NHL Not Hot On Olympics

(Photo by Richard Wolowicz/Getty Images)

NHL commissioner Gary Bettman is cooling his enthusiasm for hockey in the Olympic Games, according to the New York Times.

The Times quoted Bettman on Friday saying that taking two and a half weeks off for the Olympics kills the NHL's momentum during the regular season.

The same article pointed out Bettman's earlier enthusiasm for NHL players participating in the Olympics was inspired by the effect the American basketball Dream Team had on audiences in the USA.

His drive to follow their success with hockey dream teams from Canada, the USA, and other hockey playing nations was one of the reasons that made him the commish of the NHL.

Those Olympic teams did not generate a great deal of interest in hockey in the USA, unlike the way it worked for the basketballers.

The NHL is already committed to the 2010 Olympics—to be held in Canada—but not the following Games, scheduled for Russia.

There could be other reasons for pulling NHL players out of the Olympics when they are held in the home of the Kontinental Hockey League.

The KHL was set up to rival the NHL, and poached players prior to the two leagues, making an agreement to respect each other's contracts.

That's how the KHL got Alexander Radulov.

Jaromir Jagr was given a big contract so the KHL could promote him as the face of the new league, or so his name and face could promote the KHL.

Having the hockey nations' dream teams playing in Russia for the Olympics would be great for the Games and for Surris, but what would they do for the NHL?

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