NHL’s Olympic Policy Rinky-Dink

If the NHL wants its best players in the Olympics, and wants the worldwide exposure the Olympics offer, then the NHL should get totally into the Olympics.

Or it should get totally out.

What happened over the weekend, with several NHL players taking red-eye flights into Salt Lake City, scrambling to play a game or two for a national team like Slovakia or Latvia or Germany that was trying to qualify for the final eight-team Olympic field, then rushing to catch another late-night or early morning flight back to their NHL team so that they could suit up for a game Monday night, was just ridiculous.

Recapping the weekend mess, Ziggy Palffy of the Kings was given permission by the Kings to play one game over the weekend for Slovakia and that one game was to have been Sunday. That was Slovakia’s second of three scheduled pool-play games. The Slovaks were heavily favored to move out of their pool and into the field of eight.

And the NHL had pretty much left it up to teams as to how much leave they’d want to give players to run into Salt Lake City over the weekend and run back home to play one or two more NHL games before the league shut down for the Olympics. But league officials also made it clear they did not want to diminish the importance of the NHL regular season--as if their own playoff format didn’t already do that.

Maybe the NHL missed it, but the Olympics started Friday night. That’s what all those fireworks were for. The NHL wants to be big league but it’s bush league. It was NHL players from the U.S. team who sullied the 1998 Olympics when they trashed hotel rooms after losing. And this year the NHL has already brought petty bickering to the Olympics.

Countries like Slovakia wanted their best team on the ice for the qualifying rounds. The NHL wouldn’t let that happen because the NHL isn’t shutting down until Thursday.

So while the players who will represent the U.S., Canada, Russia, Finland, Sweden, the Czech Republic, didn’t have to worry, guys like the Kings’ Ziggy Palffy and his King coaches and his Slovakia national team coaches were all put in impossible positions.

King Coach Andy Murray and General Manager Dave Taylor shouldn’t have been forced to play hard ball with the coach and manager of the Slovakian national hockey team.

Palffy, a hard-working, well-respected King, loves Slovakia, his country, dearly. He shouldn’t have been forced into being torn between paycheck and country, between sitting on the bench and watching his countrymen get eliminated from the final round of the Olympic hockey tournament. He should have been allowed to do what was right by the Kings, who are fighting for a playoff position and need to have every player in the best condition.

And who could blame Slovakia Coach Jan Filc for playing Palffy after saying he wouldn’t? There was Palffy sitting in full uniform at the end of the bench, while Slovakia was losing in an upset to Germany, 2-0.

So Palffy was given the call. Come in please. And he did. Wouldn’t you? Slovakia doesn’t have many chances to win Olympic medals. Had its team made it into the finals when all its NHL stars would be free, Murray says the Slovakians would have had a good chance at winning a medal.

Murray also said the Slovakian management miscalculated by taking a skeleton team of about 10 from home, hoping that daily fly-ins by its NHL players would get the Slovaks safely into next week. It didn’t work. Even with Palffy coming in at desperation time Saturday, Slovakia lost to Germany. With Palffy in street clothes and only watching, the Slovakians tied Latvia, 6-6, Sunday and were eliminated.

Palffy wore full gear Saturday, he was told, so that he could be an inspiration to his teammates. What kind of inspiration is that?

Look, guys! This really good player is wearing our colors. He can’t play. We have a deal. He can only play Sunday. But there he is. On our bench. Watching.

That’s not a pep talk a coach should want to give.

“The NHL has a hard and fast rule,” Murray said, “that if your team is playing, you are obligated to put your best team forward. We don’t fault Ziggy. He wanted to play Saturday, he wanted to play Sunday. But he also knew what we needed.

“If he’d played Sunday, he would have played five games in five nights. He’s risking injury at such an important time of the season for us. What do you say to the other players in our locker room who work hard and do everything they can to help us win?”

Of course Murray should want his best players on the ice in top condition for every game. So should the coaches of countries with teams in the Olympics.

The Olympics are diminished when Slovakia doesn’t make the finals. The NHL looks desperate when it agrees to have its players in the Olympics, but only partially.

Even Murray noted that “personally, you can shut down four or five more days if you wouldn’t have the All-Star game.”

But then NHL officials wouldn’t have a place to wine and dine and schmooze.

And that’s just too bad.

If you agree to have your players in the Olympics, this should be the rule:

When the athletes march into the Olympic Stadium, when the Olympic oath is read and the flame is lighted, then no more games in your league.

The Olympics have begun. The NHL should be dark until that flame goes out.

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Diane Pucin can be reached at [email protected].