There's only one way the NHL gets back in the Olympics
And it has nothing to do with Rene Fasel
Rene Fasel is considered a lightweight in North American hockey circles, and the IIHF president didn't do his reputation any favours when he told a German newspaper last weekend that the NHL was still negotiating with the IOC to participate in the 2018 Olympics.
It was a dishonest notion from the 67-year-old Swiss dentist, who has led hockey's world governing body since 1994.
Fasel knows it, and so should those who still hope to see the game's best players competing for gold in Pyeongchang, South Korea in nine months' time.
More than a month has passed since the NHL indicated it would not participate in the 2018 Winter Games, saying it considered the matter "closed," and nothing has changed since that April 3 statement.
Gary Bettman reiterated those sentiments to Fasel over the phone earlier this week. The NHL commissioner knew Fasel was going to hold a press conference in Paris with organizers of the world hockey championship and wanted to make sure the IIHF president didn't continue to mislead hockey fans.
"I am always a positive person," Fasel said at the press conference. "I never give up. I have talked to [NHLPA executive director] Don Fehr, and we talk internally. We are trying to build a snowball to show Gary. It's never too late. Pyeongchang is in Asia, and this is a great opportunity to grow the game.
"Going to Korea is a great opportunity for the NHL. There is no better way to show the world how great hockey is than the Olympics. It is the biggest stage, three billion television viewers. If they don't go, the fans aren't happy, the players aren't happy, the media isn't happy."
Fasel added there is still time for Bettman to change his mind. But we already know this. When the NHL committed to the 2006 and 2014 Olympic Games, the league did not promise its participation until the previous summer because of lockouts on both occasions.
Talk to the boss
The timing of Bettman's announcement last month was no accident. He waited until the final week of the regular season because he knew some players would be passionate enough to speak out and criticize his decision. But any sort of movement would be short lived because the players' attention soon would be on the Stanley Cup playoffs.
Bettman also knew that the interest of sports fans, particularly those in the United States, would be fleeting that day because the NCAA men's basketball title game was being played that evening, it was Masters week in golf, and the Major League Baseball season was getting underway.
After five memorable Olympic Games with the NHL's participation, Bettman decided to take away a good thing because the IOC would no longer pay for the players' insurance, travel and hospitality costs. He felt jilted and convinced the team owners to feel the same way.
Bettman wanted compensation directly from the IOC, even though Fasel promised his governing body would step in to cover the costs.
The only way I see a turnabout happening is if the players begin to hold meetings with their respective team owners to express how important the Olympic competition is to them. It's a pie-in-the-sky scenario. But the only way Bettman changes his mind will be if the owners tell him to.
Imagine if Jonathan Toews, Patrick Kane and Marian Hossa, who have worked so hard together to win three Stanley Cups in eight seasons, sat down with Chicago Blackhawks owner Rocky Wirtz.
Sidney Crosby could do the same with Pittsburgh Penguins owner Mario Lemieux. Anze Kopitar and Drew Doughty could take a meeting with the Los Angeles Kings' ownership group, as could Ryan Getzlaf and Ryan Kesler with the Anaheim Ducks' brass.
Bettman works for the owners. But he often gets his way by telling his bosses what they should do. It would be interesting to see what would happen if the players pleaded their case personally to the owners.
Maybe then Fasel and the rest of the hockey world would have reason to be optimistic about the next Olympics.