DANKOCHIK DRAFTING’S: NHL has fine Olympic stance

After Canada’s first game at the Olympics was finished, an image dominated social media. Team Canada’s fourth goal against Czechia was scored by Nathan MacKinnon and assisted by Connor McDavid and Sidney Crosby.

That boxscore entry was a stark reminder that we’ve been without true best-on-best hockey for too long, and Canada’s early brilliance has been impressive to watch. (Thankfully this column didn’t need updating after an overtime win against Czechia in the quarterfinals early on Feb. 18)

Most hockey fans point to the NHL as the reason for the lack of a best-on-best tournament, and no doubt, they share part of the blame for that, but they are not the main entity I blame.

The International Ice Hockey Federation has to be the main culprit. Imagine if FIFA, the governing body for soccer, organized the World Cup during the final weeks of play in the Premier League?

Imagine if the International Chess Federation held the classical World Championship at the same time as the blitz world championship.

So why do the IIHF host their premier men’s tournament at the same time as the NHL playoffs? It makes no sense. Instead of the international hockey community setting a good time for international hockey, it’s up to the NHL to make the Olympics work.

The sport is in the position where they need the Olympics to be that top tournament, because of the failure of the IIHF to properly schedule their top tournament.

And the Olympics are not easy to deal with. The NHL wants to use the footage of their players at the Olympics if they’re taking the risk of sending them, but the IOC is famously very strict with that sort of thing. The IOC should swallow their pride and hand over the footage if they want NHL players at their event.

The NHL has even tried to fill the gap left by the IIHF, hosting international tournaments and events on their own. It’s hard to imagine the Premier League becoming responsible for international soccer because FIFA refuses to play world cups around their schedule.

Heck, it was up to the NHL to start the beginning of best-on-best hockey, as the IIHF refused to allow professional players to participate. Canada and the Soviet Union organized a true best-on-best Summit Series, with the NHL and the NHL Player’s Association supporting the efforts.

The NHL isn’t completely blameless in the history of best-on-best, but to act as if they’re the main entity holding the international game back is silly.