Results of the 2014 Games in Sochi may affect the future of National Hockey League involvement in the winter Olympics. It is possible that NHL stars will not be present in South Korea for the next Games.
USA Today reports that team owners such as Ed Snider of the Philadelphia Flyers are frustrated that the league must take a two week rest for the Games. This interruption of the NHL season takes a toll on both athletes as well as ticket sales at games following the Olympics. Officials say that the NHL’s future participation in the Olympics is in question.
According to The New York Times, Ken Hitchcock is concerned that travel the Games will impact the health of his athletes. However the coach of both the Canadian Olympic team and the St. Louis Blues is also in favor of the experience that the Olympics Games gives players.
“When you get a chance to play in anything that’s a big game, I think that’s going to do nothing but help you,” Hitchcock says to the Times.
In a study authorized by Eugene Melnyk, owner of the Ottawa Senators, results found a link between teams that send multiple athletes to the Olympics and teams that perform poorly after the Olympics. Melnyk claims that those who sustain injuries at the Games are not allowed proper time to recover.
This year in Sochi, approximately 140 of the Olympic men’s hockey players will be from the NHL.
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