Gary Bettman Comments on NHL Expansion, 2018 Winter Olympics

While the possibility of NHL players participating in the 2018 Winter Olympics looks to be in doubt, the league should determine its expansion plans next month.

NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman said Monday at his annual Stanley Cup Final press conference that the International Olympic Committee and the International Ice Hockey Federation will no longer pay for insurance and travel for NHL players, per A.J. Perez of USA Today.  

The two international groups have paid for commuting costs for past Olympics, as well as for insurance policies should a player be injured while competing at the Games. That burden will now be placed on the NHL owners, which Bettman said would cost millions of dollars.

“Our owners are not interested in paying for their players to go to the Olympics, but we will have to see what they decide,” Bettman said, per Perez. 

NHL players have played in the Olympics since 1998, but USA Today's Kristen Shilton believes the issues will not affect Canadian fans:

NHL fans might be disappointed not to see their favorite players at the Olympics, but the news the league could be welcoming in new franchises may cheer them up. Bettman said Monday the NHL's Board of Governors should make the decision in the next few weeks, according to Pro Hockey Talk's Jason Brough. 

“Whether there will be no expansion; whether expansion will be deferred until a later time in the future; or whether there will be expansion, and if so whether it will be a one-team or a two-team expansion," Bettman said. "I am not going to handicap what’s going to happen. But again, when the board meets in Las Vegas on June 22, I am fairly certain that we will know more than we do today.”

Las Vegas and Quebec City are the two cities in consideration for the expansion, per Brough.

NHL Deputy Commissioner Bill Daly believes expansion will come to fruition in either two or three years, per Sportsnet's Chris Johnston:

The Olympics break up the NHL season every four years, which is not ideal for any team. While this will help the league, no longer having competitive classics like the 2010 final between Canada and the U.S. would be disappointing.

Having more markets is always a positive when growing the game. As recently as 2014, hockey ranked as the sixth-most popular sport in America, per a Harris Poll (via the Hockey News' Brian Costello), so anything to make the game more accessible to fans is a must.