Boston Bruins star Brad Marchand is not happy that the NHL pulled out of sending players to the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics in February. Marchand called out the NHL on Tuesday, writing online that they the league is putting more of an emphasis on money than what the players actually want.
Marchand insinuated in a tweet that players in the league had no voice in the decision to not go to Beijing for the Winter Games.
Here’s what Marchand said:
“The @NHL and @nhlpa can change the rules of the cba to add a taxi squad so that they don’t miss any games and don’t lose any money… which has already been agreed upon that the players will pay back in escrow until the owners are made whole from what they have lost during this pandemic, regardless how many games are missed.. yet they can’t do a taxi squad during The Olympics so they can honor the agreement they made so the NHL players can go… please tell me that’s not bull—-… and for. all of you who want to pipe back about forfeiting pay while being gone … yah not a problem .. let the players make their choice.”
Marchand’s teammate Taylor Hall had a similar sentiment on the topic.
“I feel bad for a lot of guys. And it’s too bad that it didn’t really want to happen. Who knows if the league really even wanted us to go in the first place, but it is what it is,” Hall said on Tuesday, according to the Boston Sports Journal.
The NHL pulled out of the Olympics earlier in December due an increase of COVID-19 cases in the league that forced a stoppage of play.
The league had until Jan. 10 to make a decision without facing any financial penalties. NHL commissioner Gary Bettman said the league now needs to use its scheduled three-week break in February (which was originally for players to travel to the Olympics) to make up the games lost by the COVID pause in December.
