Hockey NHL players consider leaving the Olympics: “Things are harder than before”

Beijing threatening clouds hover over the Olympic ice hockey. Corona infections in the NHL are on the rise and players are starting to seriously consider participating in the February tournament.

NHL Commissioner Gary Bettmann said on Friday that players’ participation in the Olympics will ultimately be left to each player to decide. Sportsnet according to the players do not seem terribly enthusiastic to go to Beijing.

Read more: Olympic participation will ultimately be left to players to decide, NHL commissioner Gary Bettman believes

The reason for hesitation is the fear of corona quarantine. If a player gave a positive corona sample in China, he would be quarantined for 3-5 weeks. Now players are wondering if the risk is worth it.

There are ten weeks left in the NHL regular season after the Beijing Olympics, so in the worst case, players would lose half of the important matches in the spring.

“If you get quarantined for five weeks after you’re there [Pekingissä] already a couple of weeks, it’s been a long time. Really long, ”Canada’s top center John Tavares weighs according to Sportsnet.

“Sure, we’d all like to go, but clearly things are more difficult now than before. There will still be challenges here. ”

Also NHL stars Auston Matthews, Alex Pietrangelo and Marc-Andre Fleury are in two stages of their participation.

“If you go to a tournament and have to be within the four walls of the month – without seeing your family and team – it really needs to be considered when making a decision,” Fleury said.