In less than two months, regular-season NHL hockey will be back. For a decade, it would be another six months until the intensity truly ratcheted up, with the Stanley Cup Playoffs the light at the end of an exciting but sometimes tiring tunnel.
This season, like last, will be different. The triumphant return of best-on-best international hockey was a smash hit thanks to the 4 Nations Face-Off. Things should only be more special with the allure of Olympic gold at stake. Canada will look to add its fourth first-place finish since NHL players began participating in the event in 1998 and win its third straight. Sweden and Czechia will each seek to add to their trophy cases after capturing the crown in 2006 and 1998, respectively. And other nations, namely the United States and Finland, will look to take the next step, with each of those countries sporting a silver and bronze medal between 1998 and 2014.
That caveat must be applied, since it took until 1988 for professional athletes to be allowed in the Games and another 10 years for the NHL to start sending its players. But two different issues have kept the league at home each of the last two windows. In 2018, disputes with the International Olympic Committee led to a voluntary opt-out on the NHL’s side. Four years later, the league initially agreed to meet the players’ wishes and head to Beijing. However, a litany of cancelled games due to the COVID-19 pandemic, which was resurfacing in the form of a variant known as Omicron, ended that possibility less than two months before the Games.
That made things even harder for international hockey organizations, which had to completely scrap their main plans for their players and coaches with significantly less notice than in the previous Olympics (the NHL officially said it wouldn’t attend the PyeongChang Olympics in April 2017, about 10 months ahead of time). But just as in 2018, a few dozen players rising in the college ranks or honing their craft abroad in other professional leagues would be competing on the same stage as Olympic legends like Chloe Kim and Mikaela Shiffrin.
Building the Team
In 2018, the US decided to build a veteran-heavy roster comprised mostly of seasoned professionals who played overseas. The average age of that team, which lost in the quarterfinals of the knockout round and finished 1-2-2 overall, was around 30.
Things skewed much younger in 2022, though. Of the 26 players that made the final team, a…
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