The cold war between the various factions in the NHL got a tiny bit hotter yesterday.

While most discussions and negotiations about Olympic Games participation have happened quietly and out of site on conference calls and in boardrooms, yesterday, we had a bump in the road.

AHL players can be loaned to their national teams for the Olympics

I vote Rich Clune for captain.

This went down in a very Cold War-esque fashion. CBC apparently botched the first report, saying NHL players would be allowed to participate, if they were assigned to the AHL at that time. For example, that would mean if the OG were in 2017 Kasperi Kapanen could participate.

It turns out this was like a flock of birds mistaken by a radar operator in Alaska as a Soviet first-strike nuclear missile. The NHL denied the CBC report before someone on the other side could press the button and escalate it further.

So, who is going to end this whole mess? It’s really disappointing to me there is no public leadership from the players’ side. And by public, I don’t mean the NHLPA. It’s ridiculous we get snippets about how “Crosby is furious” and “agents say their players think the PA leadership is a mess” through the media, but no real public statement from a Canadian star about what is really going on.

Canadian players haven’t only had the personality coached out of them so they can make money hawking fast food crap from Tim Horton’s, they are now conditioned to be scared to even have opinions.

At least we have Alex Ovechkin who DGAF and says he’s going. Period.

The fact that NHL fans already expect this whole mess is certain to result in nuclear war — a lockout — is an embarrassment.

Maybe Sidney Crosby doesn’t actually want to go. Who knows? He won’t tell us.

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Should Rich Clune be on the Olympic Team if NHL players aren’t allowed to participate?

Yes!67
Of course!111
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