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NHL Olympic participation on Board of Governors' docket

Sochi 2014 Winter Olympic Games: Men's hockey, Gold medal game between Canada and Sweden. 3rd period action.
Team Canada poses after winning the gold medal at the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympic Games.

Questions about 2018 Olympic participation will be the hot topic when the NHL’s Board of Governors meet in Palm Beach, Florida on Thursday and Friday.

Recently, the NHL has used the 2018 Pyeongchang Games as a negotiating chip with the players – offering Olympic participation for an extension of the Collective Bargaining Agreement.

The players shot down the proposal, which means the NHL will continue to try to figure out options on whether it wants to make Pyeongchang work before a January deadline.

NHL owners have become been lukewarm on 2018 Olympic participation in part because of the IOC’s decision to not pay players’ insurance or transportation along with game lack of visibility because of the timezone.

Last November at meeting in New York, it was reported that the IIHF would come up with the money for insurance and transportation so NHL players could play in the Games. Still, this gesture did not lead to a deal with the NHL at that time.

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The World Cup of Hockey, which took place in September of 2016 in Toronto, was brought back in part to give the NHL and the players more monetary control over ‘best-on-best’ international events. Though the World Cup had some big moments, it didn’t quite hit like the NHL and the players had hoped. The league has committed to another World Cup in 2020.

A decision on whether to go to the Olympics or not will have far-reaching ramifications for next season, including how the schedule will be made.

Some players, such as Washington Capitals sniper Alex Ovechkin, may still look to go, even if the NHL decides the Olympics aren’t in its best interest.

Will NHL owners decide to push towards Olympic participation in 2018 or will they decide to not shut down the league, which would prevent players from going? An outright choice likely won’t be made at the Board of Governors, but this issue is sure to be discussed.

Expansion update

Expansion is something that seems to always get addressed when NHL power brokers convene.

At a meeting in mid-November, the NHL and its general managers discussed closing potential loopholes with the expansion draft. Overall some more questions will likely arise that the league will need to discuss with the governors.

Golden Knights owner Bill Foley will not be present, but there will probably be lots of chatter on where the team is as they prepare for the 2017-18 season.

While further expansion is unlikely to be brought up officially, Seattle continues to make noise about a potential new arena. Also Quebec City, which was rejected in this most recent expansion process, remains committed to bringing an NHL team back to the area.

Salary cap

Last year at the Board of Governors, the NHL said that the salary cap could rise $3 million from its then $71.4 million total. Instead, it only went up $1.6 million to $73 million in 2016-17.

The Vegas $500 million expansion fee should certainly help the league’s bottom line. Also, the Canadian dollar has held steady from last year at around 75 cents to one U.S. dollar. Still, Forbes recently pointed out that all of the NHL’s Canadian franchises lost value thanks to the Loonie’s inability to go up further. It’s unclear how this will all affect the league’s overall cap estimates.

China

Even though the NHL may not be that into Pyeongchang, it certainly seems more bullish on China and the 2022 Olympics. China has a much larger population and economy than South Korea and has become an entry point for the league into Asia.

TSN’s Darren Dreger recently reported the NHL has been in discussions with the Los Angeles Kings and Vancouver Canucks about a potential game in Shanghai or Beijing.

The Kings said talks about a game were in a “preliminary stage” but that “there’s definite interest in the China marketplace.”

Last summer the Kings and Boston Bruins sent contingents to China. Also, Edmonton Oilers star Connor McDavid went to China as part of a promotional trip for BioSteel.

The CBA

The NHL and NHLPA appeared to have mostly healed the wounds from the 2012-13 lockout – until the league’s offer of Olympic participation for a CBA extension. Players then ripped the NHL’s bargaining tactic as a non-starter.

“That’s not negotiating. It’s not,” Sharks defenseman Marc-Edouard Vlasic said when he was asked by CSN Bay Area about the offer. “As an athlete, it’s your right to go to the Olympics. I don’t know if (the report) is true. I hope it’s not. That’s not the way you negotiate things. But, if that is true, all of a sudden they don’t mind having a two-week break in the NHL for a three-year collective bargaining agreement.”

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The earliest the NHL needs to worry about a possible work stoppage is 2019 when either the league or NHLPA can opt out of the CBA. It’s a bit of a ways away, but it’s never too early to provide an update on how things stand from a bargaining perspective.

Concussion spotter powers

Before the season, the NHL announced an enhanced concussion spotter program that gave Central League Spotters the power to remove players from games if they exhibited signs of a head injury.

Issues with the spotters’ power came into question when Edmonton Oilers superstar Connor McDavid hit his chin on the ice at a recent game against the Minnesota Wild and was pulled for concussion testing. Both the Oilers and McDavid weren’t pleased with this, since McDavid didn’t test positive for a concussion. The Oilers lost that game 2-1 in overtime.

The NHL has since said it’s fine with the program, but ultimately there could be some gripes from those who disagree.

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Josh Cooper is an editor for Puck Daddy on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at puckdaddyblog@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!

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