CFN – John Tavares season ending injury should be the moment that the silliness of NHL players at the Olympics ends.
Tavares, like many of his NHL bretheren are paid millions of dollars per year to perform against the World’s best talent.
There is nothing about the Olympics that benefit the NHL, or really the players. Does it matter if you score a hat trick against Latvia?
It does however matter when a marquis player goes down to injury after getting checked by a player that will never play a game in the NHL.
Sports fans commit to their teams and players. Dumping teams together for two weeks just makes no sense. Frankly it’s up there with the Shoot Out as a stunt to spike interest. I think for many fans they simply lose interest in the season and get distracted during the break.
Hopefully Tavares recovers fully and returns to the NHL next year. Let this be a lesson to never again let NHL players risk injury for any event during a season.
It should be interesting to see what the oddsmaker’s listed at SportsBettingDime.com say about the play off races and how this injury impacts the trade market?
What do you think hockey fans? You can post your comments below.
What a silly article. Are these players forced to go to the Olympics? It is up to them if they go. Maybe they put the experience as more important then money and the NHL franchise. Who cares about the silly NHL when you can have an Olympic medal.
Silly silly article. Putting money above all else.
Are you suggesting that the Islanders would make the playoffs with Tavares in their lineup?
no, they are a joke of a franchise the way they’ve been run…
I would prefer if the Olympics used the best amateur players in their team events but who would watch? Yes, it is about the money. Just look to see their list of sponsors.
I’ve given this some concentrated serious thought for about half an hour, and I honestly can not think of anything that could matter less. Same for the Olympic circus, except for the colossal waste of money and energy.
I think the reason the NHL is involved in the Olympics is that each country wants to be represented by their best players. In most cases this means NHL players. If the NHL pulls out of the Olympics, which by the way is rumoured to happen, Canada can kiss their usual top 8 finish goodbye. Countries like Russia and others in the European bloc have excellent players that are playing in other pro leagues. If we were to send our best amateurs we would be the laughing stock of the hockey world when compared to the players coming from other professional leagues. A pretty sad state of affairs considering we were the ones who created the sport.