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NHL players to participate in Beijing Olympics – CBC.ca

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NHL players are set to return to the Olympics in Beijing this winter after reaching an agreement with international officials.

The league, its players’ union, the International Olympic Committee and the International Ice Hockey Federation struck a deal Friday that will put the best players in the world back on sports’ biggest stage in February after they skipped the 2018 Pyeongchang Games.

Even after the NHL and players agreed to Olympic participation as part of a long-term extension of the collective bargaining agreement (CBA) last summer, the coronavirus pandemic and related costs threatened to shelve that possibility. Instead, the sides were able to figure it out, allowing for the league or players to withdraw if virus circumstances change for the worse or there’s an outbreak during the season.

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As long as that does not happen, NHL players will compete in the Olympic men’s hockey tournament for the sixth time in seven chances dating to 1998.

U.S. coach Mike Sullivan called returning to the Olympics “such an exciting time for hockey.”

He is not alone in that thinking.

‘Dream come true’

Reigning NHL MVP Connor McDavid played for an under-23 “Team North America” at the 2016 World Cup of Hockey and has yet to play for Canada in a tournament of the world’s best men’s hockey players.

“Just to be able to represent Canada at the Olympics and compete for a gold medal would be an absolute dream come true,” McDavid told The Associated Press this week. “It’s kind of been a long time since we’ve been able to play best-on-best internationally. I think for me and I think for a lot of guys that were on that team, it’s been a long time coming. We’re obviously looking forward to going to the Olympics if we’re all lucky enough to make it.”

It could be the first Olympics for McDavid, U.S. star Auston Matthews, 2020 playoff MVP, two-time Stanley Cup champion Victor Hedman and many others. They didn’t get the opportunity three years ago, when national teams were made up mostly of college and European professional players, except for the Olympic Athletes from Russia, who won the gold medal in Pyeongchang.

“The Olympics is one of the biggest dreams of mine and I haven’t been able to participate in one — this might be the last chance I get,” said Hedman, who was left off Sweden’s 2014 Olympic roster.

“When you get an opportunity to represent your country on the biggest stage, it is one of those things that you’ll probably never forget, so yeah for me it is obviously something that I’ve been dreaming about my whole life and something I want to do before I hang up my skates.”

As recently as the Stanley Cup final, NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman and Deputy Commissioner Bill Daly raised doubts about reaching an Olympic agreement. Bettman said on June 28 that it’s becoming a “rather short time frame” to get things squared away, less than eight months before the Beijing opening ceremony.

Two players expected to make an impact at the 2022 Winter Olympics are reigning Art Ross winner Connor McDavid of Canada (97), and last season’s top goal-scorer Auston Matthews of the U.S. (34). (Claus Andersen/Getty Images)

The NHL will hold All-Star Weekend in Las Vegas on Feb. 4-5 before players fly to China on Feb. 6 for the Olympics that open Feb. 9. It is similar to the 1998 Nagano Games when the All-Star festivities in Vancouver led into the first Olympics with NHL players.

“It levels the playing field,” said Hall of Fame defenceman Chris Pronger, who made his Olympic debut in 1998 and won gold with Canada in 2010. “It allows more countries to compete at a higher level. It showcases the sport.”

NHL players at the Olympics became commonplace in the years after that, with the IOC agreeing to pay travel and insurance costs and owners willing to pause the season for players to take part in the tournament. An entire generation of players grew up knowing of Olympics being a showcase for NHL stars.

“You have a dream of representing your country,” said U.S. defenceman Ryan McDonagh of the Lightning. “The Olympic Games are such a unique experience, and I think they do wonders for the sport of hockey.”

The IOC under President Thomas Bach would not pay assorted costs in 2018, leading the NHL to turn away from the Olympics and league officials expressing their concerns about interrupting the season. But the CBA extension put Olympic participation back on the rails, and USA Hockey and Hockey Canada chose NHL general managers and coaches in anticipation that a deal would be reached.

Players ultimately decided it was worth handling any virus restrictions in Beijing, which could go above and beyond the quarantined bubbles of the 2020 playoffs.

“I don’t think there’ll be anything there that we haven’t seen before,” Canada coach Jon Cooper said. “I do take comfort in the fact that we’ve been through all these different situations.”

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Vasilevskiy stops 23 as surging Lightning beat Bruins – Sportsnet.ca

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Shane Pinto has a goal, three assists as the Senators roll over the Sabres – Sportsnet.ca

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Here’s what we know about the allegations against Shohei Ohtani’s interpreter, Ippei Mizuhara

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LOS ANGELES –

Only a week has passed since the Los Angeles Dodgers abruptly fired Ippei Mizuhara, the interpreter and constant companion of their new $700 million slugger, Shohei Ohtani.

But the biggest story of baseball’s spring is still murky — and shocking — as the regular season begins in earnest Thursday.

The scandal encompasses gambling, alleged theft, extensive deceit and the breakup of an enduring partnership between the majors’ biggest star and his right-hand man. Investigations are underway by the IRS and Major League Baseball, and Ohtani publicly laid out a version of events Monday that placed the responsibility entirely on Mizuhara.

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Here are the basics as Ohtani and the Dodgers prepare for their home opener against St. Louis on Thursday:

Why was Ippei Mizuhara fired by the Dodgers?

Ohtani claims his close friend repeatedly took money from his accounts to fund his illegal sports gambling habit. Ohtani also says he was completely unaware of the “massive theft,” as his lawyers termed it, until Mizuhara confessed to him and the Dodgers last week in South Korea, where the team opened its regular season against the San Diego Padres.

Mizuhara has given more than one version of his path to this trouble, which was catalyzed by the IRS’ investigation of Mathew Bowyer, an alleged illegal bookmaker. Mizuhara has consistently said he has a gambling addiction, and he abused his close friendship with the Dodgers superstar to feed it.

Did Shohei Ohtani ever bet on sports?

That’s the biggest question to be answered in Major League Baseball’s investigation, and the two-time AL MVP emphatically says he has never gambled on sports or asked anybody to bet on sports for him.

Further, Ohtani said Monday he has never knowingly paid a bookie to cover somebody else’s bets. Mizuhara also said Ohtani does not bet, and Bowyer’s attorney said the same.

Mizuhara told ESPN on March 19 that Ohtani paid his gambling debts at the interpreter’s request, saying the bets were on international soccer, the NBA, the NFL and college football. If that were true, Ohtani could face trouble even if he didn’t make the bets himself — but ESPN said Mizuhara dramatically changed his story the following day, claiming Ohtani had no knowledge of the gambling debts and had not transferred any money to bookmakers.

MLB rules prohibit players and team employees from wagering — even legally — on baseball. They also ban betting on other sports with illegal or offshore bookmakers.

What’s next for Ohtani?

Ohtani has played in every Dodgers game since the story broke, and he is expected to be their designated hitter in most regular-season games this season while baseball’s investigation continues.

Ohtani says his legal team has alerted authorities to the theft by Mizuhara, although his team has repeatedly declined to say which authorities have been told, according to ESPN.

Ohtani’s new interpreter is Will Ireton, a longtime Dodgers employee and fluent Japanese speaker who has filled several jobs with the team in everything from game preparation and analytics to recruiting free-agent pitches. But Ireton won’t be Ohtani’s constant companion, and manager Dave Roberts said Tuesday he’s optimistic that Ohtani will become closer to his teammates without the “buffer” provided for years by Mizuhara.

What don’t we know?

MLB’s investigation of Ohtani’s role in the events could last weeks or months, and it’s unlikely to be publicized until it’s complete. No one outside of Ohtani’s inner circle knows what it will find or how serious any repercussions could be, and nobody outside the circle is making informed speculation about the process.

One major question looms: How did Mizuhara have enough access to Ohtani’s bank accounts to get the alleged millions without Ohtani knowing? Is the slugger overly trusting, or is he wildly negligent in managing his vast fortune, which includes years of lavish endorsement deals in addition to his baseball salaries? Why didn’t the team around him, including his agent, do more to prevent the possibility of the theft he claims?

Finally, where is Mizuhara? Anybody who knows isn’t saying. He was fired in South Korea and apparently didn’t travel home with the Dodgers. Japanese media have visited his home in Southern California to look for him. Although he was born in Japan, Mizuhara’s life is in the U.S. — but his life will never be the same.

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