Association has concerns about them,” Commissioner Gary Bettman said. He said the league would let the players compete “if that’s really what they want to do.”
“We are having discussions with the players on the long list this week regarding the upcoming Olympic Games and the protocols that will be in place,” said Jonathan Weatherdon, the director of communications for the union. “The plan remains to participate in the upcoming Olympics.”
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