The NHL has not committed to sending its players to the next Olympics, in 2014 in Russia, and commissioner Gary Bettman is thought to be lukewarm (at best) on the idea. There are two sides of the discussion. On one hand, the exposure is fantastic, particularly in the United States. People who couldn’t name five NHL players were glued to their TVs for the gold-medal game. On the other hand, the Olympics shut down the NHL for at least two weeks, right before the playoff push, and that presents problems.
Should the NHL stay involved in the Olympics? Terry Murray doesn’t think so.
MURRAY: “I don’t like it. I don’t like that they shut the league down. If we played hockey in the summer time, I’m all for it in the summer Olympics, but shutting the league down for two weeks, at the most important and critical time of the year, that’s very hard. As a business, I don’t get it. But saying that, look at what happens. Look at the emotion. Look at the exposure. Look at the ratings on network TV, worldwide. It’s been one of the best games that we’ve seen, maybe, in many, many years. This is going to have a tremendous impact on everybody involved in the game.”
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