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CBC: NHL Players Likely Not to Participate in Beijing Olympics Due to COVID Fears

In the wake of the NHL shutting down a few days earlier than expected before the annual Christmas break due to rising COVID-19 cases, the CBC posted an article today that the NHL and the “National Hockey League Players’ Association have reached an agreement to not sent players to participate in the 2022 Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics in February.”

It is important to note that CBC Sports said in their article that they could not “independently confirm the report.”

The story was initially broken by Chris Johnston of The Toronto Star and Daily Faceoff’s Frank Seravalli as per the article by the CBC staff on CBC.ca.

Johnston reported (and it was reported by the CBC) that “the league and its players made the decision on Tuesday and now must finalize it with the International Olympic Committee.”

The CBC said that “Seravalli reported on Twitter the official announcement could come as early as Tuesday or even later in the week.” The CBC article also noted that the NHL “had until Jan. 10 to opt out of the Olympics without financial penalty.”

The NHL announced yesterday that the 2021-22 season would be shut down early prior to the Christmas break – pausing all activities from December 21 through 25 with ten teams needing to shut down due to COVID outbreaks. Fifty games have been postponed this season already with the Devils missing their two games leading into Christmas at Pittsburgh and against Montreal. A game in November against Ottawa was postponed but has already been made up by the teams.

According to Johnston, the NHL’s decision comes from needing to play the rescheduled games during the three-weeks that would have been set aside for the Olympics beginning on February 4.

The CBC article said that ESPN is reporting that the games played during the February break “could include currently postponed games or even moving up future games as a result of the lack of arena availability during the break, with many booking concerts and other events.”

This will be the second straight Olympic Games that NHL players will not participate in. The league declined to send players to PyeongChang in 2018 due to not wanting to break up the regular season right after the Super Bowl when the NHL had some of the North American sports landscape between only itself and the NBA.

The NHL first sent its players to the tournament at Nagano in 1998.

Originally, the NHL and NHLPA committed to the Beijing Olympics this past September. The agreement with the International Ice Hockey Federation gave the sides the chance “to withdraw if COVID-19 conditions rendered participation “impractical or unsafe.””

And with that, an entire generation of players have likely passed through the NHL that will not really get to represent their countries at the Olympics. When you realize that someone like Connor McDavid never got to play for Canada at the Games, that is just mind blowing. He will be four years older in 2026 and could still get his chance should the NHL participate, but he might not be the tippy-top elite player that he is right now in his prime – though still very good, of course.

Time will tell how things shake down for 2026, but as of now, NHL it seems, will not be playing in the 2022 Olympics. We will keep you updated here on any news pertaining to this situation and will have coverage of the 2022 World Junior Championship from Alberta starting the day after Christmas.

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Hughes News Galore

As we move closer to the Devils and Sharks facing off tonight at Prudential Center on ESPN+, a few important news items have come down from the team that involve both Jack and Luke Hughes.

First up, Jack’s back!

Jack Hughes will make his return to the Devils lineup tonight after separating his shoulder on October 19 in the second game of the season against the Seattle Kraken.

Head coach Lindy Ruff told Sam Kasan of the Devils’ official website that “Jack is ready to go. He will play tonight.” Kasan quoted him in his pregame preview for tonight’s Devils-Sharks game.

Hughes told Kasan: “It’s obviously extremely exciting. It’s been a long time. I’m excited to get back out there. To start at home and play in front of our fans will be a lot of fun.”

Kasan noted that Hughes had a great start to his now-truncated season. He scored two goals and added an assist “in four periods of play, which included a dramatic overtime-winning tally against Chicago in the season opener.”

Hughes commented on that, saying “I started hot, but now I’ve got 65 games [Hughes ended up missing 17 games due to his shoulder injury] to get hot again. “I’ve got a lot of runway left. It’s fortunate it was only 17-game thing, it could have been much worse.”

Kasan says that Hughes “could see time at wing tonight.”

Hughes continued, telling Kasan “I don’t know what to expect [in terms of his return tonight]. It’s going to take me a period or two to get back to it. I don’t know if the fans are expecting something outrageous tonight. I’m going to play smart and find my way back into the game, take it easy and play my game. … I’ll take it one period at a time tonight.”

Kasan said that after the collision with Seattle’s Jeremy Lauzon, Jack was put on the Injured Reserve list and had been projected on October 29 to miss about five weeks total when he was examined. Hughes is now a week earlier in returning than he was projected to at that time.

Kasan spoke a little more to Ruff about that, who told him “I knew Jack was bugging me a week ago to play that we were getting pretty close. We looked at the schedule and wanted to get X amount of practices in with him. We were able to do that. We figured the date would be today. It wasn’t etched in stone, but thought if things progress and he gets those practices inm, today would be the day.”

For his part, Hughes told Kasan: “I had this date circled on my calendar. I think I got in sooner than people thought.”

But when the centerman takes the ice tonight, he will be doing so with a little bit of added incentive.

The Devils announced today that Jack Hughes and the Devils have agreed to terms on an eight-year contract extension.

The extension will kick in for the 2022-23 season and will have an average annual value of $8,000,000. According to the Devils’ press release on the contract, the total value is $64,000,000 and it will break down as $9,000,000 in 2022-23, $8,500,000 in 2023-24, $8,500,000 in 2024-25, $8,500,000 in 2025-26, $8,000,000 in 2026-27, $7,500,000 in 2027-28, #7,000,000 in 2028-29 and $7,000,000 in 2029-30.

Hughes was quoted as saying “I’m so excited to sign this deal for myself and for my family. I love bing in New Jersey and I love playing in New Jersey. I wouldn’t want to play anywhere else, and we are really building something special. I believe in what we are doing here, and we have a great chance to be successful for a long time. This contract shows that this team is extremely invested in me and I’m also really dedicated to this organization. I want to thank Tom Fitzgerald, David Blitzer, Josh Harris, and everyone with the New Jersey Devils for this opportunity.”

Blitzer said in the press release, “I am ecstatic for Jack and his entire family. This is a strong commitment from Jack to the organization’s future and the New Jersey Devils to Jack. We all know what Jack means to the team on and off the ice – he’s an unbelievable player and a fantastic person. His future is incredibly bright and he will be a pillar for our franchise for years to come.”

Harris added, “This deal is fantastic both for Jack and the New Jersey Devils. I know our fans are enthusiastic about our young core as they grow together and look to achieve tremendous levels of success. I want to thank Tom Fitzgerald for his work on getting this deal completed, as he continues to make excellent decisions for this organization that sets us up for the future.”

General Manager Tom Fitzgerald told the media: “Today is a big day for the New Jersey Devils. This contract shows the commitment Jack and his family have to us, and how the organization – myself, David Blitzer and Josh Harris – are in turn committed to them. We are building something unique and special here, with Jack being a core piece of that. This is just the start of where we believe we can go with this organization, as we work towards sustained success for years to come.”

This is great news for the team and its fans. Keeping Jack around for the long haul should set the Devils up for a lot of future success, we hope.

In other Hughes news that came out today, Jack’s younger brother, defenseman Luke Hughes, has been added to Team USA’s preliminary roster for the 2022 World Junior Championship.

Hughes joins “30 other players” who “will compete for a roster spot for the yearly tournament” according to Kasan. Kasan also noted that an injury kept Hughes out of the 2021 IIHF World Juniors.

This year’s tournament will take place in Edmonton and Red Deer, Alberta between December 26, 2021 and January 6, 2022 as noted by Kasan as well.

Luke is currently a freshman at the University of Michigan, where he has seven goals and eight assists for 15 points over 16 games for a stacked Wolverines team.

He was drafted by the Devils fourth overall in the first-round of this past July’s NHL Draft.

Luke Hughes, though he did not play in last year’s U-18 WJC, is no stranger to international hockey. According to Kasan, he won a silver medal for the United States “at the 2019-20 World U-17 Hockey Challenge.” He also played for the US National Team Development Program prior to his time at Michigan. He was drafted by the Devils out of that program.

Kasan mentioned that Hughes led the “USNTDP defensemen in points per game after posting 34 in 38 contests.”

Congratulations to the Hughes boys on these great achievements!