The NHL Is Once Again Getting Our Hopes Up That Maybe The Idiots In Power Will Find A Way To Send Players To The 2026 Olympics
David E. Klutho. Getty Images.Gary Bettman has the tightest job security in the world. This man has been the commissioner of the NHL since 1993. That's 30 damn years without anybody knocking him off the top. Say what you want, but that's the American dream right there.
And yeah, there have been some highs in his career so far. But also a shit ton of lows. In those 30 years he's seen 3 work stoppages with the entire 2004-05 season being cancelled. He's had a failed franchise in Atlanta that was relocated to Winnipeg, a failed franchise in Arizona that should have been relocated a decade ago if it didn't appear to be a blatant money laundering scheme for the league. And on top of everything, the NHL is as flush now with superstar talent as ever before. However, the league continuously fails to market these players in a way that the general public gives a shit about. So 20 years later and Crosby vs Ovechkin is still the biggest rivalry in the game.
The fact of the matter here is that clearly Gary Bettman has this job for life. I can't even begin to fathom what would need to occur in order for him to lose his job. But just because he has a job for life doesn't mean he still shouldn't try to at least pick up the easiest layup for public opinion ever. Literally all Gary Bettman has to do at this point is allow NHL players to compete in the Olympics again, and everybody will start fellating him at record levels.
ESPN -- New NHL Players' Association executive director Marty Walsh said he's focused on getting NHL players back into the Winter Olympics for the 2026 Milano Cortina Games in Italy.
The NHL hasn't participated in the Olympic men's ice hockey tournament since the 2014 Sochi Games.
"My focus is to try and make that happen. I'm working with commissioner Gary Bettman, collectively together with the IIHF, and hopefully we'll be able to come up with an agreement and move forward," Walsh told ESPN on Tuesday. "A lot of players from around the globe want to play for their home country. They want that best-on-best tournament. They want to be part of it."
Honestly I hope this was Gary Bettman's master plan the whole time. Orchestrating moves years ahead of time like he's Emperor Palpatine or some shit. Take the Olympics away from the NHL, have all the players and fans bitch and complain for years about not having the best-on-best international tournament, and then finally be viewed as the savior to bring it back. The same guy who took it away in the first place is now the hero to restore order to the galaxy. Shit is genius.
But obviously that's all dependent on whether they make it happen or not for 2026. And if they can't make it happen? Then something needs to change. Whether that's a new commissioner, or you get the best players in the world all breaking off to start their own league. We need best-on-best international hockey back in our lives right now in the worst way imaginable.
What was your favorite moment from the 2018 Olympics? What was your favorite moment from the 2022 Olympics? You don't have a favorite moment from either tournament because you can't remember a single game being played. As nice as it was to romanticize the idea at first of giving the spotlight to guys who have been grinding their entire careers so far but don't get to shine at the NHL level, it's become abundantly clear that it's just impossible to care about those games. Unless you're truly a hockey sicko, you probably don't even remember who medalled in those tournaments without just assuming Canada. But everybody remembers TJ Oshie against Russia. Everybody remembers Sidney Crosby scoring the golden goal. Because the whole world gave a shit about those games, and now we're coming up on 10 years without them.
So here's to hoping Marty and Gary can get this thing done. Or else the next Chiclets Cup might just need to be the World Cup of Hockey.