1:45 PM
Brad Marchand, a Boston Bruins player, became one of the most prominent NHL players to criticize the league's decision to opt out of the Winter Olympics in Beijing in 2022.
Marchand questioned the logic behind the NHL and NHLPA agreeing to add taxi squads to supplement rosters that are missing players thanks to COVID-19 protocols while refusing to do the same during the Olympics. Marchand believes that the league could have allowed players to leave for Beijing while teams made up games during the Olympics, and that this type of supplemental roster planning wasn't considered for the Olympics.
The NHL and NHLPA have agreed to allow players to compete in the Winter Olympics in two years.
The NHL and NHLPA can change the rules of the collective bargaining agreement to add a taxi squad so that they don't miss any games and don't lose any money, which has already been agreed upon by the players. They can't do a taxi squad during the Olympics so they can honor the agreement they made so the NHL players can go to Beijing, wrote Marchand.
Please tell me that's not bulls---.
Marchand said the players should have been given the choice to give up their pay.
The NHL and NHLPA decided not to participate in the Beijing Olympics last week due to a material change in the NHL regular-season schedule.
The National Hockey League admires the desire of NHL players to represent their countries in a tournament. Gary Bettman said in a statement that the NHL had waited as long as possible to make the decision so they could participate in the Winter Olympic Games.
There are 70 games that have been postponed.
Marchand has made noise about the NHL's testing protocols, which were recently tightened to daily testing, while other leagues have loosened their testing standards when it comes to players with no vaccine.
We have to get to that. The NBA is there. The league is going there. We are going to be next. We need to get there soon. Marchand said that there was no reason that guys shouldn't be able to play.
It's difficult. It's a tough thing. There's a valid argument on both sides. This could be the new norm, with the variant coming every year. We're going to have to live with it. We can't be doing this every year. We have to get back to normal at some point. He said that guys have done what they're supposed to do and gotten vaccinations.
