Canucks Army Roundtable: International Ice

As we just watched the Canadian athletes take the country by storm during the Rio Games, and are awaiting the World Cup of Hockey starting in a short while in Toronto, it’s hard not to think about the highly controversial topic that is the NHL at the Olympic games. It has become a staple every four years since 1998, when NHL players were first allowed to compete in the games. Are we ready to go back to a world where the NHLers simply carry on during the games and pretend it’s not happening? I took the question to our staff of writers. More after the jump!

Question:

My first thought is to reject as blasphemy any thought of staying away from the Olympics. But with the fiasco in Rio and the continued corruption and commercialization of the Olympics, the prospect of the premier international hockey event being running by someone else gets a lot more appealing. For it to really match up, though, and for me to take it seriously, I’d need to see the team north America and Europe junk get removed, and a larger involvement from the various hockey associations in Europe.

My reasons are very, very selfish, but I think NHL players should be a fixture in every Olympics. I just find that level of competition so damn entertaining. The large ice surface, the national pride elements… it’s all so great.

So for starters, I think that these are two different questions. No, the world championships don’t do enough to grow the game in North America- but they certainly help grow the game internationally, particularly for countries that are newly moving up the division rankings for the IIHF. That shouldn’t have any bearing on whether NHLers show up to the Olympics. I always love watching the Olympic Games, so that plays a part in it as well, but I think as a unique question, it should be up to the players (crazy notion, I know); if you want to go, you should be allowed to , and if you don’t, stay home. Sort of like USA basketball this year- while some stars will choose to sit it out, the ones who sorely want to go shouldn’t be denied that opportunity. Playing for your country isn’t something the NHL should actively bar- and especially for players from smaller nations.

I think, as fans, we all want to witness international “Best-on-Best” hockey. Some of the greatest moments in Canadian hockey history have occurred under this format: Henderson in 1972, Gretzky-to-Lemieux in 1987, and Crosby’s “Golden Goal” in 2010. Beyond the nostalgia factor, the format has also lent itself to some of the most entertaining hockey that many of us had ever seen. Not to mention, unlike in basketball, where superstars do not appear to be exactly enamoured with winning an Olympic Gold Medal, hockey players tend to view the opportunity to represent their country in the Olympics as a massive honour. Remember when Martin St. Louis essentially requested a trade because his own GM did not originally name him to the Sochi squad? Compare that to Lebron James passing on Rio in order to rest.

Nevertheless, if the NHL, NHLPA, and IIHF cannot reach an agreement to make the trip to South Korea in 2018, I do not believe the World Championships and World Cup of Hockey would be enough to fill the void left by the absence of the Olympics. The former is never best-on-best due to competition with the NHL playoffs (even in 2005, many players opted out) and the latter has all the appearances of an NHL promotional endeavour, rather than a true international tournament. Continued participation in the Olympics, or a FIFA-style World Cup of Hockey with IIHF involvement, would be an ideal scenario. The current World Cup format is too North American- and NHL-centric. If Toronto 2016 was followed by Prague or Stockholm 2020 – with only IIHF nations competing, not amalgamated, “under-23” or “European leftover” teams – then I would be on board with foregoing the Olympics. Until that time, however, it’s “higher, faster, stronger” for me.

Personally, no. I don’t wanna wake up super early/stay up late to watch it. I do like Olympic hockey better but if the world cup gets its stuff together and makes it regular, I could see this being the new standard. An Olympic gold medal is like nothing else though so I guess I’m torn. So to recap: no don’t put them there, but also maybe because Olympic hockey is rad.

Firstly, I’ve soured on the Olympics in general as of late.  It’s easily the best sports tournament in the world, but that entertainment comes at a price. The Olympics have a history of leaving host countries in massive amounts of debt. Without getting too political, British Columbians are still suffering from the financial ramifications of the 2010 Olympics, and the result has been even worse in nations that aren’t as financially strong as we are. Rio and Sochi also ran into a lot of trouble in other ways. I was personally very bullish on getting the 2014 Olympics  out of Russia due to their horrific and draconian laws regarding LGBT persons, but I’m beginning to ramble. What’s important to remember is that the Olympics have a long-standing shady history. I’m not sure how much of that you can pin on those competing, however. The Olympics are going to happen regardless of whether or not the NHL shows up. With that in mind, I’d just as easily have them stick around and keep the level of Olympic hockey as competitive as it is. The World Cup is a joke, and the IIHF tournaments are nice, but a poor reflection of overall hockey talent worldwide. The only way I can see the sport of hockey recovering from the loss of the Olympics is if they can get the IIHF involved and get a FIFA-style World Cup tournament up and running. Until then, we will struggle to grow the game. I’m not going to lose sleep over it, though. I liked the Olympics, but I’m not an overly nationalistic person. I watch sports to be enthralled by the level of physical fitness and commitment it takes for an athlete to be competitive, not because of what flag they’ll be carrying if they win.  We’ll still have the NHL, which, for all it’s problems, has kept itself at a level of moral reprehensibility that’s easier for me to stomach than the IOC.

I think the NHL needs the Olympics, whether they like it or not. The opportunity to grow the game, is irreplaceable, especially my manufactured tournaments like the WCOH. Unless they got IIHF input on it, which would be a different story. As we just saw in Rio, Golf was very popular with the locals, as it gave them a chance to experience something they may not get to see every day. I think that may also apply in PyeongChang in 2018.