The National Hockey League has announced their players will not be heading to Beijing to participate in the Olympics this year.
In recent weeks the NHL has been forced to postpone many games as a result of the recent omicron variant of COVID-19.
In a statement released on Wednesday morning, the league said due to the schedule disruptions they will be unable to give players an Olympic break and as such, they will not be able to attend.
NHL announces that there will not be an Olympic break, NHL Players will not be able to participate in 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing.
Full release: https://t.co/GkHDkNgZSo pic.twitter.com/ysBmWctzjw
— NHL Public Relations (@PR_NHL) December 22, 2021
The league is set to go on an extended break starting today, with play set to resume on December 27. Originally the break was only supposed to run from December 24-26 but it was extended in response to rising case numbers.
The statement from the league indicated they are open to players participating in the 2026 Winter Olympics.
