NHL shutdown, Olympics withdrawal

Dave Bartkowiak Jr., Digital Managing Editor

Published: December 22, 2021 at 12:10 PM

Tags: RW Newsletter, Newsletter, DRW Newsletter, Dear Red Wings

Here we are: The NHL is shut down due to COVID and its players are not participating in the Beijing Olympics.

Well then

The NHL officially announced its Olympics withdrawal on Wednesday morning, but everyone in the know on Tuesday called this a forgone conclusion. The decision to go to China for the Winter Games had been left up to the players. But the players were definitely second-guessing the trip amid the pandemic, especially with China’s strict quarantine policies that could keep a player there for weeks after the games end.

After a week or so of an unclear outcome and the mounting COVID cases throughout the NHL, and with “everything on the table,” the league ended up making the decision. Here’s the full statement from Commissioner Gary Bettman on Wednesday morning:

With the National Hockey League’s regular-season schedule having been materially disrupted as a result of increasing COVID cases and a rising number of postponed games, the National Hockey League announced today that NHL Players will not participate in the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing.

“The National Hockey League respects and admires the desire of NHL Players to represent their countries and participate in a ‘best on best’ tournament. Accordingly, we have waited as long as possible to make this decision while exploring every available option to enable our Players to participate in the 2022 Winter Olympic Games,” NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman said. “Unfortunately, given the profound disruption to the NHL’s regular-season schedule caused by recent COVID-related events -- 50 games already have been postponed through Dec. 23 -- Olympic participation is no longer feasible. We certainly acknowledge and appreciate the efforts made by the International Olympic Committee, the International Ice Hockey Federation and the Beijing Organizing Committee to host NHL Players but current circumstances have made it impossible for us to proceed despite everyone’s best efforts. We look forward to Olympic participation in 2026.

Our focus and goal have been and must remain to responsibly and safely complete the entirety of the NHL regular season and Stanley Cup Playoffs in a timely manner. Therefore, with stringent health protocols once again in place, we will begin utilizing available dates during the Feb. 6-22 window (originally contemplated to accommodate Olympic participation) to reschedule games that have been, or may yet be, postponed.”

Meanwhile, the leaguewide shutdown starts Wednesday amid a rise in positive COVID-19 test results among players. Ten of the league’s 32 teams’ schedules already paused and their facilities were closed, including Detroit’s. The league announced Monday night that it will open its annual holiday break two days earlier than scheduled and have it run through Saturday, Dec. 26.

The Red Wings are scheduled to play next on Sunday, Dec. 27 in New York. We’ll see if that happens.

So let’s all just take a breath and enjoy the holiday break for now.

Now what?

Will the league continue to test vaccinated, asymptomatic players and coaches? This has been a hot topic among the players and coaches, and at least one GM has spoken out about it -- Steve Yzerman.

The NFL is dealing with this issue right now -- they changed league protocols for testing as COVID threatens the coveted NFL playoffs. ESPN’s Kevin Seifert did a good dive into this here:

“The NFL and NFLPA decided to halt weekly testing of vaccinated players and coaches and implement a random cadence that is not dissimilar to its drug testing. The new protocol does not specify how many such individuals will be tested per week, but it will include ‘a sample selection based on position group and staff cohorts,’ as decided by the league’s health and safety office. In addition, if a vaccinated player or staff member reports symptoms, he or she will be required to be tested.”

Let’s see what to NHL decides to do. Bettman’s statement does stress “stringent health protocols once again in place.” Again, the word is “all options are on the table.” The NHL does not want to cancel games. I’ve heard scenarios like the same two teams facing each other 17 times just to fulfill their 82-game schedules.

This could get interesting, again.

Larkin the nice guy

On the lighter side of things: If you haven’t watched this clip of Dylan Larkin with the mic on him during warmups, you should check it. He buys a beer for a fan after accidentally bumping it along the glass.

Larkin was on fire with 7 points in his past three games, including the hat trick Saturday against the New Jersey Devils.

Hopefully he keeps this up after the break. He should be well rested.