The NHL will not participate in the 2018 Olympics in South Korea, the league announced Monday, reiterating that the "overwhelming majority" of its clubs are adamantly opposed to disrupting next season's schedule to accommodate participation.
"A number of months have now passed and no meaningful dialogue has materialized," NHL commissioner Gary Bettman said in a statement. "Instead, the IOC has now expressed the position that the NHL's participation in Beijing in 2022 is conditioned on our participation in South Korea in 2018.
"And the NHLPA has now publicly confirmed that it has no interest or intention of engaging in any discussion that might make Olympic participation more attractive to the clubs. As a result, and in an effort to create clarity among conflicting reports and erroneous speculation, this will confirm our intention to proceed with finalizing our 2017-18 regular season schedule without any break to accommodate the Olympic Winter Games. We now consider the matter officially closed."
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